TEKE::TEKE - Montreal, QC

Biography

Psychedelic rock group TEKE::TEKE are intimately familiar with duality, of splitting reality between past and present, complex melodies and hushed interludes, intense action and lingering response. After building their sound through careful assembly of countless splinters of Japanese folk, psychedelia, Brazilian surf rock, and other far-flung touchstones, the Montreal-based seven-piece indulged in and learned from stretching out in free-floating experimentation on the road. Now on their sophomore album, Hagata (on now via Kill Rock Stars), TEKE::TEKE move fully in the space between, embracing the power of mythic pairings and identities lived at once. Matching muscly intensity with moments of cloudy meditation—like a world-class high jumper finding bliss at the apex of their leap—the group frame expressive compositions with regal flute, rich horns, ecstatic guitar, and a thumping rhythm section.

Recent Press

"The Montreal pysch band's second album plays like the soundtrack to the craziest cult film never made."
- Brooklyn Vegan

"'Garakuta' is a wild concoction of flutes, psychedelic guitars, unrelenting pace and circuitous fun. Can you imagine Amon Düül tripping on acid in the middle of Japan? Something like that."
- Shindig Magazine

"Spitfire songs...frenzied mishmash of guitars, trombone, assorted Japanese instruments, and Kuroki’s singing — guttural, physical shrieks in her native tongue — bears a manic energy that bleeds into even the ballads. ....engaging in a cross-continental musical scramble while flirting with detonation."
- The New Yorker

"There is but one TEKE::TEKE, a band that simply defies all expectations, creating cinematic “punk” music at its most imaginative. There’s little that can prepare you for their sound, and most attempts to explain the magic of the Montreal-based septet fall short. Their music demands to be experienced, their record’s as immersive as they are unpredictable."
- Post-Trash

"...this music instantly puts you in a Seijun Suzuki ultra-cool world."
- The Wire

"Mischievous, unrestrained, and daring, the Montreal psych-rock collective’s second album boldly redefines a sound they’d already redefined."
- FLOOD Magazine

"The highlight of my weekend was happening upon the Canadian Japanese rock band TEKE::TEKE. […] They were one of those bands, helped by the alternately angry and welcoming charisma of the singer Maya Kuroki, who nobody knew before and everyone was talking about afterwards."
- The Times UK

Hagata

• FIRST PRESSING ON LIMITED EDITION "SEA-FOAM BLUE" VINYL

From the tender-hearted “Jinzou Maria” to the rumbling and raucous “Yurei Zanmai”, the songs of Hagata bear an eerie yet somehow familiar sensation. Japanese pop tones, Serge Gainsbourg grandeur, folk whisper, and Brazilian surf rock all mix into the psychedelic stew. Blending past and present, from Canada to Japan, multiple lives lived at once, each track carries a sense of change, impact, of having been marked in an intimate way. And yet the force behind that marking is always just out of grasp, a wisp, a ghost, an energy, a spirit that compels you to keep reaching. And at the end of the day, the concrete answer of how that bite happened is far less thrilling than the bite itself. On Hagata, TEKE::TEKE move beyond the idea of walking across multiple paths, instead existing so fully in the space between that the usual constraints of creativity no longer apply.

1. Garakuta
2. Gotoku Lemon
3. Hoppe
4. Onaji Heya
5. Me No Haya
6. Doppelganger

7. Setagaya Koya
8. Kakijyu
9. Yurei Zanmai
10. Jinzou Maria

Cat. No. KRS746
Release date: June 9, 2023

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Shirushi

On their debut album Shirushi, TEKE::TEKE blend classic Japanese balladry, surf rock, psychedelia, and more to produce a set of songs that play like soundtracks to a wildly eccentric epic film saga. From the spiritual tale of “Yoru Ni” to the stomping adventure ride of “Kala Kala” and the doomed romance of “Dobugawa”, the Montreal-based seven-piece find a mystic cohesion. By tearing apart roaring punk guitar riffs, folk instrumentation, poetic Japanese lyrics, and big band energy, Shirushi builds a dazzling mosaic of styles and eras.

After initially forming as a tribute band for Japanese guitar legend Takeshi Terauchi, TEKE::TEKE learned that they had to tear up their surf-tinged covers and build something new. Since then they have expanded their already wide scope into a dazzling journey through classic Japanese balladry and Brazillian psychedelia alike. Fusing everything from traditional Japanese instrumentation to punk guitar, TEKE::TEKE have created their own musical universe--one that’s continuously expanding.

1. Kala Kala
2. Yoru Ni
3. Dobugawa
4. Barbara
5. Kizashi

6. Kaminari
7. Sarabande
8. Meikyu
9. Tekagami

Cat. No. KRS688
Release date: May 7, 2021

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