About this item

WRWTFWW continue to RWTFTW this week with the first official reissue of crazy J-wave grail "Lingua Franca-1" by Kyoto crew EP-4. Originally released in 1983, this sampler mashing, distorto-clashing, gear grinding stormer is essential listening for fans of Liquid Liquid, PiL, Talking Heads, Colored Music, Grauzone, David Bowie, Yello.

Straight from the delirious minds of unconventional geniuses Kaoru Sato (who had previously released an album as R.N.A. Organism on legendary Osaka label Vanity Records) and Yuji "Banana" Kawashima, "Lingua Franca-1" is a seamless voyage of spellbinding mutant funk grooves, joyful post-punk explorations, synth fantasies, sexy distortions, and fluid cool-no-sweat vocals. Constantly mutating in an almost biological way (similarly to Colored Music’s self-titled album), always mysterious and seductive, sometimes reminiscing of a freaky cross between PiL, Liquid Liquid, Bowie and Yello, EP-4’s debut is hard to label, although "Debonair Wave" could be a legitimate way to describe this Japan’s best-kept-secret of an album.

Defying the rules wasn’t limited to sonic experimentations for band leader Kaoru Sato. To promote Lingua Franca-1, he and his crew plastered gigantic (illegal) billboards all over Shibuya and Harajuku, announcing performances in four different cities on odd hours of the same day (May 5th 1983). Other of his notable antics included originally sub-titling the album Death to the Emperor Showa causing a controversy (which led to censorship and a title-change), trying to release two albums on the same day without the concerned labels being aware of the plan or, in the R.N.A. Organism days, fooling Vanity Records into believing the demo he sent them came from a foreign band (it worked). Unique personality, unique music!

TRACK LISTING

01. Robothood Process
02. The Frump Jump
03. Similar
04. Coconut
05. E-Power
06. Talkin’ Trash
07. Broken Bi-Psycle
08. Tide Gauge