Bondage Fruit

[Yesspaz]

Anyone know anything about a band called Bondage Fruit? This isn't a suggestion as much as an inquiry. I read a review of a Rovo album recently and it said one of the members started out in a band called Bondage Fruit that played "avant-prog" - whatever that is. Anyone heard of them?

[KeithieW]

Japanese Zeuhl band. Seems like Japan is the only other country besides France where one can find good Zeuhl. The second album is excellent, like Magma at their most percussive, with plenty of strange vocal chorusing and lots of other effects. It’s a bit less jazzy and at times more strange than Magma. Some excellent guitar solos, and other interesting instrumentation (violin, marimba) make for some highly original music, highly recommended for fans of Zeuhl . The third and fourth albums are even heavier and less Zeuhlish, and both have long repetitive tracks. Not quite as good as II. -- Rolf Semprebon

Maybe one of Japans best Zeuhl bands during the 9ties (along with Ruins and Happy Family). They reached their peak with II, a disc full of heavy and dark tunes, typical hysteric Zeuhl vocals and weird guitar playing. The 15 minute "Terminal Man" is certainly one of the most impressive pieces of progressive music I ever heard coming from Japan! III Receit, a live recording, is said to contain more improvised jazz rock (a la Mahavishnu), especially as the main female vocalist left the band after II. -- Achim Breiling

On "IV":
I haven't heard this band until now, though I am acquainted with their biography and know that in the beginning of their activity they had a female vocalist in the line-up. Guitarist Kido Natsuki is the band's absolute leader and he composed all of the material on the completely instrumental album IV. Musically, it represents a unique blend of RIO, Classic Art-Rock, and Avant-garde, though it's all wrapped up in guitar heavy riffs and improvisations or improvisation-alike solos. The last two are ingredients of two genres more, - Prog-Metal and Jazz-Fusion, - so the music of Bondage Fruit is really a kind of phenomenon on the progressive scene. What's the main thing, however, is that music is very interesting, but at the same time so complex and intricate that only the most adventurous and profound Prog-lovers will be able to comprehend it after several attentive listens. -- Vitaly Menshikov

These are snippets taken from the Gibralter Prog site. Hope they Help.

[RogorMortis]

You nearly had me there Keith - I started reading your reply and thought "Hang on a minute this cannot be true - Keith being so positive about avant garde prog" and then I saw it was a quote.

Thank god for that I thought Keith had got just as bad as his car for a minute. (And then I read the title.....)

[Yesspaz]

Well, if Gibralter has them, I guess they're on the map. Thanks KW for the research. Yet, "there's a new thing in town buy you can't get the sound from a story in the magazine." Has anyone actually heard them? (I doubt it).