The Mad Capsule Markets - MIX-ISM

In 1994, the still young Mad Capsule Markets released their breakthrough album MIX-ISM. The album, recorded in England in 2003, reached the twenty-seventh spot on the Oricon charts. MIX-ISM covered newer ground of ska punk while still retaining the raw punk sound of early MCM.

The album opens with The Mad Capsule Markets signature tune, MIX-ISM. A loud punky assault, with harsh screams and loud guitars and drums segues "smoothly" into S・S・MUSIC. S・S・MUSIC is another rough track, with Kyono singing in a nasally snarl over slower, drum-driven instrumentals. Chanting background vocals drive the song from the mid-point, in a style very common to hard rock of the early 90's. This flavor continues into the third track as well with Proletariat, however, Kyono delivers in a smoother vocal style, and the punky sound is now upbeat and refreshing; the track is driven by Ishigaki on guitar, with a rolling presence from the drums by Motokatsu.

NEW SOCIETY introduces the slightly more ska-like sound in the album with very rhythmic, memorable chants. Kyono shouts aggressively, while the guitar and drums playfully march in synchronization. The track breaks down slightly into a punk-rock jam, and then picks back up with a typical ska verse, more confrontational than before. The sound of NEW SOCIETY works well for MCM and compliments the already established sound. PET picks up next, still with a hint of ska, but this time a bit more progressive. It is a bit slower and more mysterious as well, with a tantalizing jazz drum pattern.

Mannequin starts off with an electronic intro which would become a more and more prevalent style for Mad Capsule Markets later. Mannequin is another slightly slow-tempo track without all of the aggression of the opening tracks. Kyono sings in his rough voice over powerful instrumentals, that are neither cheery nor dark. The train of lighter tracks is interrupted quickly, however, with Nationalism NO!!!! The song is a relapse to the angry punk rock the band has already perfected. Although it's slower, the song makes up in heaviness, having a rather strong presence with hard chants of "Nationalism" followed by the band screaming "NO!" The final scream of "NOOOOO!" is the transition to Orugooru, which is a stark contrast to its predecessor. Orugooru is very slow and has minimal instrumentation with only a simple guitar and keyboard track to Kyono's strong singing. It settles in as a comfortable interlude.

IC City is another ska-punk track with a quick rolling snare drum and a repetitive guitar line. It's followed by TOO FLAT, which is a mid-tempo track. The gem of the album in experimentation comes next: Furui Tokei. Furui Tokei is an unsettling mixture of guitar noise and solemn, ominous drums. Kyono sings with simple digital distortion, and the song eventually hooks with a standard instrumental bridge at the end, fading out to silence slowly.

The Mad Capsule Markets bring forth a strong and hard ending to the album with a quick succession of punk tracks: IQ Speaker, Neo Sunday ~ Atarashi nichiyoubi and BE SILENT FUCKIN' SYSTEM. However, within lies the track PROBLEM CHILDREN. PROBLEM CHILDREN is one of the few bass-heavy tracks on the entire album, and it is also the longest on the whole disc. The song is a fantastic composition, with a guitar that goes from grating to soothing. PROBLEM CHILDREN is surely one of the highlights of the disc.

The wonderful album MIX-ISM ends with Kiiroi Pierrot, which is an entirely acoustic song with only a brief vocal appearance from Kyono. The track is an unexpectedly soft ending to a harsh and forceful album. MIX-ISM will always be one of the albums MCM is remembered for, and is an essential for any J-Music enthusiast.