On first listen, Cult from Japanese act Hazel Nuts Chocolate is too much. It’s all over the place, with children’s instruments seemingly played by madmen, unpredictable beats, rabid samples, sweet melodies sung in a borderline cutesy/sinister voice…and that’s just the song about kittens. It’s overwhelming and scary but you know you’re having fun, like being taken to the circus at gunpoint. The second time’s not so bad. The brainchild of cute frontwoman Yuppa, the band exists in a world of her own creation and it gets easier to visit each time. Before long you speak the language, laugh with the locals and want to spend the night.

The whole album is refreshingly unrestrained, uncompromising and utterly unhinged. Tracks deviate from saccharine sugar rushes that sound like The Go Team replayed in the head of a lunatic to mortar-shell beats and speaker-blowing drum and bass.

Cult is grounded in hyper pop but the eclectic journey takes you through Cornelius style audio cuts ups to nursery rhyme melodies over pounding beats and everything in-between, and it can’t come more highly recommended.

Truly experimental, violently exciting and startlingly confident, Cult is one hell of a discovery and best experienced with sleep deprivation and Red Bull.

-TC

Tags: experimental, hazel nuts chocolate, Japan, Yuppa
Posted in Reviews