The Students have a frustratingly perfectionist attitude towards their demos, with numerous versions of their songs circulating at various times in various combinations over various CDs so there should be no reason to suspect that what I'm listening to now will be in any way the same as what you would be listening to should you ever get your hands on one of their CDs in the future. Still, they've gone to the trouble of making a cover for this one so like a butterfly collector, I dive on it and pin it to my CD player where it is now spinning and gently vibrating, in order to record this rare moment for posterity.

The title track is the newest recording here and it is the song that best captures all aspects of their sound. The mixture of high speed screaming and vaguely out of tune poppy bits is in place and captures the ferocity of the live performance well. However, as with all these tracks, the pressures of home recording mean that Tetsurou Suzuki's drumming has to make way for a drum machine, and as a result, the changes in time signature are a touch too slick, lacking the exhilarating energy rush as he drags the rest of the band backwards or propels them forwards as if they were a powerful, wild horse. Elsewhere, “Noroma No Roller”, with its angular stabs of guitar, joyous overuse of phasing, and glorious, soaring chorus, is a pop megahit waiting to happen, and “Marin Marin”, which has gone through more versions than I'd care to remember, is perhaps their most defiant and fiery punk statement.

There's something of The Raincoats in the way these deceptively simple songs reveal more and more on repeated listens, with Atsushi Oba engineering all manner of studio cleverness, particularly in the bass department, and fashioning bizarre intros, outros and interludes that subtly counterpoint Akiko Yoshida's raw and powerful vocals. Nevertheless, The Students are warm where The Raincoats were icy, and there's a passion on display in these songs that is uplifting and innocent in a way that few bands these days could equal. -Ian Martin, Sep.14.04.

Zundoko Hyorohyoro