Altered Zones

Noel Von Harmonson of Sic Alps says:
This is one of the most ridiculous songs ever written and I love it to-fucking-death. It's perfect. Anyone who ever thought that rock 'n' roll was tidy has missed the point. Some of the greatest rock songs have come from other countries, with musicians attempting to emulate the spirit of rock. In the same way that poor translations of literature or voice-overs in films can so brutally mar a piece, such is the case with Western music (but in a good way). I'm not saying that the Western world was onto something more so than other cultures; pop/rock music has always been a kind of parody of itself, right? For years, I've been obsessed with the filter that the revolution of "rock" passed through as it traveled to other countries and was interpreted, recycled, and re-presented.

These guys (Gedo) are TOTAL emulators. Not like when you listen to a record and say, "Oh, this song/band was obviously influenced by The Kinks or The Beatles"; these guys are fucking CHAMELEONS. Beyond this dominator of a jam, they've got several Ramones-y numbers, a few kind of nauseating Buddy Holly-inspired numbers, and some material that is way beyond despicable. The thing that I love about international rock music is when folks accidentally pull off something so monumental that they probably didn't realize it when they were doing it. Because they were trying to "emulate" something so hard, but ended up pouring in many new elements in the process: their culture, their heritage, and any LPs they had magically been able acquire at that point, which became their rock 'n’ roll scriptures.

A quick Google search reveals, not entirely surprisingly, that my colleague Julian Cope is down with these guys, too. Apparently, they had a Japanese biker following (check the song "Motorcycles", it blows), similar to that of Les Rallizes Dénudés. Go figure.

MP3: Gedo: "Don't Run Away" (1974)

The chord progression is dumb and timeless, and has probably appeared in hundreds of songs over the years, with hardly any changes. The most notable element here is the drummer’s sweet, Chuck Biscuits-Danzig-Era drum interpretation, mixed with a healthy dose of Bill Ward. The bass player certainly has his mind on the prize, tapping into the Geezer Butler school of 4-string swagger. The guitarist is so confused and amazing that I want to give his guitar solo an internal play-by-play, in three parts:

(2:34) “Alright, let’s DO this.” Kicks on wah pedal and holds down a single, harshly feedbacking note for 15 seconds. This move unleashes the monumental powers of restraint and strategy. Think Hendrix, Haino, Kawabata, and Les Rallizes. It’s the coolest technique ever: find a single note and tone that works, and fucking GO with it.

(2:49) “Ok, let’s show off a little…Gotta do something!” Now the dude throws in some flashy, hammer-off trills, demonstrating some mighty ambition that overshadows actual technique. Brilliant!

(3:04)  “Look, don’t paint me as JUST a shredder. I also have a sophisticated understanding of melody.” Shifting gears into a melodic arpeggio, this guy is really covering all of the bases. He’s like 3 guitarists in one, all in 30 seconds of time!

I’m also enamored with the vocal approach. It’s like, “Sing if you feel like it, doesn’t matter to me.” I’m sure the lyrics are something to the tune of, “Hey, little girl, don’t run away...We can be together and everything will be ok.” Strangely unpredictable yet familiar, savage, sloppy, and wonderful.

"Don't Run Away" is from their 1974 LP, Gedo, featured in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler