Up-Tight - Lucrezia (2004)

| Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock | Space Rock |
| Stoner Rock |

Up-tight is one of the most impressive bands emerging from the japanese so-called "second wave" of psychedelic rock (bands highly influenced by psychedelic rock bands such as Fushitsusha). Instead of taking a more experimental/avant-garde approach, Up-tight focus on doing primary what they do best: blending the well-known japanese psychedelic-noise rock with the best of the progressive and alternative rock. Still, comparisons with Fushitsusha and Les Rallizes Dénudés are all worthy, since the band borrows most of its elements from them (but without feeling like a rip-off). Strong drumming, highly structured-but-improvised jams filled with lightning-like noise strikes, shimmering guitars and howling bass, all together with garage-like cold vocals that reminds me a lot of Mizutani (from Les Rallizes Dénudés). Up-Tight is one of those bands that after listening to the first track, you get up and think: "Holy shit! this shit is..! holy shit, this is fucking awesome!". And I must add, Up-Tight owns nothing to the "first wave". In fact, they're as creative and powerful as only a few bands from that time managed to be.

Lucrezia is undoubtedly one of the group's most well-known works, and for a good reason - It's hell awesome. From the opener to the closer, the listener gets stunned-frozen by its awesomeness. Opening with one of the most impressive noise-rock songs that I've ever head since Fushitsusha, Song For Lucrezia I. 10mins of screaming guitar, metal-influenced drums and loud bass - put together in the best way I can possibly imagine. The album then follows with Cool Eyes, a ballad-inspired songs filled with noisy guitars and cold vocals, what reminds me even more of LRD. Daydream Believer follows almost the same pattern, but with a more stoner-rock approach and a more melancholic feeling (with a mind-blowing ending). Long Goodbye is maybe the most space-rock-ish song in the whole album, with a very dense atmosphere provided by the feedback drone, and filled with a mix of stoner-drums, prog/shoegaze-like guitars and a tribalistic/stoner repetitive bass behind it all. The album, which already feels perfect in everyway, gets even more intense with the closer - Song For Lucrezia II, the perfect achievement of everything the band was pursuing during the rest of this CD. 22min of all this elements together, with even more feeling and experimentation. This album really puts Up-Tight as one of the most amazing bands coming out from Japan EVER.

Catalog: ARCD-157 (Alchemy Records)
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