GUERNICA - Kaizou He No Yakudou
(1982 - Yen records)
Guernica was a musical unit formed at the beginning of the 80's by Koji Ueno (keyboards, violin), Jun Togawa (vocals) and Keiichi Oota (artwork, visual concept, lyrics).
Koji Ueno had already been involved in different bands of the first wave of punk in Japan (Shonen Homeruns, 8 ½, Halmens) and used to hang out at the Nylon 100%, a «*new-wave café*» in Tokyo. He met Jun Togawa there, a young girl who was trying to become an actress/model at the time. Koji Ueno has been composing and recording music by himself with a drum machine and synthethizers while he was in 8 ½. A friend of Ueno called Keiichi Ooto wrote some lyrics, thought of the name Guernica and draw illustrations to give a visual form to the project.
He finally convinced the young Jun Togawa to sing on these songs and the trio started to perform at Nylon 100%.
Guernica music was different from everything the post-punk and new-wave scenes in Japan. I can't even think of a western band with a similar sound. Koji Ueno recreated a 1920's/30's cabaret style using only synthetic sounds making Guernica a sort of minimal retro-synth pop group (does it make sense?). Jun Togawa style of singing is very special by being grandiose and hesitant at the same time, I guess you either love it or hate it. Guernica soon gathered a lot of attention from the new-wave scene and what was meant to be a recreation for Koji Ueno began a more serious project when Haruomi Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra, the biggest band in Japan at the time) offered to produce and release a Guernica album on his newly created label, Yen records.
The result is Kaizou He No Yakudou, an 11-track album (13 on the CD reedition) who is still considered by japanese music lovers as one of the best album of the era.
Guernica disbanded soon after the release of Kaizou He No Yakudou. Koji Ueno will release a solo album on Yen records and Jun Togawa will become the most successful solo artist to come out of the new-wave scene during the 80s. I will talk about her solo works and the band Yapoos she fronted in this journal. Guernica reunited shortly in 1988 and released a second album called Shinseki He No Unga.