Formed in 1999, sgt. is a Japanese instrumental group, whose music is mainly jazz rock/jazz-fusion-based but also plays with post-rock, classical, noise rock, and experimental elements. Joining the group live are (Google Translating these names and some of the song titles, God help me) guitarist Satoshi Takashi Mukaiyama, pianist Keisaku Nakamura, and alto saxophonists Ootani Yoshio and Daichi Kambayashi. In studio, the main members are bassist Kouji Akashi, drummer Hitoshi Oono, and violinist Mikiko Narui, who is a total badass and stagedives.
Yep, that’s right, folks. This band has a stagediving violinist chick. You interested yet?
Their four albums are all similar in sound with slight differences in tone and overall mood. They have a fantastic sense of songwriting and can also improvise extremely well. The production is crisp and on-point. In other words, their music makes you “HNNNNNNNNNNGGG” whether you want to or not. Their live performances are downright crazy. They tour Asia a lot, though I don’t know if they’ve ever headed to the States. I sure hope they do soon. 10/10, would go.
Main reason I’m making this thread though:
"Destroy The Galaxy, Create The Power Plant". It’s literally a perfect song. An almost 17-minute epic, with beautiful transitions between sections, a soul-lifting cathartic climax, and better yet, I haven’t met a single person who's disliked it. You’d think subjectivity would kick in at some point, but I must have shown this song to around 30 people now, both on and offline, and all of them have been floored, impressed, and/or left speechless. Maybe someday I’ll discover something that can top it, but as things stand, this is, in my humble opinion, the best song ever recorded. I want it to be the last thing I hear when I leave the earth. It is that damn great.
And they don’t stop there. While these songs pale a little bit in comparison to that beast of a track, sgt. has loads of other downright amazing material such as “From The Galaxy’s Car Window”, “Cosgoda”, “Magnificent Light”, “Epsilon”, “Resuscitations and the Secret Room”, “……… “ (yes, that’s the actual title), “You Are Looking At A Dream That Is Looking At You” and “Zweiter Weltkrieg” (their only song with vocals as far as I know). All of them are masterpieces in their own right, and that’s in a discography that has no poor song, aside from maybe an unnecessary extremely short intro track or two.
Discography:
Perception of Casualty - 2005
Special EP - 2008
Stylus Fantasticus - 2008
Capital of Gravity - 2009
Birthday - 2011
A fifth album is likely coming our way soon. I highly suggest you all check this band out. If you have any doubts, just remember, guys: stagediving violinst. /o/
