Rabbitoo - National Anthem of Unknown Country (2014)

A five-piece band comprising some well-established musicians and led by guitarist Motohiko Ichino, Rabbitoo has been winning plaudits on the Tokyo live circuit for the last couple of years as it has developed its sound. The band’s debut album, “National Anthem of Unknown Country,” will most likely be found in the jazz corner of record shops (either physical or online), but Rabbitoo’s music crosses genre boundaries, taking in elements of post-rock and electronica as well as jazz. Many of the tunes are built around repetitive loops and rhythms, with different members of the band given room to break out and improvise over the top, making for some compelling instrumentation. An album full of original music and creatively titled tracks such as “Kiiro Soup, Ao no Pan” (“Yellow Soup, Blue Bread”), “Eat Your Orange” and “Iriguchi kara Oshiete Gobanme no Seki de Matsu Otoko” (“A Man Sitting in the Fifth Seat from the Entrance, Waiting for Something”), it stands out as one of the most refreshingly original releases of the year so far, and will appeal to fans of bands such as Tortoise and Grimace Federation as much as it will to those into contemporary jazz sounds. – Japan Times, Japan