Raw Guitar Trio Nisennenmondai Inch Closer to Techno on New Track

Nisennenmondai are an act that's quite hard to categorize. The Tokyo-based female trio of Masako Takada, Yuri Zaikawa and Sayaka Himeno have been making raw and loopy distorted guitar music for over 15 years ("Y2KBug," the English translation of their name, reflects their new millennium origins). In the past few years, however, their noise loops have begun to emulate the sounds of techno. Though there isn't a drum machine or synthesizer to be found, they instead build their tracks, which often stretch well past 10 minutes in length, with an impressive array of guitar pedals, grooving basslines, and incredibly fast and precise drumming. Minimal, organic and noisy, their music works as well at home as it does in a nightclub.

After their breakthrough album, 2013's N, Nisennenmondai have attracted quite a bit of attention outside of their native Japan. They followed up with N', an EP of remixes produced by British techno veteran and Skull Disco label head (Sam) Shackleton (a longtime admirer of the band), and are due to release their next full length, #N/A, a collaboration with dub producer and On-U Sound records founder Adrian Sherwood. With him on board, the trio were able to deepen their sound, and create something even more streamlined and engrossing than their previous works. The instruments are mixed together flawlessly, shifting in and out of focus as waves of noise and steady percussion propel their tracks forward.

Previously released only in Japan, the worldwide release of #N/A, which arrives in April from On-U Sound, features five tracks, including "#5"—premiering today on THUMP—a cut that perfectly captures Nisennenmondai's noise syncopation technique with chugging metallic guitar, whipshot percussion, and four-on-the-floor bass lines. Stream it and watch a promo video for the album below, which will also contain two live dub mixes originally produced by Sherwood in Tokyo last spring.

THUMP got a chance to catch up with the enigmatic band over email, and ask them about their collaboration with Sherwood, and their connection to dance music.

THUMP: Can you talk about your collaboration with Adrian Sherwood?
Nisennenmondai: Well, this project was always intended to be a collaboration—that was part of beatink's plan. It started because we were asked to do a gig where Adrian was going to be doing a live dub mix, and then we decided to try recording two or three songs with him producing. And then before we realized it, we were making an album. Until then we had almost no experience of being recorded and produced, but we were just so compatible with Adrian.

Can you talk about some of the first DJs, producers, and records that got you excited about dance music?
We were mainly listening to mixes through internet radio stations or on streaming sites. If there was a song we liked, we'd be like, "Who is this by?" We were just kind of listening at random. The first things we liked were mixes by James Murphy and Shintaro Sakamoto (from the Tokyo psych band Yura Yura Teikoku), and it kind of gradually grew from there.

Your past two releases have been collaborations with Europeans—Shackleton and Sherwood. Do you feel more connected to the dance music scene in Japan or in Europe?
We're not very well-acquainted with the scenes in Japan or in Europe, but we do sometimes feel we've been better accepted as a band overseas than in Japan.

What you think is the ideal setting to listen to the new record? Do you think it's best experienced in the live setting? Or at home on headphones?
Personally, at home on headphones.