MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse - Live!! (1996)

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MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse - Live!! (1996)

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Rating: 0.1

I believe it was Gertrude Stein who said, "Everything changes but the avant garde." And despite the fact that I do enjoy listening to a lot of music termed "avant garde," she was certainly on to something. With a few exceptions, a good portion of avant garde music has consisted of trying to make the most whacked-out, unlistenable crap imaginable. (Metal Machine Music, anyone?)

Well, now everyone can stop. Avant garde has reached its logical end. And I'm proud to report that the man behind it is none other than Eye Yamatsuka, frontman for legendary Japanese punk/psych lunatics the Boredoms. But while the Boredoms can, at times, be downright perplexing, they've definitely broken new ground for insane, cut-up trance rock. The Boredoms simply refuse to obey the limitations of rock music– their albums break every rule that has ever been written, as well as new rules written by the band themselves.

Under the MC Hellshit moniker, Eye Yamatsuka has taken his no-rules approach even further, breaking away completely from anything that bears even the slightest resemblance to rock and roll. I'll try to describe the experience of listening to this CD for the first time:

You remove a nondescript, green-tinted disc from a small, cardboard pouch. You place it into your CD player and press the "play" button. You hear a faint hiss in the background, and turn up the volume in preparation.

AAAAAH!!! AH AH AHHHH!!!! BLAAARGH!! BA BA BA BA!!!!! AAAHHH!!! FLLRMMMMMPH!!! BLAH BLAH BOO BLAH!!!!!

You pause for a moment. Your first impulse is to stop the CD, put it back in its cardboard sleeve, take it to a small patch of forest, dig a hole, drop the disc in, and bury it. But instead, you find yourself giggling in terror. As Eye blurts out line after line of barely-contained screaming, you hear yourself muttering to yourself, "My god… this is the worst… album… ever."

But Eye isn't going to make it that easy for you. While the first of nine unnamed tracks consist almost solely of Eye's shrieking, the second track introduces the stylings of DJ Carhouse (Japanese improviser Yoshihide Otomo), who seems to have an unnatural fondness for blaring horns and dance beats. A military trumpet blasts clear and strong, joined by a snare drum. Don't get too comfortable, though. Within seconds, Otomo is scratching the shit out of the record, switching over to a typical dance beat. Meanwhile, Eye screams with such force and volume that you can't help but picture pieces of his lungs streaming from his mouth. Then, he begins to abuse the microphone in a convoluted rhythmic pattern that has very, very little to do with the beat that should be laying the groundwork for the track.

Don't get the idea that Otomo's influence brings the record any closer to consonance. Just when you get the idea that he's the one thing keeping your brain from turning into a shit-flavored slushy, he lays down some of the most ear-splitting guitar feedback this side of the front row of a Sonic Youth show circa 1989.

As the EP progresses, Eye's vocal stylings gradually become more expressive. He begins to explore the bass range of his voice, issuing horrifying grumblings to accompany his ungodly shrieks. He occasionally even goes out of his way to mumble soft, baby-like incoherencies. But it's rare.

The true power of this EP isn't truly known until you try to listen to something else, though. All of a sudden, every good album in your collection just seems… dull. Despite being completely dissonant, Live!! is so purely energetic that anything else simply seems like a letdown afterwards.

To give this record a 0.0 would be unfair, as that would imply absolute failure. But I can't shake the feeling that the two men behind this record have accomplished everything they set out to achieve, if not more. Sadly, their goals seem to have involved inducing seizures, ear-bleeding, and spontaneous human combustion. So, instead of giving them the 0.0 I'm sure they'd take such sick pleasure in, this EP receives a 0.1. But it may be the most fucking awesome 0.1 you'll ever hear.

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MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse - Live!! (1996)

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While the track listing is for eight songs, the CD features 9 indexed tracks, two of which are "applause". It doesn't quite make sense, but neither does this CD. Because of this, the FLAC files are listed as "Track 1", "Track 2", and so forth.
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Eye Yamatsuka (MC Hellshit)-eek eek eek aak aak aak
Otomo Yoshihide (DJ Carhouse)-turntables
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WARNING: This music is only for the adventurous.

Eye Yamatsuka of Boredoms grabs a microphone. He screams and grunts. Now do that over the sounds created by a Japanese turntablist who doesn't only play records on his turntables, but sandpaper and other textures. This is the world of MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse. This is an official live CD, documententing their collaboration together.

Despite the "MC" and "DJ" credits in their name, and the song "Air Rappers", this is not hip-hop. File under "Japanese noise", "experimental", "improv".

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MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse - Live!! (1996)

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MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse - Live!! (1996)

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