I didn't know that Anamanaguchi was a chip tune band until after I looked them up when I got home. They played in Chicago last Thursday with DJ KKrusty, Velva and headliner Peelander Z.
Anamanaguchi a great rock band and had the crowd jumping and screaming for their entire set. In fact, about 50 or more kids left after their set and didn't stay for Peelander Z!
Anamanaguchi plays hard driving dance rock that's overwhelmingly keyboard/computer driven. The keyboard sounds are chiptune samples from Nintendo games. As I said, I was ignorant of this fact and kept looking around for the invisible keyboard player. The samples are great, but they overwhelm the mix and it's hard to hear the great two guitar attack of Ary Warnaar and Peter Berkman. Also every song is entirely anchored to the computer driven sample track even though they have a great human drummer, Luke Silas and bad-äss bass player, James DeVito. The chiptune is fine, but for this band, it's a gimmick that holds them back. I would love to hear them let loose without the upfront sample track and rock out or add a keyboard/computer player to get rid of the robotic restraints on their sound. Don't get me wrong, I love this band. You'll hear more from them!
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