Download from Bandcamp

Now available as a Glass Mastered Compact Disc in a lavish DIGIPAK jacket - packaged with a 12 panel Fold-Out poster insert including lyrics and artwork. Produced by Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke.

Includes unlimited streaming of Scratch or Stitch via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. "Scratch or Stitch sits among subsequent Melt-Banana releases with an air of superiority” - PITCHFORK

“Punk in its purest form, but no “punk” that any originator of the genre
ever imagined... One of the best bands in existence” - LOUDER

“Perhaps their dense energy was was borne out of the frustration of having to go to high school six days a week...? There’s no slack in the MELT-BANANA oeuvre... when they play there are no questions” - ALTERNATIVE PRESS

-----------------------
Remember that ashes always seem to find a place and settle. Out of the ashes of old, Melt-Banana sizzle and scream, slide and skitter, scratch and stitch, heralding a new wave.

Melt-Banana are real. They walk on water and effortlessly juggle all of those sharks nipping at their heels, the ones that think they’re swimming in new, unexplored territories. Here are the imported children of no waves gone by, a hardcore-informed maelstrom of experimental heart surgery - straight from the heart of Tokyo’s ferocious underground.

In short? Take all of the scrabbling atonal dissonance of no wave, bathe it in the hysteria of hardcore, then rinse with the acceleration of speed metal. Repeat.

Musical guests include K.K. Null of Zeni Geva and Jim O’Rourke of
Brise-Glace. Recorded in Chicago by Steve Albini. Mixed by Jim O’Rourke.

-----------------------
FUN FACT(S):
The video for "Sick Zip Everywhere" was rejected by MTV in the states, but was honored as one of the best videos of the year on MTV in the UK.

Long before "Scratch Or Stitch" was released, Melt-Banana vocalist Yasuko Onuki provided backing vocals on Yona-Kit's "Franken-Bitch" alongside Jim O'Rourke and K.K. Null who would, in turn, later guest on "Scratch Or Stitch".

"Scratch Or Stitch" was released in the USA and Europe in the summer of 1996 in conjunction with a co-headlining European tour with U.S. Maple. Also in the United Kingdom, SKiN GRAFT had been able to arrange Peel Sessions for U.S Maple, and Yasuko and Agata joined in on two of the tracks. The oft-talked about U.S. Maple "Banana-Peel sessions" have never been released.

The "Scratch or Stitch" album was originally released as an elaborately bundled limited edition vinyl LP. The LP was limited to 2600 copies, packaged in a full-color silk-screened rubber jacket, accompanied by a lyric booklet, poster and a special MELT-BANANA temporary tattoo.

On the strength of the release, MELT-BANANA made another swipe of the US, touring as a headliner for one and a half months in September of 96 and headlining the second night of SKiN GRAFT's OOPS(!) indoors festival along side Lake Of Dracula, You Fantastic! and Mount Shasta.

original release date: 10/31/1995
re-release date: 09/30/22