Pseudo Nippon – Universal Pork Tai Chi

Alongside rib-tickling lingual mistranslations, you may now confidently add musician Pseudo Nippon to the list of curios produced by the head-knocking between Japanese and Western culture. Without giving much personal information away (although we garner that he was born in Japan and raised in England), Nippon's debut Universal Pork Tai Chi is a weird and wonderful affair, giddily mixing up glitchy electronics with absurd and eccentric vocals.

Album opener Gobachi is a whirlwind of incessant snare rolls and effected vocals, which sounds like Dan Deacon having a jam with Konono No. 1 under the musical direction of The Chipmunks. Hotdog Is No Name For A Song approaches something closer to techno-rock— like Animal Rights-era Moby, but with keyboards replacing guitar. This vein of Tokyo-speed, console game-inspired dance-art is continued throughout, resulting in an album which manages to maintain interest, frequently raise eyebrows, and occasionally come off as highly enjoyable. [Martin Skivington]