The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Review
General Information:
Artist: The Mad Capsule Markets
Album: Osc-Dis
Genre(s): Digital Hardcore
Subgenres(s): N/A
Released: 1999 (Japan), 2001 (UK and USA)
Length: 41 minutes
Language(s): English, Japanese
Label(s): Victor, Invitation, (Japan) / PalmRyko, Palm Entertainment (US/UK)
Track List:
01. Tribe
02. Out/Definition
03. Square Wave (Pulse)
04. Multiples
05. Mob Track
06. All the Time in Sunny Beach
07. Island
08. Restart!
09. Jag
10. Step into Yourself
11. Good Girl
12. Midi Surf
The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Cover
The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Review
Osc-Dis (shorthand for Oscillator in Distortion) is the 9th studio album by Japanese digital hardcore band The Mad Capsule Markets, who meld drum machine loops and samples with live percussion and their hardcore punk foundation. Not content with this combination already creating as much sonic mayhem as possible, all of the vocals are heavily distorted to the point where you often can’t tell where the English begins and the Japanese ends. However, this isn’t necessarily a negative because the lyric delivered in English haven’t translated that well so this mask of distortion plays right into their aesthetic and ultimately their advantage. Whether this is by design or sheer coincidence will never be truly be determined.
From the nu metal inspired Tribe to the gabber fuelled Restart! or drum and bass infused hardcore punk anthem Square Wave (Pulse), which is arguably their most well-known song in the Western world after being featured in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 video game, this proves that The Mad Capsule Markets influences are many and are still able to find a cohesive vision through all of genre mixing. The only time that the band properly slows down and takes things in the opposite directions is on the 10th song, Step into Yourself, which has the guitars playing more like a wall of static rather than anything with a discernible melody and features some quasi-rapped vocals, the monotonous chant of “step into yourself” and some more choppy drum machine loops that certainly creates a unique song although it doesn’t have the same appeal as many of the others.
With both English and Japanese lyrics clashing together alongside hardcore punk and an assortment of sounds from electronic music genres, Osc-Dis is where worlds collide in an undignified yet entirely gripping fashion.
Performers:
Takeshi Ueda: Vocals, Bass, Programming
Motokatsu: Drums, Programming
Toruxx: Guitar, Programming
Kyono: Vocals
Additional Performers:
Hirosuke, Yamada and Katsya: Additional vocals