Reviews
NNR008 Birthday Suits "Cherry Blue" CD

The new album by Japan-via-Minneapolis rockers Birthday Suits kicks off with the giddy buzz of a ratty punk-guitar riff and a 90-second mantra of the awkwardly articulated words, “automatic yeah.”
What does it mean? It doesn’t matter. The band’s message is perfectly clear: Rock ‘n’ roll is fun again.
Birthday Suits trim away all of the fatty pretentiousness that clogs the heart of most modern, indie and emo rock, and leave you with little more than a fistful of raucous anthems and the urge to jump on the sofa.
It’s not rocket science-but it isn’t supposed to be.
The rest of Cherry Blue’s eight songs are similarly abrupt, but the band covers a good amount of ground in short, frenetic bursts. A Ramones-worthy time trial, the whole album barely tops 16 minutes, but the band manages to conjure everything from ‘70s punk to noisy, modern indie rock.
Considering the group’s stripped down approach to its fun, punky rock, it’s no surprise that the band itself would be equally minimal. A streamlined duo, Hideo Takahashi covers guitar and vocals while Yuichiro Matthew Kazama handles drums and vocals.
Often, the lyrics are nearly indecipherable, both as a result of the recording and the duo’s thick Japanese accents. Regardless, the band’s music is universal fun, punctuated with ample “whoahs” and “yeahs” sure to get fists pumping live.
“Twin Cities Bridge Is Falling Down” blasts by with an unexpected dose of dance-rock bravado and snotty Sex Pistols-esque sneering. Throughout the album, it becomes apparent that Wire, New Bomb Turks, the Clash and Husker Du likely get heavy rotation on the band’s iPod.
The epic of the record at nearly four minutes, “Cherry Blue” begins with a soft, contemplative melody but slowly evolves into a much bigger, buzzier exploration of the band’s surprisingly full-bodied lone guitar.
Although the similarity is constantly hinged at, closing track “We Ain’t Loser Dogs” finally finds Birthday Suits fully channeling the playful posturing of Hives through herky-jerky guitar riff and another succinct chant, “We ain’t loser dogs, genius.” Well said. (The Other Paper, September 14~20, 2006)

Birthday Suits gush forth such a mountain of sound you’d think they were a whole gang of musicians. But in fact the band is just guitarist Hideo Takahashi and drummer Yuichiro Matthew Kazama—two remnants of the now-defunct quintet Sweet J.A.P.—and it sounds as if two’s all they need.

The duo’s debut album dispenses hopped-up garage rock with just a hint of that experimental/noise sound popular in the Tokyo rock scene. (Both musicians grew up there before settling in Minneapolis.) But unlike much of the Japanese prog-rock invasion, Cherry Blue revels in bright guitar chords and poppy hooks that flood every bit of available audio space, all backed by relentless drumming mayhem. Takahashi’s voice has an uncanny resemblance to the quirky vocals of the B-52s’ Fred Schneider, especially in the churning rock track “Twin City Bridge is Falling Down” and the untamed “Slowly Motion.” The final track, however, “We Ain’t Loser Dogs,” with its cool, stuttering vocals and cyclone riffs, best captures the essence of Cherry Blue. (Missoula Independent, 6/29/06)

I think it's the Buddhists who see life in death, that the end is really the begining. Sweet J.A.P., one of the best bands to come out of Minneapolis, broke up on their ascent, like a deprogrammed missile. Two butterflies to come out of that roughed-up cocoon of blistering New Bomb Turks by way of Japanese foreign exchange students are Hideo (guitarist/vocals) and Yuichiro (drummer/vocals). The Birthday Suits are a more spurty, surprisingly full, angular two-piece. Think Wire vs. Melt Banana, but shorter songs. Yeah, more art than previous, but--thankfully--they're slashing and discomforting, like fast dreams you can't quite catch up to mixed with the feel of rust crumbling between your fingers. Life after death; it's not quite Sweet J.A.P. reincarnated, and I'm relieved that it's not. (Razorcake # 30)

Two members (guitarist & drummer) from the now defunct Sweet J.A.P. move on to form Birthday Suits. What do you know, another stellar (two piece) punk outfit from Minneapolis. 8 hard driving catchy tunes with sharp hooks & cool vocals make for a solid debut output of Minnesota mayhem! This records is definitely worth checking out. This shit makes you wanna get up & go! I'm outta here... (The Rise and The Fall of The Harbor Area issue 6)

Birthday Suits are Hideo and Matthew, formerly of Sweet J.A.P. and now kicking up a thunderous racket as a guitar/drum duo. No genre or pigeonhole can suitably categorize the Birthday Suits, who rock out a unique blend of punk, noise, and the sort of abrasive underground music that they used to call alternative, back before "alternative" was synonymous with "shit". Listening to the group's debut album, I have a hard time believing that there are only two guys in the band! Perhaps it's because of Jacques Wait's crisp, booming production, but the recorded Birthday Suits sound like a band with three guitarists, not just one. With its massive guitar crunch and hard-hitting drum sound, this band definitely has the muscle to win over the rock radio masses. But that's the extent of their resemblance to any commercial band you could name.

Guitar/drum combos aren't always so hot, but they're usually all right when both members can play. And, boy, can these two ever play! And perhaps because of that, the group's songwriting seems more geared towards adventurous guitar/drum interplay and less geared towards traditional elements like melody and hooks. Lots of songs have long intros or extended musical breaks which allow Hideo and Matthew to show off their chops and pile on layers of noise. I can't think of one song here I especially like, but I really enjoy the album as a whole. It delivers a great blend of originality, hard-rockingness, and likeably bizarre vocals in the esteemed Japanese punk tradition. And "We Aint Loser Dogs" has to rank as one of the best song titles of 2005!
(Now Wave)

The Twin Cities are crawling with two-pieces right now, and these Sweet J.A.P. expats are at the top of the heap. Guitarist and singer Hideo Takahashi doles out frantic vignettes that sound like excerpts from longer, perhaps more logical songs. Except the word salad is part of the aesthetic. "Automatic, yeah!" "High school luggage!" and "We ain't loser dogs, genius!" are all battle cries from these strangely infectious yell-alongs. There's an inter-band war raging here, a fierce standoff between Matthew Kazama's metal-informed machine-gun fills and Takahashi's fractured melodies. (City Pages volume 26 issue 1306)

Guitarist Hideo Takahashi and drummer Yuichiro Matthew Kazama of the much-missed Sweet J.A.P. re-emerged this year as the two-man crew Birthday Suits, proving that just a couple of sufficiently wound-up guys can crank the intensity level up to 10. The Suits' eight-song debut Cherry Blue, released this week, is just barely longer than a quarter of an hour, but not a second is wasted, with Takahashi and Kazama's machine-gun tandem attack throwing down propulsive, stripped-down fireballs that put a modern avant-garde edge on classic punk. Think Sleepytime Gorilla Museum crossed with Pink Flag-era Wire. (The Onion volume 41 issue 45)