Japan’s Nicfit have been together since 2009, but this is their first full-length release besides a cassette comp of obscure singles. Upset The Rhythm have picked it up and it suits their oeuvre well with its cool, distant female vocals, post-punk, bass-heavy vibe and scrawling hypnotic guitar work.
Whether they have taken their name from The Untouchables‘ one-minute punk flamethrower or from the better-known Sonic Youth cover, that air of simple ferocity is allied with a subtle abstraction that has the listener scratching their head at the allusions contained within and delving deeper to attain some understanding. However, listening to their obscure lyrics, it could be nothing to do with any of this.
It is a fairly straightforward set-up; vocals, guitar, bass and drums and the hypnotic desire for heads-down riffing is there from the outset. with the crawling bass and sleazy one-two-three guitar of opener “Unleash” ringing in our ears. Hiromi‘s vocals are careless and cool, but the words are seemingly cut-up and scattered to the winds. This suits the explosive drumming and the unpredictable predictability of the fierce riffing: “We’d never you can’t get it she can not as be”.“Human Inane” is slower, but the tang of the guitar squeals above the deep, lumbering bass, and heavy cymbal work cuts above the cyclical nature of the song until, getting bored, they tear it up and briefly veer off in another direction. It is post-punk in its feel, but a little too louche and somehow modernist to just be a throwback.
The simple hypnotics of the riffs are a real joy and there is even a touch of early US hardcore in their relentlessness; but again, it is just a thought, a brief memory before they surge on in their own furrow. It is like they are chewing up distant influences and spiting them back out in their own image. They love a heads-down riff, but grow bored easily and change the timing or slip quickly down a darkened alley, an unexpected deviation throwing its own shadow across the path.
There are little echoes of Melt-Banana in the squeals of feedback and electronic oddness that emanates from the anti religion of “Stink”, while there is a definite touch of Lydia Lunch or Kim Gordon in the frustrated sexual politics of “Fuse”, while the band, hard as nails, always has her back. It is that feeling of an experimental gang, fused together and desperate to make their own way.
It is also fun to try and infer meaning into the cryptic words, but sometimes it is difficult to concentrate when the guitar pyrotechnics are going off in your ear. “Anxiety” is the perfect example of this, with the subtle gut-punch of KenKen‘s bass and the wandering spirit of Charley’s drums. It is like somebody explained the formula to them, but they tore it into strips and pasted it back together to suit themselves.The album ends with the absolute mad dash of “Boundary”, with the words flying in all directions and the monotonous, freewheeling take on The Urinals‘ “Ack Ack Ack”. The cover must last all of a minute, but its excoriating guitar and general air of constant movement is a fitting conclusion. Why it has taken twelve years for a Nicfit album to appear, who knows — but it is well worth the wait.
-Mr Olivetti-
