by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
There is but one TEKE::TEKE, a band that simply defies all expectations, creating cinematic “punk” music at its most imaginative. There’s little that can prepare you for their sound, and most attempts to explain the magic of the Montreal based septet fall short. Their music demands to be experienced, their record’s as immersive as they are unpredictable. Upon the release of 2021’s Shirushi, the band’s global introduction, we became transfixed in their blend of psych rock, Japanese folk, surf rock, discordant soul, and jazzy tinged post-everything. It would seem that TEKE::TEKE were just getting started, as their upcoming second album, Hagata, takes their already maximalist sound and continues to dig outward. Due out this Friday, June 9th via Kill Rock Stars (Cindy Wilson, ONETWOTHREE, Tim Kinsella & Jenny Pulse), the band sound delightfully unhinged throughout, getting weird and getting funky, merging disparate sounds at their whim with an orchestrated focus.
“Hoppe” is the record’s fourth single, and maybe one of the most immediate moments throughout Hagata. While much of the album is carved out of patient structures, the band embrace the punk and post-hardcore elements of their sound here, unraveling from the start with an atonal boogie and a hypnotic groove. Maya Kuroki’s vocals come unglued, hanging on syllables with exaggerated emphasis, the perfect grasp of agitated melody. The songs careens through so many shifts, from Etienne Lebel’s diabolical horns and Yuki Isami’s sprightly flutes, to blast warning drum beats, and guitars that dart between short stabbing riffs and bombastic prog eccentricities.
Whether your Japanese is rusty or not, “Hoppe” presents the incredible tale of an old man whose cheeks fall off while eating rice cakes, only to be preserved in a freezer and taken out upon the man’s death… in turn growing a new old man. Truly lyricism at its best. The video, co-directed by the band’s own Sei Nakauchi Pelletier (guitar, synths, percussion) and Maya Kuroki (who provided animation), offers both live performance and sensory overload. Speaking about it, Pelletier shared:
“I always thought of ‘Hoppe’ as having a bit of a 90’s vibe, maybe the Fugazi in me (but with Maya’s delirious tale about an old man who’s cheeks fall off after eating a rice cake… ha, ha) so we tried to simply capture the raw and punk energy of the song and keep the camera moving, with a fish-eye type lens. The video was shot express '2-3 take-style' on a Sunday afternoon in a space above the infamous Bar l'Escogriffe in Montreal that was kindly made available to us by the good folks who run it. Our dear friend and sound engineer Samuel Woywitka helped film it, Maya added some animation, and I edited it.”