C. Memi + Neo Matisse: Live at Taku Taku 1981 cassette on Sale

During their brief tenure as a band from 1980-1981, Osaka new wavers C. Memi + Neo Matisse released only one 7” single, No Chocolate b w Dream’s Dream, which has cemented the band’s legacy within the 1980s Japanese Underground. 

Released as a companion piece to BLR-009, the Live At Taku Taku 1980 CS, we see C. Memi + Neo Matisse return to the staple Kyoto venue on April 19, 1981, this time being invited to take part in the now-legendary Answer ‘81 Easter Gig with some of the most infamous names in the Japanese Underground: (pre-Trash) The Stalin, Hijokaidan, Auschwitz, and Hovlakin. 

While the C. Memi + Neo Matisse set at this show lacks some of the hysterics of some of the others sets, which include but are not limited to public urination, nudity, and, well, the actual music of Hovlakin, their performance was one of their best. Yasuo Ueda had become bassist in Neo Matisse and the band was as tight as ever. 

A much more concise set than their 1980, the Live At Taku Taku 1981 CS captures the band at its peak power, seamlessly burning through each song with no breaks or stops. While the lives of each member would take them in different directions and the band would dissolve later that year, it is this same lineup of close friends that would come together in 1982 to record an unreleased LP that is perhaps their crowning achievement. This cassette is limited to 100 copies.