(Vital Weekly No. 520) First there is The Machine Gun TV, a trio from Japan. They are Jun Masumizo, Hidekazu Miyano and TV - let's safely assume that the latter is a real TV as this six pack (although the cover lists only five tracks) of madness contains many samples sounds from the (idiot) box. Regular, but Japanese pop-music, and on top the other two members play their brand of heavy guitar sounds, rhythms and other madness. Crazy wild high adrenaline music is what the Machine Gun TV is all about. Play this after a hard day's work and you feel reborn - at least I felt like that. - Franz de Waard.

(Ongakuweb 5/15/2006) It's been a number of years since I've gotten new material from Machine Gun TV, who have been operating rather under the radar since they first emerged. Years ago they came over and did a short tour of the U.S. with Coa, following a release from the esteemed Japan Overseas label. Their show was great, but they seemingly didn't have an overall positive touring experience, and haven't done it again since. Now they've finally got a new album available in the U.S., though it's actually more of an EP. Go, released by Public Eyesore, totals 23 minutes in length, with five songs, and the final track, a 12-minute untitled soundscape, occupies half of that. Jun Masumizu and Hidekazu Miyano have a pretty unique style, mixing programmed rhythms and low-fi noises with an unabashed pop feel. Jun's vocals give the songs a large part of their approachability, despite the scary sounds and electronic fuzz and flail that abounds. "Friends" is perhaps the closest thing to a pop song on here -- but it still wouldn't be called "pop" by most listeners, I'm sure. "D4" tosses in sweeping low-end roar and squealing sounds like bombs dropping, but still has a pleasant core underneath. The untitled soundscape at the end is unlike the other tracks, being a 12-minute noise excursion -- a good one. It's not harsh noise, so don't go expecting Solmania or anything, but if you're a fan of the mellower side of Merzbow or slowly-churning noisescapes, you'll find this one to be well done. It's all cool stuff, and it's hard to imagine college radio folks not wanting to give some of this a spin. Hopefully we'll see and hear more from Machine Gun TV in the near future. - Mason Jones

(Indieville) This duo (or trio?) out of Japan play really noisy, experimental pseudo-pop that buries often cheery melodies and electronic beats under layers of warped feedback and white noise. Take "D4" - it sounds like J-pop or something, but it's behind so much noise and rhythm that the peppiness of the song is completely undermined. "Bored" follows in the same suit - it almost sounds like a commercial jingle or something (apart from the noise mutilation going on.) The twelve minute "M" is presumably the record's major point of emphasis - it's an epic of harsh noise, dropping the pop backing for a more purely abrasive experience. This is interesting stuff out of the Public Eyesore label - always on the pulse of experimental (Japanese and not) music, they've unearthed another notable act in The Machine Gun TV. - Matt Shimmer

(Self-Prescribed Saint of the Times) Oh my god, Machine Gun TV are here to annihilate every preconceived notion you had about what a pop song should be. This is noise, this is pop, this is accessible in the most inaccessible way possible. Maybe I just love shit like this too much, but this band really grabbed my ears and pulled as hard as they could until I couldn’t take it any more and had to dance around my chair to be shortly constrained by the headphone cord linked to my computer. Yep, it’s Japanese alright, and the band has three members: Jun Masumizo, Hidekazu Miyano, and TV (who may or may not be an actual person). The guitars are distorted in a completely fucked way, the vocals mesh with the onslaught of static, the drum-machine beats are fun and gosh-darnit even danceable, and the noise flows from the speakers like Jesus just turned wine into soundwaves. Stereophonic drifts help make this record essential for headphones, just so the sheer presence of it all can overwhelm each and every thought process in your thick little skull. The bouncy melodies are buried somewhere beneath the onslaught of guitar and drums, while the adorable vocals melt through the compositions like acid searing your brain. Full, overwhelming and abrasive yet still loveably cute and catchy, this band is what obliterating pop music is all about. - Cole Goins

(WXYC, Top Albums of 2006) And odd choice for #1, maybe, but this album got more repeated listens in my stereo than any other this year, and for good reason. The infectious J-pop melodies were lodged in my brain for weeks, and completely assaulted thoughts with a deranged sensory overload. The sound conveys an image of one of those cute Japanese schoolgirls smiling seductively at you, all the while holding a machete and a stick of dynamite behind her back. Drum machine beats were buried beneath a mountain of sound and destruction, tearing apart song structures and erasing any trace of mediocrity. Theres so much joy on the brink of insanity, taking ecstatic anthems and sticking a rocket in the ass of the beholder. Im as clueless as you are, but I know that I like it. - Cole

(Brainwashed) A short little burst of spastic drum machines, pop vocal loops and goofy samples are just primed to bring out the Great Cornholio in all of us. And how can you NOT like an album with chicken and sheep sounds? This is a short, succinct CDR of 5 listed tracks (and a hidden bonus track that, at 12 minutes, comprises about half of the disc's length). The five listed tracks cop the Boredoms' early ADD feel: all spastic sub machinegun drum machine outbursts, random samples and squealing feedback noises. "Bored" and "Friends" have the added charm of a toy store Casio synth plonking along, sometimes even on the demo song. Loops of sampled J-pop vocals are noticeable as well, and the overall feel could induce epileptic fits just as easily as those early Pokemon episodes. The unlisted bonus track is a different beast entirely, bass heavy electronic noise, marinated for a few weeks in reverb and then dragged behind a car for a few days. It's rumbly, it's lo fi, and it's great—the perfect a soundtrack for a mega caffeine drink fueled weekend of old Nintendo games. - Creaig Dunton

(Chain D.L.K.) I've always thought that the Japanese music scene (noise & experimental) is populated by aliens and Machine Gun Tv are the proof that I am actually right. The first half of the cd is an unusual amalgamate of catchy jpop jingles raped by bursts of noise... and surprisingly it works fine! The second part of "Go" consists of a 12-minute, well executed but not so exciting drone. This cdr was released 2 years ago and I couldn't find any recent info on the web. I've never heard anything similar but they will surely appeal to japanoisu junkies and maybe even intrigue some fearless shoegazer lovers (in which I include myself). Stunning! - Andrea Vercesi

(Broken Face) Let’s continue the Japanese thread with the pretty extreme The Machine Gun TV. What we have here is a noise combo that includes just about everything in their sonic suitcase. Utterly schizophrenic pop and song segments and a myriad of weird samples wrestle (not gently, this time out) with primitive layers of electronics, programmed rhythms and guitar attacks. It’s a noise feast to say the least, but it is also catchy and even danceable. Add to all this a welcome sense of humor and you get yourself a disc that will scare away just about everone you know, but the few that will stay around will be forever thankful. - Mats Gustafsson