Boredoms - Hoy & Super Are

Your grandmother will hate Boredoms. Boredoms will frighten your pet parrot. Boredoms are not reccomended for pre-pubescent individuals, as if exposed they may effect your development in unknown ways.

This is weird week on the Boner blog. I'm digging out some of the strangest music I can find on my hard drive drive for your listening pleasure, or perhaps listening terror. In terms of oddity, chaos and inaccessibility, they're hard to exceed. I'll begin with a brief history on the band, as it their case, it can be as interesting as the music. Before forming the band during 1986 in Osaka Japan, eventual leader Yamantaka Eye headed the noise band Hanatarash. They focused more on their extreme performance art live show rather than the music. Apparently to even attend one of their shows you needed to fill out a waiver. At one show Yamantaka sliced a dead cat in half with a machete. Others involved molotov cocktails and oil drums. The most infamous of all though was one gig where a backhoe was actually driven through the back of the venue, smashing through the stage. Rather than forming the Boredoms as a new venture, they were formed as a necessity, as Hanatarash was soon banned from playing anywhere. Over a few years, Boredoms popularity began to grow and the band befriended Sonic Youth, with Yamantaka Eye collaborating with the band on what is undoubtedly their most difficult EP, TV Shit. Nirvana were also fans of the band, something that helped get the band signed to a major label as well as a main-stage spot on Lollapalooza (!). Now this leads me to their major label debut, Pop Tatari, from which this entry's first song comes from.

Boredoms - Hoy

This song is indescribable. Just don't let the gentle whistles at the beginning fool you. This song is everything but subdued. A major label...this! Nirvana had the music industry by its balls. Also realize that this "song" is probably the closest the album has to a conventional piece of music. I think I really like about the album is the album is far from a pleasurable listen, what all in all music strives to do. In a strange way the complete discord and unattractiveness of it all is captivating.

A live performance from this era of the band:



Then the band completely changed (and for the better!) In 1998 they put what's considered to be their best album Super Ae. The sound is vastly different, more minimalistic with plenty of newly found ambient textures, extended instrumental sections, and a apparent krautrock influence. It's considered by many to be a modern day avant-garde masterpiece. I hesitate to split it up, as it's meant to be taken as a collective, but I'll feature the second track, "Super Are"
here. This sound sounds absolutely huge...I need to put this album on a hi-fi system some day. It's really an experience to listen to.

Boredoms - Super Are

Recently Boredoms were in the news for organizing a 77-member drum circle in Brooklyn NY on 7/7. From the looks of it in this youtube video, it was fantastic. The sound is unfortunately rather muffled, but the sight of 77 synchronized drummers pounding in midst of a packed crowd makes up for it. That would have been incredible to see first hand.



Boredoms - Super Ae @Amazon.com
Boredoms - Pop Tatari @Amazon.com