Bleak Bliss: Genre: Post-Rock

Showing posts with label Genre: Post-Rock. Show all posts

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

Here's a bonkers boxset version of Boredoms' bonkers final masterpiece, 1999's epic "Vision Creation Newsun". A double disc set in a gorgeous deluxe package that shows off Ukawa Naohiro's striking art design. You may know Naohiro as the guy behind Mom'n'Dad Productions, a label that released CDs that were half Hanatarash performance documents and half goofy lounge music. The first disc is the main album with its symbols instead of song titles. The second bonus disc contains a complete live concert from this period and two exclusive remixes. There was also a little sound card that played another 40 seconds of Boredoms audio, but I don't have a rip of that. Sorry all you OCD completists.

hairway to osaka

Boredoms – Super Go!!!!! → Shine In ◯ Shine On

My favorite Boredoms is not one of their albums, but this Japan-only CD single, released to coincide with their "Super Ae" album. The main track is 17.5 hallucinatory minutes of thundering percussion ecstasy with repetitive bass and chanting voices smeared with insane dub effects. Imagine Gibby Haynes fronting Stereolab and maybe that'll get you partially there.

super kraut

Boredoms - Super æ

By 1998, Warner was only releasing Boredoms records in Japan but licensed them to smaller independent labels overseas. "Super Ae" marked a big shift for the band. They went from super-angular noise rock to psychedelic trance-inducing music with multiple drummers. This one had some versions in extravagant packaging, though North America got a mere excellent art design that fit into a regular jewel box. From this point on, there was no predicting what a Boredoms album might sound like.

super huh??

Boredoms - Chocolate Synthsizer

The 1994 follow-up to "Pop Tatari" is marginally more normal-sounding. Heavier songs that stay in one place for a bit longer. Some consider this to be their best album. Out of print, not currently streaming anywhere.

noise ramones?

Boredoms - Pop Tatari

When Nirvana's "Nevermind" blew up in 1991, major labels started frantically throwing money at all sorts of underground weirdo bands hoping that they'd be ahead of the curve next time and discover another big hit. At Warner Bros, some smarties thought they'd hitch their money wagon to Boredoms, an indescribable group from Osaka. It's actually not as strange as you might think. Members of the band had been (and continue to be!) very active in Japanese rock scenes, managing venues and playing all sorts of music: hard rock, hip-hop, psychedelic rock, acoustic singer/songwriter guitar music, free improvisation, techno rock, dance music, hardcore, jazz, ambient, indie rock, metal and harsh noise... as the family tree shows, they've been in bands as diverse as Zeni Geva, OOIOO, Omoide Hatoba, The Hanatarash, Children Coup d'Etat, ANP, Audio Sports, Mannish Tone and on and on and on. They also had an amazing, hyper-energetic stage presence and a striking visual sense. And so, with the backing of a major record label, "Pop Tatari" appeared in mall record shops across the world. The band would tour extensively on big stages and would even appear in an ad for clothing store The Gap. I'm not sure how financially successful this was, but it's one hell of a record. The opening salvo of sine tones scares away the weak, then it's a mash of stop/start rhythms, disconnected hard rock riffs, guitar noise, screaming and bizarre funk workouts. "Pop Tatari" doesn't sound like anything else but Boredoms. It seems to be out of print now and isn't streaming anywhere that I could find, so I'm sharing it with you now.

this is pop

Fushitsusha - A Little Longer Thus

Same line-up that recorded A Death Never to Be Complete, but very different from that album's ecstasy overload. Unrelentingly tense.

thuss

Fushitsusha - The Wisdom Prepared

A single, full-bore blast of impossibly dense rock roar.

wisdom

Fushitsusha - The Time Is Nigh

It sure is! Haino and Ozawa with drummer Jun Kosugi (of Shizuka), four songs of black-hole psychedelia. Another album from Fushisusha's inexplicable run of major-label CDs from the late 1990s.

nigh

Fushitsusha - A Death Never To Be Complete

In 1997 & 1998, Japanese major label Tokuma released eight CDs by Keiji Haino. There were two solo albums, one duo with Derek Bailey, one by Haino's cover band Aihiyo (a trio with Masami Kawaguchi of Broom Dusters/Miminokoto and legendary drummer Ikuro Takahashi) and four albums by the mighty Fushitsusha. Fusitsusha's membership since its inception in the late 70s has been more volatile than The Fall's, so it's worth mentioning that the line-up for this album was Haino with Takahashi and bassist Yasushi Ozawa, a name you might recognize from his work with Marginal Consort, East Bionic Simphonia, and Machinegun Tango (an early band with Tori Kudo and Tamio Shirashi, though sadly only one recorded song from 1980 has surfaced). A Death Never to Be Complete is, in my opinion, the very best Fushitsusha album. You may disagree, but then you'd be wrong.

complete