It’s kind of hard to fathom that a band as noisy and against the grain as Melt Banana has been making records and touring the world for the better part of two decades. This is a band whose music is utterly polarizing. That is to say, one doesn’t find many casual Melt Banana fans. You’re either in awe of the rapid-fire vocal frenzy and laser beam guitar zaps, or you’re curled up in the fetal position, wondering when the bludgeoning will end. I’ve been lucky enough to have witnessed the band numerous times over the years, as it’s been very good to Columbia, always making a point to stop here on its myriad tours, so I know what kind of spectacle it can be to behold.
 

Melt Banana

If you’ve kept up with Melt Banana’s discography — which is a feat in and of itself when you consider all of the limited split seven-inches the band has released over the years — you know that the recorded format doesn’t even begin to tell this band’s story. Melt Banana is a live act, first and foremost.

Not that its records are bad — not by a long shot — but Melt Banana’s forte is putting on a live show. There’s so much happening so fast that to the uninitiated it might sound like formless noise. Ichirou Agata’s guitar playing is the driving force behind the band’s arsenal of decidedly calculated noise, while speed is the jaw-dropping secret ingredient. Agata’s fingers move so quickly around the neck of his guitar that it’s often hard to discern what is actually happening.

The juxtaposition of Melt Banana’s child-like, comic-book-style artwork with its relentless onslaught of unintelligible yelps only enhances the band’s unorthodox appeal. Vocalist Yasuko Onuki’s random wordplay often reads like a bizarre, lost-in-translation game of Mad Libs. Her voice is atypical in its appeal. She doesn’t sing so much as serve as an energetic vocal counterpoint to Agata’s aural cacophony, but it’s evolved into a style that is uniquely her own. To look at bassist Rika Hamamoto, you’d think the weight of a bass guitar would easily topple her tiny frame, but she is a mighty force on low end, brazenly holding tit-for-tat with Agata’s furious riffage. The band has burned through countless drummers over the years, but who could blame them? You try keeping up with this stuff.

For those who don’t easily fall under Melt Banana’s spell, it’s not unfathomable for the whole shtick to be characterized as a novelty. And one that gets old fast. Fair enough. So, to counteract its 16-year “novelty” act, Melt Banana has introduced … another novelty, albeit one that will be just as mind-blowingly insane to some and equally unlistenable to others.

Enter Melt Banana Lite, a self-referential conception on par with some of Devo’s more subversive musical outlets. The new incarnation retains all of Melt Banana’s high energy and spastic tangents; the only difference is that all guitars are replaced with synths. It’s a curious yet intriguing move for a band that has built its following as an elite member of the noise-rock scene.

Having just released Melt Banana Lite Live Ver.0.0 on Nov. 3 via its own A-Zap records, Melt Banana also has a new three-song seven-inch EP in stores, entitled Initial T. Columbia will be treated to both Melt Banana and Melt Banana Lite at New Brookland Tavern; to be certain, it will be an evening of live music you will not soon forget. 


The New Brookland Tavern is at 122 State St. in West Columbia. Doors open at 7 p.m.; admission is $13. Thank God, The Unawares and …for science! open. Call 791-4413 or visit newbrooklandtavern.com for more information.