Here are one dozen clips of Japanese musical ensemble the Boredoms

Who doesn't need to immerse themselves in the confounding streams of  Boredoms/ related music scenes now and again? This music is always uncompromising and heavy. Lots of drumheads were sacrificed to bring these sounds to you. I was super obsessed with them when I first heard the group in the late 1980s, thanks to my friendship at the time with Shimmy Disc honcho Mark Kramer, who was the first to release their music in the U.S. I lost track for a decade or more, then jumped back in on their music when it got bigger and more mystical-ish.

I only saw them play twice,  but both times were worth the hearing loss. I saw them once in the early 1990s when they had two singers and it was total Dada funk-hardcore craziness, and then again a few years ago when they sounded like they were about to singlehandedly raise the spirits that lay dormant beneath Stonehenge via the power of drumming, when I DJ'ed at the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP concert in a small resort town called Minehead, in the UK. Whew, that was a long sentence, sorry.

Being a dedicated Boredoms fan is almost a full-time job. To quote the 'pedia, "The band has a vast and sometimes confusing discography. Many band members have rotated through the group over the years, often using a number of various stage names. Singer Yamantaka Eye is the closest the band has to a frontman; his style includes a range of baffling screams, babbling, electronic effects, and very heavy post-production. Drummer/keyboard player/vocalist Yoshimi P-We is featured on most Boredoms recordings."














Ooooooh look — a thirteenth video. It's like a CD bonus track. Remember those?

PS: If you want to see what it looks like to entirely miss the point of a group as they crest into their most important work in their careers, go here.