Digidogheadlock: The US Edition

HOLY SHIT I ACTUALLY FOUND IT!!!!!!

As far as Mad releases go, this seems to be a bizarre holy grail, because of the awful distribution it was put through, but here it is, after a long, long time of searching. This version of Digidogheadlock, sporting a purple cover, was released by What's Up? Music, a label created by Mad's lyric translator and manager at the time, George Cockle. Park was also released through this label, but both of these US editions are exceptionally rare due to poor distribution and public disinterest at the time. I found this copy of this ungodly rare edition on Buyee of all places at a whopping 500 yen. It's not in the best condition, but regardless, what an utter miracle!

Is there any reason to get this, beyond going for a complete collection? If you have the European yellow-cover edition from JVC (undoubtedly the most definitive edition of this album commercially available), or you have the original Japanese edition and the "Crash Pow" single, then no, absolutely not. If you don't have the album and you come across it by some chance for cheap, you might as well go for it. It only has one of the single bonus tracks, the rather meh remix of "Crash Pow", whereas the European edition has three of them. This is something that only hardcore collectors are going to see any real value in, since having all three colored covers together would look cool as hell.

The liner notes in this edition are incredibly barebones, plainly printed on the back of the front cover, but it makes them easier to read than the small print against a bright red background in the Japanese edition. Not that that really means all that much, though. Now I just need to find that yellow-cover edition, which is just slightly easier to find, and the trifecta will be complete.

4 Plugs scorebook

As yesterday's post quantified, I do love 4 Plugs quite a bit, and my love of it, as well as my fascination with what Mad was like during this period of their career, sprung me into buying a copy of the official scorebook. Each Mad album except for Humanity, the self-titled album, and (apparently) CiSTM K0nFLiqT... had official scorebooks issued by a company called Score House, and these would contain both sheet music and tablature for all of the songs on the album. Some of these scorebooks, like the one for Digidogheadlock, contained miscellaneous feelies as well, like sticker sheets and reference CD copies packed in a sleeve inside the book.

I personally got this scorebook for the images of Mad circa this album, and while there isn't a short supply of them, it's mainly relegated to the first twenty or so pages of this book, with the occasional further glance in between songs. Hell, my copy had some pages falling out, and I'm not sure what the cause of that is for, but either that's how it was shipped to me or the shipping conditions unglued a couple of the pages towards the front.

This particular scorebook had its first printing issued on May 30th, 1997, long after Ishigaki had left the band. However, he is still plastered all over the imagery present in this book, which would be an unusual occurrence here in America, where everyone in a band tend to pretend that a particular member never existed in the band after they leave... at least, in whatever they publish afterwards. It may not guarantee that he didn't leave the band on less than friendly terms, but it at least leaves the impression of such. If you wanna learn or perform songs from this album, get this songbook. If you wanna see what images are in here, you should get this songbook too.

Artist In Review: The Mad Capsule Markets

The Mad Capsule Markets. MAD. The reason this blog exists. Of all of the Japanese bands I've been introduced to over the years, Mad is easily my favorite... it's definitely the one I have the most sentimental attachment to. One of the things that makes Mad so great as a whole is that by following their albums in chronological order, you can feel an organic, natural transition into new sounds-- it's possible to follow their maturation as a band, without any extreme left turns.

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HUMANITY (1990)

Genre(s): melodic punk, noise punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: N/A
International release?: No

Mad's debut album is a respectable first effort. The production on it is a bit rough, as many independently issued punk albums tend to be, but it doesn't affect the quality of the songwriting any, although some of the later re-recordings of songs from this album bring the tunes out in their full glory. Avoid getting the 1996 reissue if possible (the cover art above is of the original release on Insect Noise), as some of the songs are censored on that copy, and the original edition retains lyrics in the liner booklet.

Verdict: 7.5 / 10

Most recommended songs: "三秒間の自殺", "讃美歌", "Humanity", "どうしようもない人の唄", "ラ・ラ・ラ (僕がウソつきになった日)"

P.O.P. (1991)

Genre(s): melodic punk, noise punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Censored songs, muddier production
International release?: No

Of all of Mad's albums, I wouldn't hesitate to call this one my least favorite. Despite being their first album on a major studio, this album has objectively worse production than the independently produced and released Humanity. It doesn't help that the label forced them to censor a lot of their songs, including those that were re-recorded for this album (they managed to make it funny by censoring the offending words as obnoxiously as possible, but it still blows that they had to). The new songs are on par with Humanity in terms of songwriting, but they get lost in the awful production.

Verdict: 4.5 / 10

Most recommended songs: "ギチ", "Mad中毒", "ハリネズミとXX", "Yourself Lock!!"

CAPSULE SOUP (1992)

Genre(s): melodic punk, noise punk, industrial punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Electronic elements introduced, better production, more melodic vocals, more curious and experimental tone and songwriting
International release?: No

Technically, this is an EP, but it plays an important part in their chronology all the same. Perhaps inspired by their song "Japanese Sight" on their label Invitation's Dance2Noise 002 compilation, Mad went about introducing trace elements of early 90s industrial into their own releases (think early KMFDM or Pig), to surprisingly cohesive and well-executed results. That isn't to say this release is covered in synths, but it does take the attitude present in "Japanese Sight" and runs with it a little further. However, not every track on here benefits-- "G・M・J・P" gets a bit lost in its own noisy primitiveness. (The version on their 1996 self-titled album is far superior.)

Verdict: 7 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Bach Sleeps.", "セルフコントロール", "彼女のKnife", "Jesus Is Dead."

SPEAK!!!! (1992)

Genre(s): melodic punk, industrial punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Electronic elements further employed, more melodic vocals, more guitar effects, less experimental and more streamlined songwriting
International release?: No

If Capsule Soup was Mad tampering about and experimenting with their sound to find a neat direction to wander into, Speak!!!! is them finding that direction and comfortably milking it for all they can. The songwriting is above the level they employed on Humanity, and it provides a sonic template for what would've been an interesting direction for punk to travel toward in the early 90s. My only real qualm with this album is that the beeping in their cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Solid State Survivor" is annoying compared to the original version, but otherwise, this album has a lot going for it.

Verdict: 8.5 / 10

Most recommended songs: "マスメディア", "Underground Face", "チェスノ兵隊", "D-Day", "Government Wall"

MIX-ISM (1994)

Genre(s): melodic punk, hardcore punk, ska punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Electronic elements (mostly) absent, less guitar effects, ska punk elements introduced, slightly tighter production
International release?: No

The first of two brilliant albums that Mad released in 1994, Mix-Ism is Mad's only attempted foray into including elements of ska punk. The industrial influence on the sound of Speak!!!! has been mostly put to the side in favor of this short-lived excursion, although they do occasionally incorporate it without making the album feel even the slightest bit incohesive. Most of this album is awesome, however there are a few songs that feel like filler; the somewhat overly repetitive "New Society", for example, is far from the perfect choice to immediately follow the awesome "プロレタリア".

Verdict: 9 / 10

Most recommended songs: "プロレタリア",  "Pet", "オルゴヲル", "Too Flat", "Problem Children", "Be Silent Fuckin' System"

PARK (1994)

Genre(s): Melodic punk, hardcore punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Ska punk elements absent, faster and tighter songwriting, bass guitar higher in the mix, tighter production, more mellow songs
International release?: Yes (US)

Judging just by the first half of Mad's career (up to the 1996 self-titled album), this is easily the band's pinnacle of songcraft, and my personal favorite album of their entire discography. There isn't a lick of filler to be found anywhere on this album-- even the bonus tracks on the limited edition first pressing are both excellent additions to the record. "公園へあと少し" and "P-A-R-K" alone rank in my top five songs from Mad, and the rest of the album honestly isn't that far behind them. The production is overall chunkier than their last two albums, which gives it more of a hardcore punk feel, and gravitates them toward the sound that would be showcased on their next offering.

Verdict: 10 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Hi-Side (High-Individual Side)", "パラサイト", "公園へあと少し", "Cr'ock On The Work (Automatic)", "生まれたばかりの絵画を燃やせ", "P-A-R-K", "太陽の下 (limited edition/US release bonus track)"

4 PLUGS (1996)

Genre(s): Hardcore punk, melodic punk, rap metal
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Bass guitar is much higher in the mix and drives the music, electric guitar recedes into the background, bass guitar effects introduced, more guitar effects, slight electronic elements reintroduced, rougher and less melodic vocals, rapping vocals introduced, increased amount of English lyrics, guitar and bass solos included
International release?: No

If there's anything remotely close to an extreme left turn in the band's career, this album is it. While this album is still very much a hardcore punk record, it is more sonically driven by Takeshi Ueda's far heavier bass guitar work than Ishigaki's guitar musicianship this time around, just about everyone in the band is playing at a "heavier" level, they're playing consistently faster and leaving little room for softer, mellower songs (although the standout exception, "Normal Life", is one of the best songs on the album), and the lyrics are far less melodic than they were on Park. These deviations from their prior sound, however, fully work together in making an excellent and cohesive set of songs, making this album not only a truly unique album in their discography, but a unique punk album in general. While it does unfortunately drag towards the end, most of the songs here are well-worn classics in the band's discography.

Verdict: 9 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Possess In Loop", "Crack", "Kami-Uta", "Walk!", "Normal Life", "S.H.O.D.O.K.U.", "O・U・T"

THE MAD CAPSULE MARKET'S (1996)

Genre(s): Hardcore punk, melodic punk, industrial punk, rap metal, drum n' bass, dub
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Bass guitar higher in the mix depending on the song, electric guitar higher in the mix, a lot more electronic elements reintroduced, more melodic vocals
International release?: No

On the surface, it may look like a "best of" album that adds little if anything to a band's chronology, this particular one contains re-recorded songs that are all re-worked to some degree. Notably, the two songs here from 4 Plugs, released earlier in the year, are the most drastically reworked of all of them; "Possess In Loop" is far, far faster than its original version, and "Walk!" has been remixed into a dub song by Adrian Sherwood. One of the more interesting reworks here is the new version of "Hi-Side", since not only are the lyrics now in English, but Takeshi's bass guitar is again higher in the mix, much higher than the original version on Park-- considering that guitarist Ishigaki left shortly after this album's release, the increased bass on this and 4 Plugs may have been a point of contention with him.

Verdict: 7 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Possess In Loop!!!!!!!!!!", "Hi-Side (High-Individual-Side)", "Jesus Is Dead? Jesus Is Alive?", "G・M・J・P", "Down In The System (System Error)"

DIGIDOGHEADLOCK (1997)

Genre(s): Hardcore punk, melodic punk, industrial metal, rap metal
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Simpler songwriting, more industrial/electronic elements, rougher, less melodic vocals, electric guitar presence lessened, more rapping vocals
International release?: Yes (Europe, US)

In terms of songwriting alone, this is the band's lowest point-- the songs are far simpler, more repetitive, and more reliant on the added electronic effects, more along the lines of how industrial metal normally is. At the time of its initial release, this may have been Mad's least-liked album, for all I know. However, through sheer energy and passion, they manage to pull that off and make this a fun, highly enjoyable record, even if it doesn't totally stand up to a lot of the rest of their excellent discography. This album is especially enjoyable retrospectively as the bridge between the more hardcore punk sound of 4 Plugs and the more industrial-tinged melodic punk sound of all three of their remaining albums.

Verdict: 7.5 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Systematic.", "Water", "Have No Fear", "Sickly Bug", "3.31", "Asphalt-Beach", "Do Justice To Yourself, Do Justice To My Life"

OSC-DIS (OSCILLATOR IN DISTORTION) (1999)

Genre(s): Melodic punk, industrial punk, pop punk, rap metal, drum n' bass
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: More diverse electronic elements introduced, electric guitar presence increased, more complex but tighter songwriting, more melodic vocals, more of Takeshi Ueda's sweet high-pitched backing vocals, increased amount of English lyrics, rapping vocals slightly decreased, drum machine assistance introduced for stylistic reasons
International release?: Yes (US, UK)

This album is Mad's international breakthrough album for a reason. (Okay, including "Pulse" on a Tony Hawk game may have been most of the reason, but still.) They overcame the songwriting weaknesses that held down Digidogheadlock, popped their sound up with a lot more melody, in essence partially returning to their earlier sound just a tad, tightening up their songcraft, and producing yet another album without the slightest bit of filler. I would have to rank this as a close third, if I had to rate my favorites among the Mad discography.

Verdict: 10 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Tribe", "Pulse", "Multiplies", "All The Time In Sunny Beach", "Island", "Step Into Yourself", "Good Girl -dedicated to bride 20 years after", "MIDI Surf"

010 (2001)

Genre(s): Hardcore punk, melodic punk, rap metal, industrial punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: More diverse electronic elements, more experimental songwriting, mellower songwriting, simpler "heavy" songs, less melodic vocals, less English lyrics
International release?: Yes (UK)

After making a brilliantly honed album of electronic melodic punk, Mad decided to experiment with the Osc-Dis sound and see where else they could take it. The answer? Pretty damned far. Without making this album feel slapped together, they managed to expand and explore their new sound into new directions that most likely wouldn't have been accepted from a band outside of Japan. It may be because of their increased desire to experiment that this album didn't see much international recognition, little enough for Palm Pictures to drop Mad after this album flopped in the UK when they made Osc-Dis a bonafide international hit. This and Park are almost tied for my all-time favorite Mad album, but this is the one that sits at that #2 spot, Park is just almost impossible to top.

Verdict: 10 / 10

Most recommended songs: "Chaos Step", "Gaga Life.", "Jam!", "雲-kumo-", "XXX Can Of This.", "Good Day", "Fly High"

CiSTM K0nFLiqT... (2004)

Genre(s): Hardcore punk, industrial metal, industrial punk, rap metal, melodic punk
Sonic deviation(s) from prior album: Less diverse electronic elements, less mellow songwriting, more streamlined songwriting, far less melodic vocals
International release?: Yes (UK)

The final release from Mad regresses slightly from their short experimental period on 010, deciding to hone in on mostly heavy tracks for a newfound international audience. The mellower songs are few and far between this time around, although their presence is as welcome as the heavier bulk of this album. The first couple tracks honestly don't do much for the album, and it really isn't until "SCARY -delete streamin freq. from fear side-" that it actually picks up where 010 left off. The last track is a neat little playoff, but doesn't truly encapsulate all of the achievements Mad had made in their 16 years of existence. This album is great, don't get me wrong, but compared to the two masterpieces it followed, it feels a bit retready. Regardless, it seemed to serve as a great sonic blueprint for both AA= and Wagdug Futuristic Unity, the two projects that rose from Mad's ashes.

Verdict: 8.5 / 10

Most recommended songs: "SCARY -delete streamin freq. from fear side-", "W.O.R.L.D.", "Cracker!!", "Sunny Beach Rd.", "Loud Up!!", "She Loves It -explore the new day", "Happy Ride"

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Alas, that is where the mighty Mad discography ends. I hope this serves well as an introductory piece for anyone even remotely interesting in trying out The Mad Capsule Markets, or helps those with only a partial view of the Mad discography to open their eyes to the pieces they haven't given a shot yet. If you would like to leave your own rankings of the discography, or your thoughts on specific albums, please leave a comment or two.

High-Individual-Side Tour T-shirt

It's the only Mad shirt that I currently have, but it is probably THE Mad shirt to have. This shirt was made for their High-Individual-Side tour which blazed through 1994 and 1995. I first saw this shirt in its full form on the ever awesome Tak Mad's blog, where I noticed its coolest property...

...this bad boy can glow in the dark! It's also a drawing based around the drawing on the front cover of Video, Mad's newest home video compilation at the time, so to couple that with being able to glow in the dark is rad as hell. While it is marked as an L, which is my size for shirts, this shirt is just too tight for my fat self at the moment... but that makes rocking this shirt in public the ultimate inspiration for losing weight.

One other dope tidbit about this shirt is that it was featured during the short intro of the music video to "Kami-Uta", the first single from the followup album 4 Plugs. Feast your eyes.

Digidogheadlock promo pin

This was a pretty random and sweet grab on Buyee. It's a small pin meant to promote Mad's album Digidogheadlock, released by a company called Hustle Promotion, according to their small and difficult-to-read logo. It's barely bigger than a quarter, and I don't really have any use for it, but it was a dope grab all the same.

Osc-Dis 2-Disc Special Edition

When I saw this on eBay, I was ecstatic. This is the two-disc special edition of Palm Pictures' American release of Osc-Dis from 2002 (yes, a year after 010 was released in Japan), in association with Speedstar and Manga Entertainment. Their Stateside deal with Palm Pictures turned out to be more lucrative than their deal with George Cockle's What Up Music label, as Osc-Dis was released far wider than the US releases of Park and Digidogheadlock were, and even got Pulse onto the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 soundtrack. Why was I ecstatic for this particular issue, you may ask? That slipcover it has on it!

...or so I thought. The reason you can see the bottom of the jewel case in each of the above shots is because it isn't actually a slipcover at all-- it's actually a paper wraparound whose spine is at the top of the jewel case. It blows a little, but at the same time, it also becomes an interesting addition in and of itself, as the inside of this wraparound contains music video credits.

Why does it have music video credits? Because the second disc is a DVD reissue of Osc-Dis Video that was also issued with other Manga Entertainment DVDs of the time. I don't have the original VHS issue of that to compare, but I can't imagine it being very far off. Included as a bonus video is the video to Systematic, since Digidogheadlock only had a video for that one song, not enough for its own VHS issue... sad, because it would be cool to see on a VHS slipcover.

The tracklisting for Osc-Dis is as follows:

1. Tribe

2. Out/Definition

3. Pulse

4. Multiplies

5. Mob Track

6. All The Time In Sunny Beach

7. Island

8. Restart!

9. Jag

10. Step Into Yourself

11. Good Girl (dedicated to bride 20 years after)

12. MIDI Surf

The tracklisting for Osc-Dis Video is as follows:

1. Tribe

2. Pulse

3. All The Time In Sunny Beach

4. Good Girl (dedicated to bride 20 years after)

5. MIDI Surf

6. Systematic

Of course you know I think this album is an absolute classic. Just about everyone into Mad thinks this album is an absolute classic; hell, it's how most people get into Mad in the first place. It's not my absolute favorite album-- Park and 010 tie for my all-time favorite-- but it is my second. (Or third, depending on how you look at that.) You should already have a copy of this by now; if not, get on it as soon as possible.

Look at how Palm's logo throws the section off.

Scary single

In an earlier post, I was talking about how the single for Kami-Uta is Mad's most disposable single ever released, since there isn't any additional content to make anyone who isn't a hardcore collector hold onto it. This single, the lead for Mad's final album CiSTm K0nFLiqT..., would be just as disposable if not for the one excellent selling point it has: a mini toy car kit! (I've seen listings for this single online without the car kit, and it isn't worth any price they list it for.) I don't even think I need to talk about the song that much. It's one of Mad's most popular songs; you all know it, you all probably love it, too. I know I do. The CD has one track, Scary in the exact same mix as on CiSTm K0nFLiqT..., so there you go. Done.

Unfortunately, this single is probably my most damaged piece in my Mad collection (look at the pictures below to see the damage on my copy), but thankfully the most valuable piece, the car kit itself, wasn't damaged at all when it came in. What you get is pieces for a black and green Pochi, the exact same small Pochi featured in Medicom Toy's 8-figure Kubrick set for Mad's Osc-Dis-era mascots but recolored like the Pochi that appears in the Scary video. The liner notes booklet for the adorable mini-maxi jewel case (which sadly doesn't fit in the jewel case itself) includes a how-to guide for assembling the little Pochi.

It also has a couple adorable inserts, one an ad for the tall White Crusher figure (which I don't have yet, sadly), the other an ad for CiSTm K0nFLiqT... itself, with the other side showing tour dates from 10 years ago. The car kit itself is inside a plastic holder that has all of the bits and bobs nicely separated from one another.

Why didn't I disassemble the Pochi to put it back in the plastic kit holder, you may ask? The answer is simple: I glued the head onto the body. In either version, this Pochi mold isn't particularly good at holding the slightly heavier head on the body, so if you do anything with either figure, the head is bound to fall off. I once scored a spare (and nearly destroyed thanks to the incompetent postmen) 8-piece Kubrick set, so I have a spare Pochi to glue as the other one sits in the not-destroyed box. I should probably get to scoring another one of these in better condition, now that I think about it...

Tribe single

While George Cockle's record label What's Up? Music released American editions of Park and Digidogheadlock (Wasn't 4 Plugs recorded in the US? Huh?) during the late 90s, they never released any singles exclusively to Anglophone audiences... not to my knowledge, at least. During Mad's far more lucrative deal with Palm Pictures, their single Pulse was pushed pretty well to the point of being in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, but this was the first single that Palm released without a Japanese equivalent. Why, I don't know, but there's a similar case with Happy Ride from CiSTm K0nFLiqT... which has its own EP only released in Europe. All of the extra songs are also from the album, but still.

Personally, I never thought Mad made any switch to any genre of heavy metal throughout their long career, as their music always had heavily apparent melodic punk influence, but there are plenty of people who derided and dismissed them as just being a nu-metal band. While I honestly don't even think Digidogheadlock could be considered nu-metal, nor a lot of Osc-Dis... I can easily see why this song would be tagged as such. It isn't really punk so much as it is bouncy nu-metal, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means. This song is still really fun, and makes for a great album opener even if it doesn't match a lot of the music that followed it.

This single is packaged in a typical maxi single case, and in the below photo you'll see a big crack in what looks like the disc... believe me, that's just the case itself. Honest. Behind the disc is a detailed explanation of the weapons the White Crushers have in the video for Pulse... that diagram may have been included in another Mad single, but I honestly don't remember. There's also a fold behind that, but it just opens to blankness. If you need the remixes like I need them for Rare Mad, then pick it up, but otherwise, I don't think it really matters if you pick this single up or not.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Tribe

2. Midi Surf (STRRRRIVE!! Mix ver. 2.0)

3. Good Girl (Long Beach Family Remix)

Good Girl single

You know, of all the songs to release as the third single from Osc-Dis, I would've thought it'd be All The Time In Sunny Beach, but Good Girl (Dedicated to bride 20 years after) is a really good choice now that I think about it. A fun punk number with Takeshi doing the chorus? Yeah, I can buy it. Still, Osc-Dis is really one of those "all killer, no filler" albums, so pretty much anything from it that's over two minutes in length could make an excellent single.

This is also one of the single most interesting Mad singles, packaging-wise. The entire... maxi-digipak? maxi-pak? is silver and reflective a la the Japanese first issue of Slipknot's Iowa, which is why some of the angles for this photo shoot are a bit weird, and it prominently features the female Pink Crusher Erika, originally featured in the game Pochi Racing. The disc itself is held in a sleeve made of a material I honestly couldn't name, but reminds me of a paper towel, and there are two paper inserts that the protective sleeve is made of. I haven't stumbled across anything like this before, and I don't know if I ever will again.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Good Girl (Dedicated to bride 20 years after)

2. Step Into Yourself (Ryu Remix)

3. Good Girl (Long Beach Family Remix)

Keep in mind, when I count singles from certain albums, in Mad's case, I generally only count the singles released in Japan. I think All The Time In Sunny Beach was released in the UK through that deal with Palm Pictures, but, I dunno, I don't really count those at the moment... probably just because I don't have a lot of those. The only single I have released exclusively in Anglophone territories is the single for Tribe, and I'll be getting to that one tomorrow. Below are the inserts the disc was slipped between... I hope you all are getting hyped for some of those 14-year-old tour dates.