BOREDOMS

Two-headed Snake

I remember picking up on the Boredoms around the time this album was released - though by some strange act of faith getting my hands on Vision Creation Newsun instead. The experience was somewhat underwhelming - mostly because I had heard so much good about this band, and especially hearing friends relegating them as some kind of second coming of the psychedelic royalty of the 70s, got me all worked up like a small dog sniffing in the prospect of a nice little anus. What I got instead was a quirky, strange and yes very psychedelic album, but truth be told: I wasn't ready for it at the time - at least, I wasn't ready to give it the benefit of a doubt, and there it laid, under my bed together with a couple of 80s Queen and Scorpions albums collecting dust and other small life forms. Fast forward to 2009 and me getting my hands on this little blue record, because of a mix up in the record store: Boredoms?!?!?! WTF!!!

I am however a practical man, and inside my big black stereo this album went for a number of times, and surprise surprise - I suddenly had grown quite fond of Boredoms - that is without listening to them for a period of 4 or 5 years...

Seadrum/House of Sun is both this album's title as well as being the individual names for the 2 long cuts hiding underneath its blue cardboard cover. Now, while I have come to adore my aforementioned bed lurking Boredoms record, this one is somewhat of a hit and miss experience. It probably should be the other way around though, especially seeing as this music lies much closer to Krautrock, a style that I have come to love like a small dolphin.

Seadrum is like a relentless jack-hammer that drills its way into your brain. The main ingredient is the drumming, which is damn smack in your face all up front in the mix like a hairy stripper in church. There is literally no getting around them, they sound like a steaming chu chu train huffing and puffing all the way down the line - without a single moment of laying back, smoking a cigarette or just feeling around for some other inspiration than the maniacal onslaught of Thomas the Train on Ritalin(I don't count 30 seconds of meandering as a break inside a piece that lasts a terrorising 23 minutes - more like: Hey dude I lost my drumsticks!). Overhead, up on the tracks, you'll find a small train carriage transporting a huge beat down piano with a mad schizophrenic has been heavy weight boxer that somehow believes he is standing in a Las Vegas boxing ring fighting the 10th round of his once big championship break - hammering the keys to a pulp - up and down the instrument like a raging whirlwind of trip trapping untethered notes. At some point you also are served with Eye's bizarre, unique and wordless vocalisations that flutter frequently in between the high school xylophone segments and those snuffling tribal drums. Now, as much as I like a good heavy beat down/hoe down all crammed full of storming rhythms and confused piano bits, I struggle to see how Seadrum would ever appeal to but a few scattered avant guarde Krautrock heads with an affinity for the monotonous and drilling. No way... but I still like it though.

(One could state that this whole release revolves around the repetitive and monotonous - playing around with micro-tonal patterns within a given sonic template. Both tracks sponsor a distinctive unwillingness to unfold beyond the minuscule, which in all fairness is a very difficult thing to pull off. The Berlin School of electronics is perhaps one of the only styles that I personally feel does this successfully.)

House of Sun then comes on like a hazy nocturnal Persian princess with long luscious hair black as tar - alluring you into her bosom with sensuous mantraing eastern sounds of seduction. Sitar, tanpura and wonderfully floating and organic electronics now suddenly appear like small flowers opening up on a damp field. The music has grown calm and pensive - transformed into a gentle Indian beast of docile and endearing touches, that caress and massage you like a series of well-placed oceanic waves softly rising up from the sea, kissing your body with all of the might they can possibly muster. Again, this track also churns out that same merry-go-round feel - the monotonous pattern of a toilet swirl gone metaphysical - yet on this the second cut, it is much more pleasurable and tasty, at least to these ears. I could listen to this music for days on end - lying illuminated by a remote sunbeam licking up every sonorous drop of Persian Princess juice.

3.5 stars

I'm with James on this Boredom release. There isn't much here that can be recommended, even to Boredoms fans, as most of these songs are extremely random, even for Boredoms. The songs Sexy Boredoms, Magic Milk, and Boxodus are pretty bad and more less completely random noises, they seem to have, similar to songs on the Chocolate Synthesizer album, arranged them in the most annoying way possible. While sometimes this can make for a interesting listen, here it does not. The other songs, Go Come Uparks and White Plastic See-Thru Finger are recognizable as songs, but only Go Come Uparks reaches the greatness of the crazy songs off their studio albums, with it's quirky almost tribal sounding beats and "vocals". White Plastic Finger is a rather forgettable song that seems like it was a song recorded for a studio album, but didn't make the cut. Which seems to be the case with most of these songs, save Uparks.

Not something I can really reccomend, even to fans of Boredoms, so stay away. The only saving grace here is the song Uparks, which might make this worthwhile to some, but not most people.

Super Roots 3 is one of an ongoing series of "roots" E.P. by Boredoms. They have nothing that ties them together except for the name roots, so it's not like some ongoing concept or anything, which I thought at first.

Anyway on to the great krautrockin' jam we have here that goes on for an incredible 30-31 minutes. While this isn't exactly true Krautrock, it borrows heavily from it, as it is highly repetitive, with drums rarely changing beat. However this album is also much different from any krautrock I've heard, because the guitar is rather Sabbath-y sounding, with this really great riff on going and very rarely ever changing it up, save for a couple of moments around the middle where the beat is changed a little, but this really does not last for too long, as it quickly reverts to the original riff again. In some ways this is reminiscent of their song Seadrum, from their newest studio album, but this is much, much heavier than that song.

If you have ever wanted some really heavy krautrockin' then you will be much pleased with this. This record is much deserving of a five star, and is a indispensible record for the krautrockers out there.

IIIIIKIKKIKIKIKIKKIKIKKIIKKIKIKKIIKIAKAIAKAKAIAKI - Boredoms, TV Scorpion.

G-Machine, Wood Pecker, Buzz Fuzz Mix, Aaaahg. Those are only some of the "instrumenst on this album. This is Boredoms doing what early Boredoms did best. Being generally insane, crazy, and chaotic. And it's great! This probably won't find too much appeal to many people here, but for the few who can take this wild ride, it is a treat.

If you were forced to say what they main platform of music played here, it would be punk, but that is an extreme understatement, as this has the ferocity of punk, The Residents, some Zappa influence here and there, and the biggest of all Japan. This is a completely unserious band and album and it shows in abundance, there isn't a song on here thats goal is anything, but to make you laugh, I feel. There is plenty of that going on during this album, I laughed more times during this album than any of Frank Zappa's. The song names, "lyrics", and playing are all crazy all seem to just make your day a little bit brighter, but only if you let it.

Some personnal favs out of this insanity are TV Scorpion, Z & U & T & A, Jup-Na-Keeeeeel, and on the cd I got, there was four extra tracks, Milky Way, Songs Without Electric Guitars, Hawaiian Disco Bullocks, and Hawaiian Disco Without The Bullocks.

Good album for thos people who need some insanity and general chaos added to there lives.

Oh my.

This is a perfect record for all you krautrockers out there. I have to say I still have a hard time getting over just how good this album is. Boredoms have created their finest record to date with this album, and one that is also much more accessible than their early noise rock experimentations and general chaos. While this album has its fair share of chaos, the first of two tracks, Seadrum is an amazing quick tempoed track with fast and unrelenting drumming courtesy of three drummers/percussionists, some almost operatic like singing, and some keyboards that almost sound like windchimes. If you have ever wanted to be blown away be a song then this 20 minute long monster of drumming awesome is for you. The kraut influence is felt pretty well on this with the drums becoming reptetive after about the first 5 minutes, but they never get old. Once this song gets going, it also doesn't calm down till the ending part.

The second song is a much tamer affair than the first song, and possibly a little more accessible, if you love long raga drones, which I do. This is one of the better raga drones out and like other reviewers have mentioned, similar to Popol Vuh. Some people will probably find this song extremely boring, but for people who love Psychedelic drones and meanderings this will please you a lot.

It is sufficient to say that this is know one of my favorite records period. What with the great juxtaposition of heavy intense and calm and relaxing, this record is a magnificent release by Boredoms, and to anyone put off by their early releases give this a try, as it is an amazing piece of Prog.

— First review of this album —

Rebore Vol. 3 is basically a gigantic mix of Boredoms songs mashed together by DJ Krush. While a lot of people have already been dishusted by seeing that this album contains someone who has released hip-hop albums (really good ones though, I am a fan of DJ Krush), this isn't what I would call a hip-hop album. There are certantly lots of Hip-Hip beats going on, but nothing that stops this from being an excellent Avant Prog record. As I said before this is a gigantic mix of a bunch of different Boredoms songs, all thrown together and mixed by DJ Krush. He does a really good job with the mixing, and never does it feel like you are listening to the same thing on other albums with interesting transitions between them, and this album never grows old throughout its whole 40 plus running time. This album really works perfectly on its own, and you need not have listened to anything else by Boredoms to like this album. It gets highly repetitive at parts, and has taken a fair amount of cues from Krautrock and Psychedelia, and of course a lot of Boredoms insanity.

This is an excellent addition for your Prog collection if you have an open mind and willing to try new stuff.

This two-track album from BOREDOMS, Japan's most famed exponents of drone-laden experimental music, certainly appears to have divided the band's fans. I feel this is mainly attributable to the disproportion in quality between the two tracks on show here.

'Seadrum' is surely one of the group's finest moments, where passion and innovation adjoin beautifully, generating a truly unique experience. The song includes magnificent, tribal vocals, which precede the watery-sounding keyboards perfectly, whilst the pounding, almost ritualistic crescendo drumming of Yoshimi P-We infuses vivacity and urgency. Despite its 23-minute runtime, and typically droning nature, 'Seadrum' rarely threatens to relinquish its hold upon the listener, and repeated listening reveals new dimensions and aspects to the music, lending it unprecedented longevity ? a truly Prog virtue! 'Seadrum' is the absolute epitome of BOREDOMS' soaring, somewhat hallucinatory sound.

Unfortunately, the antithesis of this is 'House Of Sun', another 20-minute drone, but this time, jangling guitars and sitars form the crux of the track. However, the music moves in no tangible direction, and, unlike 'Seadrum', the drabness of the melody inspires only unwanted languor. Perhaps the band felt they were cunningly juxtaposing the energy of the opening song with the tedium of this, however the effect is inauspicious, and almost manages to sully the euphoria stimulated by the outstanding opener.

Strangely enough, despite the utter monotony of 'House Of Sun', I would still recommend this album to fans of the band, purely on the strength of 'Seadrum', which is one of my favourite BOREDOMS compositions. Besides, perhaps the fully-fledged drone aficionados out there will convey more appreciation for the closing track than I have.

Really great, and really noisy. If the idea of Japanese people screaming their heads off sounds unpleasant to you, turn back now, but if you're into that sort of thing you'd be hard pressed to do better than the Boredoms. What makes this album fascinating is the way the band jackknifes from one genre of music to another at seemingly inhuman speeds. Once you get past their demented vocals and nonsense gibbering, their musicianship is actually very impressive. Making those kind of rapid fire changes is not easy, although it's unclear how much is the result of studio manipulation rather than the performance itself.

Like an overworked pinball machine, the music on Pop Tatari pings from punk, to metal, to surf, to psychedelia before you have time to catch your breath. The only place it slows down a bit is toward the end, when they settle on a sludgy psychedelic guitar riff and stay there for more than a few seconds. I understand that their later albums drift further and further towards that style, but here youthful exuberance still abounds. "Heeba" is a very loose cover of the old lounge standard "Fever" which is recognizable here only because of its distinctive bass line and tortured Engrish of the title. As if things weren't schizophrenic enough already, the title track collects snippets from all the other songs on the album and mashes them together in a surreal collage (Gentle Giant did the same thing on "In A Glass House" but here it's far more jarring.)

The Boredoms are an acquired taste and not for everyone (not for anyone, practically) but I love them and if you are adventurous and open minded, maybe you'll love them too.

The situation in the 90's was really time when a certain kind of various music was digested, extended, and was saturated for Prog Rock Scene of Japan. It is limited to obtain the right that Prog Rock of Japan, music from foreign countries influences, and Prog Rock comes into the market now. Especially, to obtain the citizenship of music, musicians of independent production still take an active part very much. However, it did not limit it to Japan to say nothing of the musician who did the effort to expand the place of the activity there.

Work to dismantle the music of the tradition that exists originally in the market of Prog Rock of Japan and the culture and to restructure is really serious. However, Prog Rock after techno and Punk Rock are passed in the music of Japan after the 80's has rapidly really changed the appearance. Prog Rock of Japan that absorbed the element of various music will have the flow that distributes the power to keep to the outside with the state of saturation when rushing into in the 90's.

Some bands that digest various elements and do them experimentally exist, too and they are accompanied by a minority listener and there is an expanded fact though a lot of bands that establish some genre exist in Japan. The genre that is called "Mixture Rock" as a word of the genre that exists only in Japan exists. This word is a word used well in Japan. That is, various elements are combined, they are calculated, and it is intentional. Or, it is guessed that it is a flow of the music experimentally done. It is not a translation that the word applies to all of course. And, it is guessed that this boredoms has not gotten on those main currents now either.

The use of various music and the sounds can be felt if it listens to the flow as music at which they aim. There was a work that gave some chaotic impressions for their initial works, too. And, the aspect of each work was presented and the "Super Roots" series that was able to be called their lifeworks was offered to the listener.

The some kind of force always existed in the music character at which they were aiming after Yamathuka Eye of the person at the center of the band had formed Boredoms. The "Super Roots" series also that is the stage of their experiments gradually increases the perfection in parallel with the activity of the band. They change the flow little by little. Or, after the band is formed, the music boldly calculated is gradually acknowledged to a listener in Japan and an overseas listener. The flow has changed from a chaotic impression initial of them to the conviction. It is "7" or this album of "Super Roots" that forms the music character of Boredoms in recent years. mightThe opinion of the listener in Japan is numerous the fan that loves work at some initial works or these time. The element of techno shown by "Super Roots 7" and minimal music might pair with this album.

They are a bold calculations and various music in the music that they achieved with this album. Or, the unreal world is formed. It might be difficult to specify the genre. It is an experimental part in this. Or, techno. Minimal. Hardcore. The element of Zeuhl is blocked enough. However, they exist a loose impression is never given but enough in the album as one space. The impression with power such as Can and This Heat is expressed and they are expressing an original interpretation of Japan having it. Musical, of be expressed in the drifting space a kind of dash feeling might capture the listener enough. Boredoms might be a band in the field of Avant-Prog of Japan that exists very much at the position of the exception of course now.

This is by far my favorite Boredoms album, and in actuality is my favorite album all together. As far as style goes, it's a mix of electronica, psychedelia, trance, math rock, noise, and all out madness. Perfect blend of profound discovery and cosmic belly laughing. As far as comparisons go, Id say its a mix of Taiko drummers sitting in a teepee synching on Peyote, at times reminicent of Don Cherry's early 70's free/world jazz with Okay Temiz and Johnny Dyanni, some Black Moth Super Rainbow synth melodies through heavy delay, guitar riffs in the style of Don Caballero or Lightning Bolt (minus the distortion and feedback), and drum and bass lines like that of Violent Onsen Geisha. The titles of the tracks are symbols, but the highlights for me are #1 (circle), #3 (heart), and #8 (omega). Since there are already reviews breaking down each track I wont go into it, however I will say that the moments which define the album as my favorite are moments which at first seem to turn people off to it. For example my moment shines through on track 8 (omega), which begins with calming male/female chanting, and breaks away into roughly 6 minutes of chaotic billowing psychedelic synth patterns. This 6 minutes is the ultimate soundscape, the ugliest yet somehow most beautiful moment, and at least in my opinion, is the culmination of what the title of the album set out to define : Vision Creation Newsun. Anymore, music no longer bring dream visions or eyelid images as it used to, but rather is replaced by an estactic connection bridging the senses with external stimuli. But this album is pure psychedelic trance if you allow it to be, getting lost in it's depths creates beautiful mental visions. Honestly I feel that other than dreaming, this is an experiment in creating unique music as heard differently by every person. At times the noise comes through in such overwhelming waves that I imagine anyone listening to it will pick and choose different sounds coming through and the mind tends to put the pieces together as it sees fit, each time in more complex ways. And it doesnt matter much how heavy the influence of psychedelics has, it can appeal to anyone who is willing to confront what they know about music, shatter it, and then try and put it all back together again. I give it the top rating because there is not one second, not one synchopated beep which strikes chords in me the wrong way. 5 stars to the max!