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. 


6 comments:

Anonymous,  24 May 2022 at 18:17  

Caligari:
all hail boredoms!!!

Plague 25 May 2022 at 00:03  

We so need the Boredoms now.

NOPE_NO_NAME_SORRY 25 May 2022 at 00:24  

I saw them live on this tour (1994) and they were as amazing as you would imagine. EYE started the show by running from backstage and diving into the crowd before a single note was played.

Anonymous,  26 May 2022 at 04:31  

That Boredoms family tree is really fascinating!

Mason Jones 28 May 2022 at 06:32  

Thanks for reminding everyone how great this album (and the band in general) was/is. This was their first major label release, and happened because they were incredibly, unbelievably influential and important in Japan, and particularly in Osaka. Warner Japan (WEA) signed them there and released Pop Tatari in 1992 -- I was amazingly fortunate and got to see the record release show in Tokyo. Then David Katznelson, an all-around cool guy who was working at Warner/Reprise here in the U.S., managed to get them signed here, which resulted in the American release of the album and the band's touring here, including a short batch of Lollapalooza appearances! Various members of the band slowly dropped away, but almost all are still very active in bands in Japan, like Yamamoto in Rovo (and many others). Amazing people overall, and their success was the inspiration for literally countless cool indie bands there over the years.

BORE ON!

Anonymous,  29 May 2022 at 09:49  

Thank you!