4 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft

Produced by: ?

It’s amusing that the cover art apparently isn’t from the same show that this DVD covers – everyone is wearing different outfits – but no matter.

Are you familiar with Zeuhl?  If you’re a Ruins fan, you likely are, whether you know it or not: that weird blend of jazz, improv bursts, falsetto vocals, and everything under the sun makes up the mish-mash known as Zeuhl, which is, itself, a made-up term from made-up language Kobaïan from Magma’s Christian Vander.  Uh huh.  Just nod along.  Anyway, as part of this, a lot of what you were assuming as Japanese you didn’t understand is actually nonsense you will never understand, except in how it fits with the frantic music.  Koenjihyakkei maybe isn’t as frequently drum-intense as Ruins, but Yoshida Tatsuya’s stick work still impresses, especially as captured live, and Yamamoto Kyoko’s intense vocal work is equally amazing to hear and behold.

Reviewing this as an actual set, I don’t know how much I can offer; you’re either down with the manic sound or not.  Mostly covering tracks culled from the group’s Skin Graft releases, we get a fine mix of balls-out stuff, solo magic, and some laid back classical / jazzical bits.  At about an hour, it’s just enough, and it’s easy to get mesmerized by how spirited everyone is.

You could wish for a more energetic crowd, or at least front row, which seems less enthused, and the bass is unfortunately inaudible, but the recording is otherwise quality.  The fun is really in seeing how slickly this is pulled off live, and although some presumed breaks are edited out, the group never bails on effort or energy the whole way through.