Deef: 脳 (Nou) 12"

Deef, forming in 1979 in Sapporo City, Japan evolved from a school-age free jazz group into a raw hardcore band influenced by the global explosion of political punk and hardcore, as well as Japanese bands like The Stalin. During the early era, their Anti-Emperor gig series “Ten-Nou” was targeted by right wing groups, facilitating a change to the more clandestine “Nou-Ten” Gig, a phonetic play on words changing it’s meaning at face value. Keeping in mind their first cassette, 脳, was released before the Outsider Omnibus LP (GISM, Gauze, Comes, etc) when there were very few points of reference for DIY hardcore in Japan, the tracks on this LP show Deef pushing the envelope with the sound and intensity of their music comparative to their peers. This LP version of 脳 includes the first cassette in its entirety, tracks from the infamous, and almost non-existent Nouten Rockers omnibus from 1982, a completely unreleased studio EP session, and a furious live set from their earliest era, which shows some of the earliest influence of Discharge on Japanese hardcore. The audio has been specifically remastered for vinyl and sourced from the original master tapes. The LP includes a booklet with color and black and white photos, flyers, and liner notes and history in both English and Japanese.

Our take: General Speech presents the entire recorded works of the obscure 80s Japanese hardcore band Deef, spread across two LPs. Never releasing vinyl during their original run and living in the isolated northern city of Sapporo, until these reissues, Deef’s name was known only to a handful of fanatical record collectors and hardcore archaeologists. Forming in 1979 when the members were 12 and 13 years old, Deef was among the earliest hardcore bands in Japan, and on the 1982 recordings collected on 脳 (Nou), it certainly sounds like it. Particularly on the tracks from the original 脳 (Nou) cassette, it sounds like Deef is inventing hardcore as they go, speeding up fairly standard-sounding punk songs to ever-faster tempos. There’s a sui generis quality to it that reminds me of the Neos, the sound of young minds doubling down on philosophical and aesthetic extremes. By the time they recorded the last 3 tracks on the a-side (labeled here as an “unreleased E.P.”), they were more deliberate, varying tempos and evoking a sinister, rather than playful, atmosphere. Had that EP come out on vinyl, I think Deef’s place in the history of Japanese hardcore would be very different; certainly an artifact like that would sell for a lot of money in today’s collector market if it existed. On the b-side of this LP, you get a well-recorded live tape featuring many of the songs (and a similar performance) as the 脳 (Nou) cassette, including a song that I’m not sure is a cover or or just a rip-off of Discharge’s “A Look at Tomorrow.” Some of you might prefer this earlier, formative version of Deef, while others will prefer the slightly more realized material collected on the second LP, Real Control, but if you’re a Japanese hardcore fanatic, you really need it all, particularly when you throw in General Speech’s informative and period-appropriate packaging.