New Satanicpornocultshop: The Rise And Fall Of…

ByPatrick St. Michel

This year is already feeling like a particularly strong one for Japan’s juke community, with plenty more to come. Yet Osaka outfit Satanicpornocultshop just went and dropped the first great front-to-back album of 2018. The Rise And Fall Of… doesn’t mark any massive departure from their usual sound, nor does it find them even pushing juke music into some new, experimental territory. Rather, it finds Satanicpornocultshop sticking to the style’s basics, loading up on jittery beats and sliced-thin vocal samples sourced from all over the place. Part of the fun is just in seeing what they pull out next and take a knife to —- Edwin Birdsong’s “Cola Bottle Baby” (errrrr, or is it Daft Punk?) gets mashed up with Auto-tuned gurgles, Michael Jackson becomes a stutter, and Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” goes through the meat grinder on the tongue-in-cheek “Ooo Sperman.” This set is just really fun, and for all the clever nods and small jokes, Satanicpornocultshop make sure the tracks here move and bump. Which, ultimately, is one of the keys to the genre. Get it here, or listen below.

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