Chu Ishikawa
It’s rainy season in Japan and that means it’s time to slosh down to Tsutaya and rent for the nth time the cult classic Rokugatsu No Hebi, or A Snake of June. Shinya Tsukamoto’s 2002 film noir is the wettest thing ever. Literally, it never stops raining as married, sexually-frustrated Asuka Kurosawa is drawn into the clutches of a mysterious chubby pervert played by Tsukamoto himself. In the rain. If there only there was an Oscar for Best Wastage of Water, eh, Shinya?
Having already collaborated with Tsukamoto on Testuo and Tokyo Fist, industrial musician and composer Chu Ishikawa was the obvious candidate to soundtrack A Snake of June. The results are predictably as dark and wet as a piss-stain on the Marunouchi Line. Putting to good use his collection of bizarre instruments, Ishikawa, also a member of metal percussion unit Der Eisenrost, creates the perfect sonic accompaniment.
Darkness? It’s all there in the industrial clangs and scrapes. Rain? Check (by comparison, Riders On The Storm is a camel writhing with thirst while coughing up dust on a sand dune.) In short, hunt this one down. And yet, when choosing a standout moment, I have to go with One Summer Day’s mischievous reggae break in the clouds. Did I say it was raining?
