The Bad Penny (beta)

“РЛБ30011922 is a way to deal with a death, to honor a memory and create a record of a reminder that this honor must be preserved.”
-PBV of 夢遊病者

When a band decides to call itself “夢遊病者,” it exponentially decreases their chances of getting “discovered.” But, of course, that presupposes the notion that mass appeal is the top priority for every musician. From all indications, that ain’t the modus operandi for Osaka, Japan’s experimental death-metal crew 夢遊病者. Their primary goal appears to be attracting erudite music-heads who are highly selective with what tunes they choose to consume.

The Bad Penny recently came across 夢遊病者 and became instantly hooked on the trio’s original sound, which also incorporates folk, free-jazz, grind, thrash and psychedelia. You owe it to yourself to check out РЛБ30011922, which consists of one engrossing song that runs 37 minutes (divided into 10 segments) and came out in late October. Don’t dare call the song, which shares the same name as the title of the release, a throwaway track; PBV (guitars/saz/bow/vocals/effects, NN (bass/electrophones) and KJM (drums/percussion) spent three years crafting it.

After getting hooked on the kaleidoscopic track, yours truly championed it in my Treble column, “The 13th Floor,” as one of the eight best psychedelic releases of the fall season. (You’ll find 夢遊病者’s “РЛБ30011922” even more tempting to seek out because it’s available on Bandcamp at a pay-what-you-want price point.)