Cactuses Come in Flocks

The first half of Cactuses is a live recording from a 1992 improv festival that took place in a small room at Tokyo University; the second half is made up of four-track recordings created in mid-1994. As many voices from across the literacy rainbow are quick to point out, Melt-Banana is nothing if not a force to be reckoned with. Because they have unlocked the secrets of prime-number hardcore and gorged themselves on influences ranging from the Damned to Patty Waters, Jim O'Rourke to Merzbow, and Gertrude Stein to Mr. Bungle, they appeal to a fairly wide range of freaks and lovers of high-decibel controlled chaos. Compared to every kind of animal on every kind of drug imaginable, Melt-Banana and their weird blend of mystical awareness, hysterical screech, and moderately robotic attention to detail are magnets for believers in ampheto-core, avant garde appreciators, and no wave loyalists.