Rovo are an instrumental electronic space
rock band from Japan. They also describe themselves as Man driven Trance (MDT) .I can’t remember where I first heard of this band but it
was some years ago. They have rarely ever played outside of Japan (NYC, a few
festivals in Europe) until 2013, when they made a collaboration with System 7
(Steve Hillage and his wife). Few outside of Japan had heard of them. They were
formed in 1996 by former Boredoms guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto, Bondage
Fruit electric violinist Yuji Katsui, and synthesizer/effects technician Tatsuki
Masuko. In addition, they have two drummers ( Yasuhiro Yoshigaki and Youichi Okabe.
The bass player is Jin Harada. The line up has been very stable and the band
has developed its own unique style over the years. This is the first time I have ever written an
article describing a bands entire history and music catalog.
The
bands first release Pico (1998), was
a quite experimental piece of work with lots of experiments in electronic percussion,
space soundscapes, etc. The basis for the direction the band would head later
is evident later in the record but this is almost like trance techno but real
drums and bass playing a very repetitive Neu like groove over which there is
some spacey violin mixed in. Very cool stuff. A 12” record was released prior
to the CD with the tracks Vitamin and Cisco on it. I have never seen this in
real life.
In 1999, the band released the Imago CD. Horses and Kamara from
The band was pretty active in 2001 with a
split release with DCPRG, the new studio album Sai and then TONIC, a really excellent double live
CD from 2001 and takes the best songs from their two concerts in New York City.
It was mixed by Bill Laswell. The opening track on CD2, Cisko is just amazing
space rock and reminds me of my own band, Øresund Space Collective. Sai has 4 tracks in 40mins and starts
off quite spacey with some wind, violin but still some intense percussion as it
slowly glides and takes form and the lots of spacey sounds shooting around the
soundscape as the violin takes the lead on the opening track.. Vida starts with
some percussion and then suddenly at about 3mins really kicks in full strength
with violin and rest of the band. Great bass playing on this track as it goes
through two phases where it comes back to where it started with just
percussion. Rano starts with a synthesizer loop and some windy static as some
other sounds slowly layer in and get mixed around in the soundscape. The last
song Seer, is nearly all percussion based with some really intense cymbal
playing and the occasional entrance of some keyboards or guitar or violin.. it
is hard to tell but quite experimental.
I never heard the split release with DCPRG, so I can’t tell you about
that one..
In 2002 the band released the Flage CD as well as another live CD,
Live At Liquid Room 2001.05.16 (I finally managed to get this one!). The band
has released at least 5 limited live CDs from their concerts over the years. Anyway,
Flage was a long CD with 6 tracks
spread over 70mins. It starts off with Canvas as it starts slowly with some
beautiful violin and then the drummers kick in and there are some super cool
spaced out synthesizer sounds. That track was 14mins. Sukhna has some really
amazing violin playing as the band just really build up the track.. Great stuff
and cool spacey synths at times also. Canoa is slow and has a lot of funny
sounds as a synth line repeats over and over. No intense drumming on this one
after that last mindblower.. Spica starts off quite relaxed with some nice
violin over the layers of synthesizers. The drums keep a normal slow rhythm
until about 2 mins when the bass player kicks in and the track takes a left
turn in a totally different direction, almost like dub music but not quite.
Na-X is a very slow, relaxing and beautiful track and there are no drums until
6 mins and then a really cool bass line takes the track in a sort of strange
funk-dub weirdness direction. It stays pretty spaced out though. Mov is very
floating with no drums, just synths, some bass, and the violin comes in around
7mins and around 9 mins it starts to build up and the percussion come into the
picture and things get a bit more intense but still not real drums but then it
all fades away around 15mins. Overall this album was a bit more relaxed and
spacey.
Then Mon, came out in 2004. This CD had a
really cool cover and contained 6 tracks. Urma starts off like a spaced out
piano jazz track with the fender Rhodes piano taking the lead, even though one
is not listed. Later Yuji takes over with the violin. The track stays quite
jazzy but also some spacey sounds mixed in here and there and the drummers also
take some solos. Perhaps he is using the Yamaha DX7 for this Fender Rhodes
sound? I like the fact that the two synth players list the instruments: Roland
SH09, Roland SH100, Juno 106… Around 5
and half mins it is time for Seiichi to unleash some guitar as well as it really
becomes like a jazz improve jam. Cool stuff. Loquix is one of the rare tracks
that starts with a guitar but then becomes what I would call the regular high
energy Rovo track but then this disintegrates around 5mins into a very spaced
out section where the drums and synths are the main focus and then bam,
straight back into a high energy piece with floating synths and violin. Haoma
starts with a really cool synthesizer, very sci fi movie like. The bass and
drums come in next with the violin as the track slowly grows. After a beautiful
violin solo the track devolves into an almost tribal drum jam, which is really
cool. Nov starts with some delay guitars, intense drumming and bass before a rather
short 6min track takes off. Saraca
starts with some almost new age like synthesizers. After a long violin solo the
track dies down to just some spaced out sounds and fast drum beats, could be
synthesized or real, a bit tribal. It all starts to build again with another
violin solo as the rest of the band raises the tempo once again. The track ends
gently around 10mins. Reom is the last track and starts with a nice repeated
guitar line and then some intense drumming as it takes you on your last
journey. A really brilliant CD.
The band came back to Europe in 2004 and played
in Belgium and this was released in 2005 as the Live At Magasin 4 - 2004.06.04 Brussels, Belgium CD. This 4 song CD
has a quite raw sound but what a massive performance. There is a lot more
guitar playing on this live show than nearly anything Rovo have released.
Seiichi is just awesome and the 17min version of Cisko that ends the CD just
blew my mind. Very powerful and psychedelic!
I highly recommend hunting this one down despite the more raw and less
produced sound. 
The next studio album was Condor in 2006 in a beautiful digipack
format and contained 3 interconnected pieces. The band was now down to a 6
piece after the synthesizer player, Koji left the band. The first piece is
called Aires. It starts off with a simply strummed guitar and beautiful violin.
A synth slowly makes its appearance with a sort of annoying high pitch that is
sustained and then the bass comes in and the synths get really spaced just as
the drummer enter the scene. This is a very easy going but beautiful track that
slowly builds as all the players come together to create their magic. Some of
it is a bit jazzy the way the guitar and keyboards are played over the slow
rumbling bass and steady drums, with the violin mostly taking the lead. I like
the way the space sound builds towards the end as the track remains very melodic.
This track was quite long, nearly 20mins! The 2nd track is n’Popo.
This one starts off with the bass taking the lead as some bells ring in, some
synths slowly grow from very low in the mix to more dominant and everyone
slowly works into their place. I don’t know but I am guessing a lot of their
songs are recorded live in the studio with not that many overdubs! At around
3mins it becomes pretty funky but in a very slow way. Cool guitar and bass.
Around 7mins the track fades out into space and all sorts of stuff goes on and
is experimented with before the track bounces back to life as it leads directly
into the 3rd and last track of Condor. This track starts off and is
quite relaxed like the opening one and very melodic. A cool album and a very
different vibe than Mon. Very different.
Also in 2006 the LIVE at 京大西部講堂 2004.07.18 CD/DVD was released and this was really amazing. This was
recorded in a club on a very hot night and featured most of the tracks from the
Mon CD as well as two from Flage.. It also has an extra track, one of my favorites,
Cisco, from their show in Belgium from 2004.
They for sure improvise live as Seiichi plays a lot more solo guitar
that on the records. Sounds is great and it is well filmed but as they use
mostly all close ups you don’t get to really appreciate the cool visuals but
you can see how much the band is sweating. It looks like it was really hot.
Great show.. The video and the sound of the extra track, Cisco from Belgium is
quite low quality compared to the dvd and take from the video camera audio and
not a mulittrack recording but what a cool and great song.
In 2007 the band made another collaboration
and this ended up as the release: Rovo with Alejandro Franov, Fernando
Kabusacki, Santiago Vazquez - LIVE at 東京キネマ倶楽部 7／7 2006 (2xCD) (2007). This CD is just one long track that lasts 39
mins. The extra musicians are from
Argentina. Alejandro plays additional keyboards, sitar, sanshin and Irish
flute, while Fernando adds another guitar and Santiago percussion and singing.
The piece starts off very slow and building with some wind, percussion and
people testing the ground, so to speak. It is remains quite dreamy as the
keyboards and violin slowly enter and the drummers creep up behind the others
and the first hints of the sitar appear around 4mins. A really cool guitar
kicks in around 6 mins and the vibe changes a bit. By 10mins a solid groove is
going and around 13mins Santiago starts to sing a bit. Around 20 mins it is
like a sort of jazz piece the way the piano is played the interplay with the
musicians. Around 30mins, they have this really cool slow groove going with
great percussion and Santiago starts to sing again for a while. The track has a
slow spacey ending like the beginning. I really enjoyed this CD.
2008
brought the next studio album, Nuou.
This CD comes in a very beautiful digipack. The CD features 5 tracks and some
new instruments are introduced. For instance, Jin, the bass player plays didgeridoo,
harmonica and kalimba. Yuji plays viola as well. I found it a bit funny that
they say all songs written by Rovo, except tracks 1, 3, 4 and 5, where they
credit specific musicians in the band. They should just say track 2 written by
Rovo and then credit the specific people for all the other tracks. This is just a funny detail on the difference
between English and Japanese. Anyway, Koo starts things off with a simple
guitar riff and then some synths start to bubble up here and there as the rest
of the band start to join in. It is funky but is a strange way with some cool
delays on the violin. This is a really psychedelic track and the funky vibe
just increases with the guitar playing while the others just space out. Ouo
starts with the keyboard as the drummers slowly appear and other synths sounds
bubble up behind. A bit later the guitar comes in an around 3mins Jin plays the
harmonica! A very cool groove is going now and this track lasts over 12 mins
and slowly fades out of the last minute and directly into the track Melodia.
This one is slow, melodic and features some beautiful playing by Yuji. The
drums build up to be quite intense as we soon reach the 10min mark, while the
melodic beauty of the track is retained. Agora brings back some more intensity
but around 4 mins it gets very spacey and quiet and then takes off one last
time. Cool dynamics in this track. Cado is the last song on the album and again
quite some funk and dub thrown into the mix. There is some really great stuff
on this record.
Also in 2009 the band released another DVD
from the MDT festival in Japan from May 2008. This is an amazing DVD. They
start playing before it is dark at this huge outdoor amphitheater and it slowly
get dark and the lights and projections are just amazing for this concert and
the band has a great energy. The set is more of a mix of tracks from Nuou and
older and nothing from Condor for instance. Great sound on this as well. I like
this DVD a lot. 
When
2010 rolled around the band put out the album Ravo. Tanger starts things off with a more intensely mixed
synthesizer than normal and a cool smooth mid pace groove. The violin playing
is also very melodic and playing into the sounds of the synth. Quite groovy.. About
7mins in there is an intense solo that could be harmonica, violin or guitar
depending on how you want to hear it!! At the end of the solos it devolves into
a drum-percussion jam and then the violin comes back again. Great track and
13mins long. Eclipse is next and starts quite smooth and with great drumming
and playing with the keys, violin and guitar all slowly noodling away and
finding the space in the great growing rhythm and it reaches a peak at 5 and
half mins and then comes down and changes directions. Baal has an almost techno
like synth and Moroccon like violin line and a bass line that is challenging
the track to take off. This is a super cool song with many layers. The drums
are no so complex and driving the track, letting the other instruments
especially the violin move the piece forward. It is not that often there are
long keyboard solos in Rovo songs but that was a great solo that followed the
violin. I wish there were more guitar solos on the records but he plays more
live! Amazing song and you can hear it below. RMD is next and this starts slow
and spacey. As the track grows there is a lot of guitar on this track, which is
nice and Seiichi takes a long solo with some nice delay guitar. As the track
passes the 10min mark, the track is really uptempo with the violin really
leading the way but lots of cool spacey synths in the background on this one. Sino+
ends the CD with a slowly repeated bass, guitar and keyboard line as it slowly
gets a bit faster and faster. Every record these guys make is pretty
interesting.
In 2012, the band released the dub version of Ravo, simply called Ravo
Dub. It came in a larger than normal size heavy cardboard sleeve with the CD
inside and no booklet or much information. The synthesizer player Tatsuki and
violin extrordinare, Yuji, mixed the dub versions of the tracks 1,2 and 5.
Guitarist Seiichi mixed tracks 3 and 4 at a different studio. They did a pretty
cool job on this and it is pretty psychedelic with a lot of long delays
primarily on the percussive instruments and messing about with some of the
synths as well.
In 2013, the bands next studio album Phase was released. It
featured 5
tracks in about an hour. They are using some more new age and more modern
synths it seems on this record. Did Tatsuki get a new one (Mopho)? The opening
track Batis has more synthesized drum sounds mixed with real drums and Yuji is
really taking the lead with the violin on this one, while there are two main
synth lines, a kind of new age one and a more trippy one running a long. Compass
brings back both drummers and starts off with a solo before the others join in.
Later there is a real synthesizer solo, which is quite rare for Rovo. I wish
the guitar parts were mixed higher on their records as often you can’t really
tell there is a guitar but on this track he plays some cool stuff. Amazing
track. D.D.E. is next and a very intense track with a fast pace and a repeated
theme that just sort of builds tension. MIR, perhaps inspired by the
International space station is next and starts with a beautiful guitar line. It
is quite slow compared to the last track and just slowly grows with a nice solo
by Yuji. This track remains more dreamy and glides in over 12mins. The last
track Rezo brings the whole record full circle with a very slow spacey start
that slowly grows by 6mins as the drummers push up the intensity and then it is
very spacey at the end. 
In 2013, the band released a CD single
collaboration with Steve Hillage and his wife (System 7), called Hinotori and it featured 5 tracks. Some
of it was System 7 remixes of Rovo songs (Hinotori and Eclipse) and others were
just Rovo tracks including the edit version of Hinotori as well as the awesome
track Batis from the Phase CD, I just reviewed above. The last track on the
single is a 3rd version of Hinotori remixed by Evan Marc. This was not the last of this project
though. In 2014, a full length record
called Rovo and System 7- Phoenix Rising
was released. As you might
expect this album is quite a bit more electronic. It is basically Rovo
performing material written by Steve and Miquette except the interpretation of
the Mahuvishnu Orchestra track called Meeting of the Spirits. Sometimes there
are some techno beats mixed into the live drumming but mostly it is pure Rovo
with some additional guitar from Steve and synths from Miquette. I found the CD
to be very cool and enjoyed it a lot and yet something fresh and different from
the band.
This also saw the band return to play some
concerts in Europe and the UK for the first time in many years. I was so
unhappy I missed the London show in March 2015.
The band has laid low in 2015 and not
released any new albums and played a few shows (see the clip below). There is a video of them
performing at the MDT Festival (See below), where the 2008 DVD was filmed and
the band has some shows coming up in Japan in December. I am sure they will
have a new record in 2016, which I very much look forward to hear. I would love for my band, Øresund Space Collective, to
get a chance to play in Japan with Rovo! On a tour or at their MDT festival in
Tokyo! We play all instrumental space rock and I think the fans over there
would love it! A good chance for Rovo to turn on their fans to a new band. A
dream would come true for me as I love Japan and also Rovo!!
DISCOGRAPHY
1st 12'EP「VITAMIN!/CISCO! (1998)
PICO! CD (1998)
2nd 12'EP「HORSES!/KMARA! (1999)
Imago CD (1999)
PYRAMID CD (2000)
ROVO / DCPRG Split CD (2001)
Tonic (2001)
SAI CD (2001)
FLAGE CD (2002)
Live At Liquid Room 2001.05.16 (CD) (2002)
Live At Hibiya-Yaon 2003.05.05 - Man Drive
Trance Special- (2xCD/DVD) (2003)
MON CD (2004)
Live At Magasin 4 - 2004.06.04 Brussels,
Belgium (CD, Album) (2005)
CONDOR CD (2006)
LIVE at 京大西部講堂 2004.07.18
CD (2006) (Also on
DVD)
Rovo with Alejandro Franov, Fernando
Kabusacki, Santiago Vazquez - LIVE at 東京キネマ倶楽部 7／7 2006 (2xCD) (2007)
NUOU CD (2008)
LIVE at 日比谷野音2008.05.05 ～MDT FESTIVAL～ DVD (2009)
RAVO CD (2010)
TOKYO session
2009.9.22 (2010)
LIVE at 日比谷野音2007.05.05 ～MDT FESTIVAL 2007～
RAVO DUB CD (2011)
Phase CD (2012)
Rovo And System 7 - Hinotori CD single (2013)
Rovo And System 7 - Phoenix Rising CD (2014)
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