Kulara - 5 Pieces Songs | Screamo HAll of Fame Class of 1999 Nominee
Release Information:
1999
Never Shown Face Records
Tokyo, Japan
Runtime: 24:56
Tracks: 5
Band Members:
Murase (Vocals)
Nakagawa (Guitar)
Tanaka (Guitar)
Takaya (Bass)
Kimura (Drums)
At a Glance:
Screamo, Prog, Math Rock, Post-Rock, Dissonant, Dynamic, Complex, Experimental, Noisy, Atmospheric, Dense
Musical Analysis:
The best word I can use to describe this sound is “disorienting,” as the musical complexity, masterclass dissonance and volume dynamics are all wrapped in this unique Progressive aura of experimentation. Slow, disharmonious sections composed from a tense atmosphere and a chilling melody will jarringly and frantically switch to a chaotic section of screaming and uncontrolled musical mayhem, a regular occurrence. It’s quite difficult to transcribe the sound of this beast into English, so I’m just going to recommend you listen for yourself and hear the magic unfold before your ears.
Historical Analysis:
Following Envy’s 1998 LP, Japanese Screamo began to experiment and refine itself, and no artist in the country represented that better than Kulara. After a few middling Screamo EPs, this 1999 release defined them as true innovators in Screamo with this Prog-adjacent masterpiece. The experimentation on here is unlike anything heard before OR after, evidenced by how difficult it was to conceptualize the sound in words. Although this particular release didn’t set the world on fire, it remains one of the crowning achievements of early Japanese Screamo and deserves to at least be mentioned in the same breath as other greats from the 90s.
Lyrical Analysis:
*Please note any lyrical analysis on my end may lack cultural nuance and accuracy in the translation.*
The EP takes you on a remarkable lyrical journey through anxiety and isolation, the violence of silence, losing sanity, the machinization of humanity and the illusion of autonomy. There’s a bitter sense of helplessness as language fails us and cycles of violence trap us. However, perhaps being insane in an insane society is the only true escape. Maybe, to break these miserable patterns chosen for our lives, we must shatter the patterns and destroy the self. Appropriately, this is a bit of Eastern wisdom after 25 minutes of catharsis.
