I have this weird complex with Melt-Banana, easily one of my favourite bands that I seen live three times, where I have absolutely no idea how well known, or not, they actually are.
I mean, they’re obviously a niche band, so knowing and liking them implies you are some sorta weirdo, but they’re about as much of an institution as niche bands get.
As such, I find myself mostly feeling compelled to talk about Melt-Banana primarily at people who don’t care or will definitely not like it (even though, and maybe I’m just acclimated to it, but I honestly think there’s a lot of universal appeal if you just really give it a shot), but then, I also don’t talk about Melt-Banana with anyone who actually would be interested in talking about ’em, thinking, well, what’s there to talk about, they obviously know about and like Melt-Banana, ’cause Melt-Banana rules.
Thinking about all that just makes me laugh, I dunno.
Also… damn this album is so good. I like the more grind-y old Melt-Banana well enough but I really think they found something really special with the last two albums especially. It is simply music that is the absolute pinnacle of Fun. Plus for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing them live, Agata is an absolute beast, not mentioned often enough as one of the best live guitarists, in the world. He uses a lot of pedal effects to be sure, but watching him play live when you know the songs quite well, it’s shocking how much of what he’s playing is not a pedal effect or loop or whatever. Incredible string skipping technique in particular. He just plays the hell out of that stuff.