Midori - First 25 November 2005 and Second 4 April 2007
Midori introduced their chaotic fusion of jazz and punk to Osaka music scene in 2003. It is easy to hear shades of classical jazz in the sounds of Hajime’s piano and Keigo Iwami’s bass. But combined with Yoshitaka Kozeni’s drum-work and front-woman Mariko Gotou’s guitar and screaming vocals—the result was what jazz sounds like when the musicians just bang the living Hell out of their instruments. Mariko consistently appeared on stage and in advertisements in a school-girl uniform, presenting an image that betrayed her guttural, twisted vocals and erratic behavior.Sony Music Entertainment signed Midori in 2008 and they released three albums under that label, including a terrific live album recorded in the rain, simply titled Live!! They would eventually disband in December of 2010.But before all of that Midori released two albums under the indie label GYUUNE CASSETTE: First 2005 and Second 2007. I decided to upload these two together since they’re difficult to find, in my experience anyways. They contain a little bit of everything that Midori would perform on their later albums: a little bit of low-tempo songs, some pop here and there, all tucked within their dominant, unrestrained jazz warped by a fury of punk.