The Departure『Dirty Words』
When I was in junior high school, I started listening to Western music and soon after, I wanted to explore it on my own rather than just being taught by others, so I bought two CDs in a row.
The first album I bought was "Rooster," the first album by a new hard rock band called Rooster.
The band has stadium rock elements in tracks like M1 "Joyride" and M2 "Come Get Some," and what really stands out is the coolness of their guitar playing.
Actually, I just realized as I was writing this that I had thought they were a US band, but they're actually a UK band. I'll listen to them again carefully.
The next album I bought was The Departure's first album, "Dirty Words," which I will introduce here. In stark contrast to Rooster, this album has a charming dry sound that is reminiscent of post-punk.
I first fell in love with the dark atmosphere of the jacket and bought it, but I loved the first track, "Just Like TV."
Post-punk (revival) bands of the time, such as Bloc Party, had a dark sound but also had unexpectedly melodic elements, and I remember being struck by that balance.
On the album, track 9 "Be My Enemy" is a well-made song that makes you want to hear it live.
The only thing I regret is that all 11 songs are relatively similar in style. If this had been an EP with about half the tracks, it might have been more impactful.
My favorite by far is M2 "Talkshow," the fastest song on the album, clocking in at just three minutes.
First of all, the scratchy guitar intro is irresistible, and the vocals, delivered with a slightly spastic quality atop the precise rhythm of the bass and drums, are also cool.
S, who was in a band with me at the time, said that between Rooster and The Departure, he definitely preferred the latter, but I was still more interested in major labels at the time, so I preferred the former.
However, as time passed, I became more and more drawn to post-punk and new wave music.
As a result, I avoided Rooster-style stadium rock as much as possible in my twenties, and now, in my thirties, I feel like both are cool after all.
When I think back to when I was in junior high school, when I was presented with two choices, I had a near-obsessive belief that I had to choose one and discard the other.
Of course, there are many situations like that, but on the other hand, there are also times when you like both, think they're both great, and there's nothing wrong with that.
That may be a bit of a sneaky way of thinking, but I think it's a good thing that we've become able to perceive things in such a flexible way.
By the way, back in junior high, S and I were talking about how the fast-paced beat of "Talkshow" reminded us of something, and after listening to it again and again, we came to the conclusion that it was "Dive" by the British post-rock band Bauhaus!
I will never forget those days when we spoke passionately about how, rather than looking for flaws, we might ask ourselves, "Maybe this and that are similar? Maybe they've been influenced by each other? Well, what about this? Let's try combining ideas!"
