[ATTENDED: February 20, 2019] YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN
I had heard of YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN on NPR. They played a song off of their latest album Dirt and I was stunned by how cool it was. It was heavy and rocking with prog elements and a chorus that was pure J-Pop. It was magical.
Then I read a little about them. From their website:
They’re a “Noh-Wave” prog collective, a black-and-white (and sometimes red) theatre company, an operatic psych cult, and the speculative prophets of humanity’s impending doom.
The new album Dirt:
was conceived as the soundtrack for an unreleased Haudenosaunee and Buddhist themed Anime produced in 1987. Like UZU [their previous disc], it takes place on the planet Pureland, now 10,000 years after the planet has flooded. The surviving people live within bubble domes floating in orbit. A team of mercenaries descends into the drowned wreckage of the world to receive the last sample of uncorrupted soil.
Though the name of their fantastical universe is derived from a strand of Buddhism and Haudenosaunee that first blossomed in China, its narratives are inspired by the Iroquois story of the creation of North America. The members of Yamantaka//Sonic Titan keep the history of indigenous people close to them and their work, even incorporating hand drums and traditional rhythms into songs
I Just Read About That... 