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.
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