It’s always good to be able to describe a band as eclectic and New York husband and wife duo Wet Pinkey are nothing if not eclectic with their self-titled debut album being an endearing mix of east and west stored in an urban basement.
It may seem an odd thing to say about any band’s music but I kept thinking of Wet Pinkey’s album in terms of an ever changing light show. That might well have been due to Masashi Ohtsu sounding like he was alternately auditioning as guitarist for the Chocolate Watch Band and the Grateful Dead whilst suffering from a case of fuzzbox overload. Chinatsu Ohtsu likewise switches between English and Japanese bringing a positively perverse cultural perspective to what often sounds like the songs from a garage rock band brought forward in time from 1969 and, as the album rolls on, you can just hear the lava lamps and strobe lights.
However, what lifts this band so far out of the abyss of mediocrity is the sheer determination on show. They just go for it like a man and woman on a mission. Escaping the confine of low budget recording isn’t easy either and yet Wet Pinkey succeed. I don’t know if the world needs a “head” band but, from the metronomic “Niku Jaga” to the trippy “Instra Mental”, Wet Pinkey would be an excellent candidate to fill that role.