In our culture of instant gratification, it’s easy to become impatient when major artists don’t release new music. However, while the eight years since Frank Ocean and Rihanna last released albums may seem long, that time is nothing compared to the wait that fans of the Japanese psychedelic band Les Rallizes Dénudés have endured. The Rallizes, one of the most cryptic and secretive bands of the twentieth century, have zero studio albums to their name. Despite this, the band is anything but dead; they live on through the mystique that surrounds them. The band’s history is riddled with tales of political controversies, avant-garde music, and cult followings—it provides a valuable lesson of musical integrity for musicians and fans alike.
Les Rallizes Dénudés was born in 1967 when a group of students from Doshisha University with a shared affinity for French culture decided to meet up in a music studio. Ironically, the studio would become an unfamiliar place for the band, as frontman Takashi Mizutani constantly felt unsatisfied with the music they produced in a studio setting. The name of the band, “Les Rallizes Dénudés,” is somewhat of a myth in its own regard. Mizutani’s love for French poetry is evident in their name, and many have interpreted it to mean “the empty suitcases,” a reflection of the members’ belief that Japan’s culture was a shell of what it was before the war. Others, however, attribute the moniker to a more irreverent origin; some believe “Rallizes” is a play on Japanese slang for ‘high,’ meaning the name refers to feeling naked and high. Still, each of these meanings serves to inform the listener that what they are getting into is going to be anything but ordinary—before even hearing a song.
Besides their name, the Rallizes proved to be different from other artists with their sound too. The band initially tried folk music but soon took inspiration from ground-breaking rock bands, such as the Velvet Underground, and American jazz artists, such as Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, who encouraged them to experiment with their instruments. By the mid ‘70s, the Rallizes were a band wholly unrecognizable from their old selves. In their new sound, intense guitar feedback and harsh vocals were intertwined with simple bass lines which held their songs together. Even if they had wanted to record in the studio, it simply wasn’t possible to capture their unique sound in that setting. Most of the Rallizes’ songs were 10 to 20 minutes long with only a few lyrics and riffs; extended jam sessions, noisy feedback, and soloing made up most of their tracks. Rather than writing new music, the band played the same handful of tracks at their concerts, yet continued to develop their style by evolving these songs as they toured across Japan. Many of the sounds and effects used by the Rallizes were precursors to shoegaze and hardcore. For instance, My Bloody Valentine cited them as a direct source of inspiration. Fans of the Rallizes were drawn in by the psychedelic atmosphere of their concerts and the culture surrounding the band. To be a Rallizes fan was to belong to a community that was determined to unravel the band’s mysteries.
Even with such a devout following, Les Rallizes Dénudés did not preach an ideology. Despite this, they had many political ties which led to some unfortunate outcomes for the band. Mizutani’s Rallizes formed during a time of great social, political, and economic upheaval in Japan. In the 1960s, Japan was rapidly commercializing and adopting American pop culture, something many college students abhorred. Mizutani and his friends were among those students, and they revered French pop culture as an alternative. The Rallizes became the soundtrack of campus protests across Japan, regardless of the issue at hand. Most notably, the band played during the student occupation of Kyoto University in 1969 when students protested the construction of the Sanrizuka Airport. Mizutani himself often wore a white cap, signifying anarchy or apoliticism, to emphasize that he was not affiliated with any political group and just wanted to spread the message of his music. The band’s original bassist, Moriaki Wakabayashi, was not as politically ambiguous. After leaving the band in 1970, Wakabayashi joined the Japanese Red Army and, along with eight other Red Army members, hijacked Japan Air Lines Flight 351. The hijackers wished to bring the plane to North Korea, yet Japanese authorities were able to evacuate the hostages before they reached their destination. While the Rallizes had no affiliation with this event, it forced Mizutani and the band to go into hiding as Japanese intelligence agencies became suspicious of them. This event contributed to the band’s unpredictable nature and complete lack of studio presence from then onwards. After 1997, Mizutani was never again seen in public, and no one heard from him, save rumors of phone calls with close friends. In 2021, his former bandmates announced that Mizutani passed away in 2019. The former Rallizes reunited to release many of the band’s live recordings on streaming services, as Mizutani expressed interest in preserving accessibility to their music before he died. Mizutani died with more myths about him than facts, making him a true folk hero in the underground music scene.
While political discourse and group aspirations certainly played a large role in the Rallizes’ absence from the studio, I remained unconvinced that it fully stopped them from exploring the limits of their creativity in a professional setting. As I looked through interviews and news articles to resolve my question, everything clicked for me after reading an unlikely source: a YouTube comment. On a video of the band performing the song “But I Was Different,” one commenter wrote, “Only in art will Japan ever be this alive again.” I have no doubt Mizutani would agree with this statement wholeheartedly. The Rallizes were never about the money or fame. They didn’t need albums or tours to have commercial success; instead, their long and chaotic compositions echoed the plight of the Japanese people towards preserving their history—the band stood alone and unique against mass-produced culture. Any studio album from the Rallizes would sound too forced, produced, and manufactured. By shrouding their music in mystery, the band could truly express themselves and create a message that was timeless. Many of the Rallizes’ songs are about the night or darkness, and it is in this darkness that Mizutani lives on forever as a symbol of those advocating for change behind the scenes.
As music fans, it is so easy for us to get caught up in the moment, to chase the next album cycle, and to want more music from our favorite artists. Les Rallizes Dénudés proved that less can be more and that music is not just a collection of neatly curated tracks but an experience and a movement. The Rallizes’ greatest success was not their influence, following, or reputation; it was sticking to what they believed in. Because of this, Takashi Mizutani will never be forgotten.
Elliot Anderson is a first-year in the College majoring in Biology and minoring in ten to twenty minutes of NOISE.
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