03/29/08 - Boredoms @ the Paradise
Fresh off signing domestically with <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/48224-boredoms-sign-to-thrill-jockey">Thrill Jockey</a>,
This will be Yamantake Eye & co.'s first Boston appearance in well over 10 years. Even casual haters of the band would do well to check out their live show.
Working hard on clearance,
MF DÜ
No photos (even cell phone ones) were allowed which is a bummer because that would probably best get across how awesome the setup was.
There were 3 full drum kits in a semi-circle around EYE's synthesizer pullpit (think of a Genesis or YES live music video). In pack of the synth pit there was what looked to be a comforter-covered billboard with stuffed animals attached to it. I thought at first this billboard thing was just like any band's "sign" type of backdrop - a little bit of branding or logoing of the band's info or something. However, as the Osaka ladies and gents took the stage the comforter was removed to reveal a 7-8 foot high guitar base/plank with four guitar necks splaying out towards stage right and three guitar necks stretching towards stage left. One guy's job was to keep the 42 strings on the respective necks set to an opening chord tuning while EYE used the guitar plank as one of those giant Taiko type of drums (see below .gif:
<img src="http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/images/taiko.gif">
The other 3 drummers took visual cues and conducting motions from EYE.
The first section was very circular, rhythmic (danceable even!) with 3 or 4 breaks in the circular passages where the loud Guitar Taiko came in to really (pardon the pun) hammer things home.
The second and third portions of the set couldn't really surpass the first third IMHO, but it was crazy fun to watch these guys on stage as always. Gone are the days of tshirts pulled over shoulders donning those suntan goggles that make people look like insects amongst lots of punk guitar riffage and screaming, but,despite the more "psychedelic freak out" tinge to the Boredoms's current style of playing this was still the Boredoms that the near sellout crowd of fans had come to expect.
On my way in I saw a kid maybe Maddie Nigs's age wearing gun muffs on her ears.
solid A, maybe A+ if it had been a bit more succinct.
Thurston Moore's opening side project failed to impress. He was sitting hunched over with another guy whose nae eludes me, obscured by a purplish hazy light laying feedback and loops that I had trouble with in terms of identifying any textures, dynamism, or rhythms. C or C- (sorry, Thurston).
(You know I love you all, right? I'm a lover, not a fighter...)
Not a very good view of the 7 neck guitar. (It is to the left of the cymbal.)
Bostonist write-up <a href="http://bostonist.com/2008/03/31/boredoms_onstag.php">here</a>.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/arts/music/01bore.html">nytimes.com review</a>