Has anyone heard these bands?

Natsumen is a pretty well-known (to some extent) instrumental free jazz band with a post-rock touch to it. You guys probably know them, since Keikaku has reviewed their Never Wear Out Your Summer album some years ago. They have some crazy tight songs with a lot of tempo changes, strong themes within the tunes and some crazy guitar feedback noises. Some of them bear cacophony. Their first drummer was Beat Crusaders' ex drummer, maseeta.

BOaT it's the former project of both Natsumen's guitarists, AxSxE and AINe, before they disbanded with fellow bandmates. They're kind of a pop-ish band with some noise rock aspects. At first some songs sound confusing as shit, but once they grow on you, they're awesome. Some say that they are as much influencial as Number Girl. It's funny that their last two albums are out of print and some people just sell them on Amazon and Yahoo! Auctions for about $100+.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UynZeTfWJGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91r8ngW_Rx4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBeFy3VcgY

So, what you guys think?

Last two songs were pretty cool. I couldn't really get into the first one to be honest. I'd like to hear more, though I think I'd rather listen to BOaT.

Yeah, BOaT is awesome. I've been listening to them a lot these days. It's a shame that they have such short discography... and when they finally hit a major label, they just disbanded, lol.
Their range of sounds is somewhat confusing sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuzocXS0S1c - They go through this standard J-pop song with cute vocals and it "twist" in the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNpHvPkj7oQ - To random and goofy songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9C9G_zfzq - And sometimes songs with great emotional hooks.

And they kinda have this influence of funky guitars... it's really amazing.
If you wanna some stuff from them, just pm me, I'll be glad to share.

[quote="Mapleglo"]Has anyone heard these bands?

Natsumen is a pretty well-known (to some extent) instrumental free jazz band with a post-rock touch to it. You guys probably know them, since Keikaku has reviewed their Never Wear Out Your Summer album some years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UynZeTfWJGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91r8ngW_Rx4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBeFy3VcgY

[/quote]
Never heard of them actually, but thanks for pointing them out!
[quote="Raiden"]Last two songs were pretty cool. I couldn't really get into the first one to be honest.[/quote]
Well, I thought that first song was .. . Pretty, pretty cool. Reminded me a little bit of Jabberloop.
Definitely gonna check this band [NATSUMEN] out!
[quote]They have some crazy tight songs with a lot of tempo changes, strong themes within the tunes and some crazy guitar feedback noises. Some of them bear cacophony. Their first drummer was Beat Crusaders' ex drummer, maseeta.[/quote]Yup, Solid.

[quote="Mapleglo"]At first some songs sound confusing as shit, but once they grow on you, they're awesome. [/quote]

I gave a couple songs a listen, but yeah, so far I'm still at the 'oh god this sounds messy' point.

I found a lot of songs by them, and I found some of them to be kind of like if Nine Miles met pop. Pretty fun relaxed stuff. (BOaT that is, I'll get around to listening to NATSUMEN later.)

[quote="terra"]I gave a couple songs a listen, but yeah, so far I'm still at the 'oh god this sounds messy' point.[/quote]

It takes some time to get into it, really. For first-time listeners, I strongly suggest their last and first album, RORO and Fruits Lee, respectively. It's the most "cohesive" entries on their discography. RORO has more calm, relaxing songs with laid-back vocals tinged with a little melancholy. Fruits Lee is packed with good pop rock songs, not the noisy stuff they made later on.