Plastic Tree

This review/rant/deepdive/whatever was by request of a friend of mine, if anyone has suggestions or recommendations for bands to look at I'm all ears.

Plastic Tree formed in 1993, based in Chiba, Japan. At this point the Visual Kei movement has been going for thirteen years, which is one of my favorites. Visual Kei music and fashion took inspiration from traditional Japanese styles and added elements of punk, goth, and glam rock. These trademarks are very present within the band: the band member's androgynous styles and white painted faces, the imagery on the album Nenriki, released in 2017, ect. The Visual Kei movement only became mainstream in the 90s, so it makes sense that this was Plastic Tree's style. The band started to gain traction in 1997, after signing with Warner Music Japan. Shortly after this they released their first ever full album, "Hide and Seek".

Moving on to their sound, oh wow. I was absolutely taken with it pretty much immediately. Plastic Tree absolutely refuses to be confined into any single genre, mixing in glam rock, heavy metal, electronic and indie rock. If I had to compare them to any band that I'm at all familiar with, I would have to say The Cure. On their album "Single Collection", released 2001, every song mixes in a different feel. There's the electronica aspect, with radio sounds and synth noise. There's some really nice scratchy guitar in their heavier songs, but a lot of times the vocals (sung by Akira Nakayama) and the guitar play as one, closely following melodies and licks matching the harmonies. This makes sense, considering Akira Nakayama also plays lead guitar on the "Single Collection", at least for most of the songs.

One thing I thought was so funny was the way the vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ryutaro Arimura met the bassist, Tadashi Hasegawa. During an interview with Rock and Read 52: One day, while being absolutely wasted, he abruptly stopped for a visit (laughs). "It looked like he came back from an after-show. As soon as he opened the door, there was a great tension in the air, as he was totally and completely dead drunk (pained laugh). He ended up collapsing right on the floor and Akira and I had to drag him to a bed. When he woke up the next day, he looked so sorry (laughs)." That just strikes me as something straight out of Nana- I imagine that's how Nana Osaki could've met Shin.

My personal favorite song is Narihibikukane, again from the "Singles Collection" (can you tell that album was my favorite?). It's got a deep kick drum going at the beginning, before anything else comes in but the vocals- and when the guitar comes in I just ASCEND. The whiny guitar pitch actually strays pretty far from the vocals in this one, which I am personally fond of, and there's this warped whammy bar sounding noise and all this static and I just love the noise. It's a head banger.

That's all for me, stay loud (=