HAPPY FAMILY – 4037 (CUNEIFORM RECORDS)

Prime exponents of Zeuhl Music, Japan’s own answer to King Crimson, Magma and Univers Zero, are described as a “furious riffing” band with “intense energy” and “noisy, angular drumming” by Prog Archives.

“4037” is an EP fan club release in a limited edition of 100 CDs (and DL on Bandcamp). There are four tracks in all: “Pygmalion”, (5:35) with agitato style, trebly electric guitar sonic excursions, electric piano “stabs” and charged-up rhythm section. “Hypocrisy” (4:16) adds organ to the soundscape with heavier guitar and the noisy, angular drumming referred to earlier. “The Flying Man” (5:08) is redolent of Egg in an infusion of Canterbury music with a reflective passage of piano. “Itchu” (6:24) exhibits the wide-ranging experimentalism of a top progressive band.