There’s little as pleasurable as unexpected musical treasure. Hot Press had one of those moments in the middle of last year, when a simple but beautifully designed 10” from a band called Fujiya And Miyagi came our way.
Then another one arrived a few months later and it was even better. And then another, a couple of months back, that was even better again. Delighted with ourselves, we decided to share this discovery with our world – only to discover the Brighton trio have been making music for years. We just didn’t notice.
“Yeah, me and Steve Lewis had been making music since before 2000,” says frontman David Best, “but decided not to put anything out until we got our own sound. We released a single called ‘Electro Karaoke’ and an album Electro Karaoke In The Negative Style in 2002, and then a remix album in 2003. We got people we liked like Andrew Weatherall, Wevie Stonder and Cassette Boy to do remixes. The music we were making then was quite low-key, more electronic, quite sober-sounding.”
Fujiya And Miyagi describe what they make as ‘Krautpop’ and, you know, that’s basically what it sounds like. But why the change? “Well, we really like a lot of the stuff on Warp, but we also like Bowie and Roxy Music. I like Aphex Twin, but I like Roxy Music even more.”
It’s a brave thing F+M have done. There’s enough one-dimensional laptoppers bashing out ‘interesting’ electronica. Some of it is indeed interesting – but more interesting is the challenge of moving beyond soundscapes, clicks and gurgles into the world of soundscapes, click and gurgles plus verse/chorus/verse. Innit? David agrees. Sort of.
“There are some great people out there making that music, but sometimes it can be so lacking, so boring. And this was a big leap for us. Two of our original members left, and then Matthew Hainsby joined around two years ago. So we’ve had some time to work on it.”
The process was somewhat complicated by the fact that the band all hold down day jobs.
“In a way, Steve (Lewis) has the hardest task, because he has to programme it all. I can come up with an idea for a song in an afternoon, but it could take him up to a year to get it done!”
How does it work in the studio?
“It depends on the track – I might have an idea, a song or a lyric, and we’ll work it up from there. Or if it’s one of the more ‘motorik’ ones, it will come from a bassline and go from there.”
The band have just released Transparent Things on the London-based indie Tirk. It’s a label that suits them perfectly. Born out of the ashes of house stable Nuphonic, it’s almost a home for musical mavericks/misfits – they count electro DJ Greg Wilson and oddball genius Mu as labelmates.
“We like the fact that Tirk used to be a house label – the idea that we don’t really fit.”
What if a major comes knocking? It’s not as outlandish as it seems – the trio have been picking up plays on BBC Radio 1 and XFM.
“Well, it would depend,” David ventures. “You look at a label like DFA and that would be interesting – but it all depends on the people you work with, someone would have to ‘get it’ for it to work. But we would like to give up the day jobs!”
The band played live in Dublin and Cork a few weeks ago – the unassuming trio certainly deliver the goods, but one can’t help feeling the addition of a drummer to the live set-up would really seal the deal.
“Actually, I’m in the practice room now and we’re supposed to be trying out a new drummer, but he hasn’t arrived. It will make things more dynamic live. But we also don’t want to lose that electronic edge too. But I think we will get one - if only to stop Steve from asking, ‘When are we going to get a drummer?’ It’s been his catchphrase for about four years!”