Kahondo Style - Green Tea & Crocodiles (1987) [Vinyl]

Musical boundaries are constantly expanding and being knocked down, and the 1980s saw the line between pop/rock and "new music" becoming harder to distinguish in an increasingly large number of cases. Kahondo Style were a prime example of a group that cannot be comfortably classified into either "rock" or "avant-garde." The large British ensemble was well-schooled in the avant-garde, but performed quirky, often humorous material that was grounded in the form of songs (as opposed to compositions). A ballpark comparison would be the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, although Kahondo Style was goofier and more lyric-oriented.

Few specific details about this seven-member outfit (originally an octet) made it across the Atlantic, but it's certain that they released at least two albums during the '80s. Green Tea & Crocodiles, from 1987, is their high point, with an eclecticism that incorporates references to '60s spy soundtracks, corny Tin Pan Alley, tango, Asian traditional melodies, and old-school jazz, without sounding pretentious. Kazuko Hohki's childish vocals (which betray an imperfect command of English) have a playful charm, and the songs cover unheralded territories like female werewolves, tongue-in-cheek odes to the English countryside, and meditative contemplations of nature. Certainly Kahondo Style were comparable to little else going on then (or since), though finding their albums in North America will be a difficult task.

One of the more overlooked highlights of "new music" in the 1980s, blending a smorgasbord of multi-cultural influences into a whimsical and effective whole. It's not billed as such, but this could be most properly classified as late-20th century art songs, with a far greater accessibility to the rock and pop audience than most projects of this nature. It doesn't sound like it could work on paper--why would you want to hear such disparate influences as Cole Porter and middle eastern-like chanted background vocals mixed together, along with about ten other styles? But it does, in a fashion that's more seductive than challenging.