Leave it to me to create a post that’s not “evergreen” for a record that positively radiates with fun. Imagine Parliament set their mothership to Japan, and along the way picked up Gang Of Four, then decided that they really like techno-kayo music. Well, The Voice & Rhythm, led by the late, great vocalist and guitarist Osamu Ichida was actually that dream come to life. On The Voice & Rhythm’s Ohh!!! all the great ideas that Osamu had, finally came to ahead. At its core, Ohh!!! is ferocious funk music, but you’d be hard pressed to consider it just that, as it opens up its sonic edges to lots of interesting ideas floating around its time.
I’m scrounging around my head trying to think of other Japanese bands with a similar vibe. Imitation, Ippu-Do, P-Model, Chakra, and Colored Music immediately come to mind but even they rarely gave themselves up completely to the joy of partying down and that groove. The Voice & Rhythm is a soul band first and foremost, that was the difference.
Its origins, arguably, began when Osaka native Osamu Ichida left Japan and settled in the mid ‘70s down in Memphis to be closer to the blues and soul artists he grew up loving/listening to at home. Once he returned, he began a band called SOO BAAD REVUE to create a Japanese version of this music he heard. Afterwards, he’d join Char (a bad papa jama himself) to front GAS, an acoustic soul review, of sorts. It wasn’t until 1983, in the first iteration of The Voice & Rhythm, that Osamu’s hard-nosed ideas on soul started to take shape.
On their debut, a huge 7-piece band, backed by vocalist Mari Kaneko and other talented musicians like Goro Masaki, Yu Fujii, and more, their self-titled debut showed Osamu bringing in what seem like ideas from groups like Talking Heads, B-52’s, and Earth, Wind, and Fire, into his musical expanse. It was a trip for sure. Songs “lttamae Music” sound like long lost Ze Records singles. Others, like “Lu-La-Lu”, lilted like classic Moogy Memphis Quiet Storm burners. Osamu knew he had something special and they toured relentlessly off that record, burning up places where people were trying to perform smoother City Pop music. Their debut remains something special but their sophomore release would prove to be even more impressive.
In 1984, Osamu once again remade/remodeled The Voice & Rhythm. Losing Mari to her own solo career, and whittling down the band to an augmented three piece crew, together with continuing members Goro Masaki (drums) and Yu Fujii (bass), they decided to created even more leftfield dance music. I’ll stake out that post-disco and dance-punk of the wiry, New Wave crowd had transitioned Osamu’s ideas from semi-loyal Westernized funk into twisty, angular electro-funk band. You don’t get there, I think, unless your ears have been tuned into some A Certain Ratio and the like.
The thing about Ohh!!! is that the rhythm and groove is relentless. Stuffed to the gills with production treats and tricks, and played with even more abandon than before, The Voice & Rhythm mkII was more interested in drowning the dance floor with good vibes than think about a set homage to anything. One listen to the opener “The Voice & Rhythm II” and you’ll get what I mean.
Angular, noisy funk, with a deep, propulsive groove lays the base down for a crowded chant urging to you get to movin’. Osamu’s guitar tone appears to divorce itself from the pristineness of earlier work, making it a forward-thinking move into contemporary music. The whole A-side ventures to other realms as well. The Rap-Rock of “しゃき·しゃき·らっぷ” sounds like little else in Japan, at that moment.
On other tracks like “Chance to the Music”, glorious synth embellishments take something that could sound like a Remain In the Lights homage into a wicked dance workout. The guttural James Brownian vocals of Osamu are also a welcome change. The instrumental “Vitamin Z” takes the dubby influence of The Clash and reimagines it as a different kind of urban stroll where sirens tumble through all sorts of controlled sonic chaos as Osamu releases a torrent of smooth guitar work. “Go Go Vibration” takes the minimalist funk of elsewhere as a way to vibe out on P-Funk waves. Simply relentless, Ohh!!! gives you rare time for your booty to catch your breath.
There will be moments to lay back. The flip side begins with “Slow Fire” a 6-minute, YMO-like minimalist Pop ballad that unfurls into a justifiable, simmering burn (complete with fiery guitar solo!). Then things pick up again with another leftfield vocoder-esque instrumental “ピラニア天国”. The tropical, Walearic, “Ondomon” then sneaks in, reminding me of Yasuaki’s flipside to “Today’s Latin Project”. “Pira-Co” a twisty moody post-funk piece, then sneaks in with sax lines that seem to float by like an eerie apparition.
The best is saved for last, though. “Everybody毎度！On The Street” is the little known, Japanese answer to “Flashlight”. Nearly 6 minutes long, it hooks you immediately from first panning drum and bass line to the final chop, chop guitaring of Osamu. Little things add up to keep the momentum going. Personally, I love that little vocoder hook that seeps in, and all those assorted samples that reverse and flip themselves to reveal an even deeper groove. But as The Voice & Rhythm take it to the bridge, the break (in my opinion) rivals anything you hear anywhere and the groove winds down to a vocoder-led breakdown that I swear that no one, except Sir Nose’d D’Voidoffunk, can resist. This is as close Osamu got to seeing eye to eye with his past, and rightfully so, called this group a day afterward. There’s no way he could have topped this funk mountain, no way!