Natisuta Hetekata - Ki LP

Majora Records (USA) 1997

Yksi olennainen osa improvisaatio-noisen ja noise-rockin välistä kulttuurikeskustelua 90-luvun Suomessa:  

"Just a sort of a hoax band but without even the record labels being aware of it, Natisuta Hetekata were advertised as three Japanese exchange students living in Oulu, Finland, joined by a couple of local musicians. In reality the whole concept was concocted by the Bad Vugum label and members of their flagship band Radiopuhelimet, who, by the mid-90s, were slightly irked by the fact that some of their former champions in the international underground press seemed to have forsaken the Finnish brand of inventive Noise Rock and replaced it with improvised Free Noise which had become all the rage in some circles.

The final straw, so to speak, was provided in an editorial of a New Zealand noise zine, in which it was declared that the first proof of the superiority of Free Noise is that anybody could just rock out and even fake it, whereas in Free Noise it was impossible to fake anything without being caught a mile off. Bad Vugum and Radiopuhelimet took it as a dare, and devised a mischievous plan for shits and giggles.

First, it was decided that all the while trying to steal some of the thunder of Japanese noise, the band name should be a joke that's clear to Finnish-speakers only.  Also, the stage names of the three core members were taken from Japan's Olympic gold-winning ski-jumping team in the Sapporo Games of 1972 (but without their biggest star Yukio Kasaya, which might have been too well-known for comfort).

To make sure that a recording session would not show any trace of competence or proficiency, it was decided that all contributors should be as drunk as possible. This is also how the two extra players, Petri Hannus of Jolly Jumpers and the Oulu-resident icelander Ari Eldon were recruited from local bars on the way to the rehearsal space, where a used c-cassette was taped over with an indecent little mono recorder.

Next, a round of just two demo tapes were sent out to opposite corners of the world - and while Seattle's Majora were the first to offer a deal, also a free noise label from New Zealand wrote of their approval. Majora didn't even get to learn of the basic concept before the relationship was severed short, as the label refused to use the sleeve art sent by the band.

In Finland, the first media reactions were none the wiser: even Rumba magazine couldn't decide on an amount of review stars but gave "Ki" just a question mark, for the first time in the magazine's history.

Full first line-up:
"Takashi Fujisawa" (Jyrki Raatikainen)
"Seiji Aochi" (Jarno Mällinen)
"Akitsugo Konno" (Antti Annunen)
Petri Hannus of Jolly Jumpers
Ari Eldon of Bless/Dr.Gunni

Kunto:  kuin uusi, liite mukana.