Label : Denied A Custom - CUSTOM #2
Country : Japan
Year : 1997
Format : 7 inch
I've kept this one hidden away from the blog for quite a while, thinking it wouldn't really fit the mold. It's a bit too hard/grindcore for my tastes, unlike their previous (and better, in my view) EP "
Harrison Bergeron Bound?". Flashes of what I like from that release can be heard in the penultimate track "wheres the cheese and mission?". From the packaging and band name, this takes on a theological theme of sorts. Speaking of the packaging, it is pretty elaborate, if not varied. Letters, a little picturebook, and some catalogs in this little 7 inch EP. It even includes a little biography for the band, in Japanese:
OCR'd:
音楽、ミュージカル、オペラなどなどの宝庫で知られるニューヨーク。 まん いずざばすたーどに対抗するバンドはやはり存在した...ギターレス ストレートフォワードスラッシュジャズと言えば、JUDAS ISCARIOT。 15人分のギターをー人のベースプレーヤーであるJeff がまかなうバンド、 JUDAS ISCARIOT。7inch に12曲も詰め込んでしまったつわもの3人組。 偶像崇拝物 (宗教・UFOなど) すべてを否定するために付けられたタイト ルが, この Skeptics, Mystics and Blind Idolaters...。スローな曲に飽きさしまった、バンド編成にギターはいらないと思う人、ぜひ御ー聴を!最初から 飛ばして行きます、JUDAS ISCARIOT。イエスは、。最後のユダを待ってい た。ニューヨークのJUDAS ISCARIOT (ユダイスカリオテ) をよろしく。
Using machine translation, it says somethin' about New York (TJI's home state) being thee home of operas and some such stuff. It's probably not very accurate, daga. Also included in the packaging was this typed letter signed by the label honcho themself, Yoshiyuki Takahashi (no relation to the mangaka of the same name, I assume). It seems like a heartfelt response to a letter from the previous owner, but for all I know it could have been included in every mail-ordered record sent to the states.
In addition to these snippets are some other scraps of printed matter:
Perhaps the coolest thing is little novelette, rife with topographic illustration and esoteric texts:
That about does it for the packaging, for me the most interesting part of this little release. I never particularly liked straight hardcore punx or grindcore so this is a bit of a wash for me, the more artsy punky aspects of their work is found elsewhere.
(Note the idiosyncratic capitalization, is that a cipher?)
