Koenjihyakkei at Cafe Oto, Lonson, 31st May 2025 – Will the wonders at Cafe Oto never cease? This small but perfectly formed venue in London’s (currently painfully fashionable) Dalston exists to host the best eclectic music in the world, and tonight we’re treated to a rare gig by Japanese hyper maximalist prog ensemble Koenjihyakkei.
Band leader is legendary drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, who first came to the attention of The Organ the day we placed an album called Burning Stone by some band called Ruins on the trusty turntable, blowing our minds in 1992. Not too long after, Matt Thompson, founder member of Guapo, loaned us his precious CD A Hundred Sights of Koenji, and didn’t get it back for a decade. This was stunning, astonishing music, like nothing else around at the time – in fact both Ruins and Koenjihyakkei and everything Tatsuya Yoshida has been involved in drove the continuing existence of The Organ, the sheer need to tell share this way-to-hidden art with the rest of the world.
Getting hold of Koenjihyakkei recordings outside of Japan was difficult (originally only available on Hoppy Kamiyama’s God Mountain Records, later Tatsuya’s own label Magaibutsu) until the stalwarts at Skin Graft Records got going on re-releases. And getting to see the band live was an impossible dream – until suddenly, there they were, playing the Lexington London in 2019 to everyone’s astonishment, and being as good as everyone had hoped…
No surprises then, that this time around Cafe Oto sold out so quickly in this age of instant electronic word of mouth. What can we call the crowd that turns up to these bands – the If You Know, You Know gang? The age ranges from teens to original proggers, with people from all over the UK, and flying in from Seattle and Ireland.
From the start, the vibe is pure joy. The band smile and laugh as they set up, and launch into the hard hitting start of Becttem Pollt (from 2001 album Nivraym) with the effortless intensity of a band near the end of a tour.
Band? This is a mini orchestra, taking in use of Cafe Oto’s splendid grand piano. Line up is Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, Taku Yabuki keyboards/piano, Ryo Fukuda on bass, Kei Koganemaru guitar, Keiko Komori’s soprano sax and the rather wonderful AH as lead vocals. The songs have the huge drama of wild action-adventure soundtracks, speed opera and the unhinged magickal stylings of Magma. Of course, Magma have to get a mention, not least because the lyrics are in an invented language that sounds like a dialect of Magma’s Kobaian – the key difference being that Tatsuya has said that his version has no meaning and is about the pure joy of sounds and singing.
There are passages where they seriously rock out, even when leaning towards jazzier moments; then moments that feel more Henry Cow/Art Bears. For such complexity, and for a band that needs the occasional sheet music in front of them, the energy is absolutely effortless in feel. There’s something celebratory about the whole set, a big shout of furious, preposterous joy in the face of a world that wants to crush such things. It could be exhausting, but Koenjihyakkei have gotten into their stride, and pull us along in their wake.
Let’s hope there’s more to come, and they return to conquer new audiences – we need them! (Marina)
Previous Koenjihyakkei coverage on these pages
Previous Cafe Oto coverage on these pages
ORGAN THING: Half The Sky’s joyous performances of Lindsay Cooper’s music at Cafe Oto…
THE ORGAN 