A throwback to 1978, where the Casio is cutting edge and being "weird" will get you laid. Strange, considering this faux-new wave quintet hails from Houston. Japanic fuse the early German electro beat pastiche with clean guitars and a feckless vocal delivery identical to Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. Erratic, angular and somehow tiny, this is music that will make you feel like a sleep-deprived gerbil on a handful of bennies. Many will find it irritating, while just a few will find a perverse masochistic pleasure in its art school nostalgia.
(Southwest)Japanic
Red Book
BY Scott WilymanPublished Nov 1, 2000