Afrirampo @ Mono

If best known as an offshoot of Japanese underground mothership Acid Mothers Temple, Afrirampo seemed to put to rest any thoughts that they share the same heavy vibe. Getting the audience to sit and handing out grapes suggested a more mellow experience, but it only took a few minutes for their true full-on freak-out nature to be revealed. Perhaps there are certain clichéd expectations of what Japanese groups should be like. Maybe we expect them to be twee and cute, offering little more than a refried retro shtick, but Afrirampo's Oni and Pika pay little heed to conventions. There's little by way of recognisable songs, more loose pieces combining the intensity of free jazz with a brash ramshackle confidence. It's difficult music, but not without a technicolour sense of fun, like a firework dropped in Andy Warhol's paintbox by two cheeky schoolgirls. Anyone with a knowledge of the fertile and strange scene that has sprouted in Japan in the last few years would be prepared for something intense, but the fact that it's two slightly-built Japanese girls behind this and not some psyche-soaked weirdbeards is still a surprise. This is avant garde and experimental all right, but without any po-faced seriousness. A knowledge of Japanese might help understand what they're on about, but you get the feeling it probably wouldn't make any great difference. Afrirampo are not just from the the far east, but from a colourful world of their own, and it's a fun and exhilarating place to visit. [John Kilbride]