#Imai not-so-secretly loves Krautrock and no one can convince me otherwise

[kunstmull]

From this interview:

―― And for Kemonotachi no Yoru, it might’ve turned out the way it did as a result, but it seems like it was meant to be (the Makuhari Live’s) theme song.

I: Uhhuh. I really like it.

―― What do you think of Sakurai-san’s lyrics?

I: I think it’s already a perfect fit. In the beginning, the working title for the demo was “Autobahn”. Then even after Sakurai-san gave it those lyrics and finished recording the song, it was still “Autobahn”. So I was getting worried about that. And then Sakurai-san said to me, “Hey, this isn’t going to be called ‘Autobahn’, is it?    I think the lyrics are completely different (from that title) though,” and some days after that, I changed the title.

Excuse me, but What?

獣たちの夜 (Night of the Beasts) was originally called AUTOBAHN?

(I mean, this does confirm my suspicions from my Ash-ra post about Imai and his Krautrock thing, and the titles just being completely misunderstood or disregarded by Sakurai)

I would never have guessed it from listening to the final version(s) of the song, but now he's mentioned it, I can kinda hear it? Mostly in that the song is basically just one giant riff that keeps building and building (very Krautrock, tho this particular riff is more Amon Düül II's Archangel Thunderbird than Kraftwerk). And also, of course the theremin-solo in the middle. But most of all, the kind of slippery gear-changey sounds woven around the transitions between guitar chords that sound like a portomento on a monophonic synth like Kraftwerk used to record the passing-car noises on the original Autobahn. (Those are the kind of tiny, perverted sonic details that make me love this band!)

Earlier in the interview, Imai said that the song changed a lot between demo and finished results - damn, would I love to hear that more Autobahn-y demo, tho.

―― And you’ll be releasing a single. RONDO has a tie-up where it’ll be used as the ending theme song of Gegege no Kitaro, but what was your concept for Kemonotachi no Yoru?

I: This was in my stock. It’s completely different now, but the demo which was made from that riff was there. From start to end. But I completely forgot that it existed. I opened a folder in my PC and saw it, then when I wondered what it was and opened it up, this was in there (lol).

―― Right. Listening closely, this song is made of the one same riff going on from start to end. I thought that it’s got quite a crazy composition and it really turned into a good song (lol).

I: I thought, “Oh, right I made that. Ah, this is cool.” And making use of that guitar riff and the vibe of that demo, I redid it from the start and turned it into Kemonotachi no Yoru.