I can’t stop listening to it!
So Melon Bat has a new single out at the end of the month. I saw this news and immediately felt very whelmed by it. We here at this website were early adopters of both Melon and Soze’s solo work (thanks, Brian!), and so championed the project’s growth through its first few releases. What a concept, and what a sound! If you’re intro Boomer retro stuff and the unique aesthetic of monster and/or alien movies and the rockabilly sounds that were popular a couple of generations ago, Melon really is for you. And since we do like those things, it was an easy match!
Ultimately, though, despite getting major distribution and momentarily seeming on the brink of rising beyond mere chika stages, Melon hit a rough patch and seemed to be left treading water between too-similar releases and a concept that felt like it had run its course. And a bit of a reboot! Even their stalwart gaijin wota fans seemed to be moving on. I personally saw glimmers of light in their last record, so maybe the skepticism wasn’t warranted, but here, seriously, check it:
Isn’t that something? It’s obviously a Melon song because it sounds like one, but it’s also going much further afield than used to be the case. Which, if you follow the commentary on the song, they’re considering this a return to their roots as chika idols. However you want to define it, the song just works. You can feel the emotional pull of the song from the first few chords, and from there it’s all reflection and contemplation before the final malaise-addled jog to the finish.
I think it’s the clear-cut emotion and dedication to the change in pace that make the song, honestly. It’s otherwise “just” a Melon Bat song with all that entails, except that now the twang in the guitar and the flattened vocals pair together with the right tempo for the song, with the result being so full of mood that it hurts. Listening to Melon sometimes feels like listening to early demos for a Tarantino film; for the first time, I feel like they’ve gone past sounding “like” something and instead are just plain trying to send a message. It is well-received!
Single’s out on the … 29th? You have three weeks. Just buy the thing.
*Of all the dumbshit things that we’ve ever had to endure here at Homicidols Dot Com, among the greatest will always be how BIG MAD people got that we didn’t — rig the vote? I actually don’t know what the issue was — when Melon wasn’t immediately given the Breakthrough award a couple of years ago.
Honestly I’d rather a group largely stick to what they do well than try to radically change things up and even then the only song I’d say that sounds distinctly MBagg on to IDOLS to US to YOU is STILL DEAD OR ALIVE. Something like Don’t Shoot RUTAKAME!, essentially a song in the style of an old tokusatsu or anime opening, is only similar insomuch as it’s the same tongue-in-cheek mindset to create something intentionally cheesy.
I mean you listen to Melon Batake a go go and you know what you’re going to get: horror, sci-fi and B-movie infused psychobilly. Nothing wrong with that.