Seadrum/ House of Sun
I will be honest--I have not followed the Boredoms the last couple of years. I think I may have missed out on something wonderfully magical. I loved the Boredoms when I was in high school in the early 1990's. Their spazz out noise jams brought joy to my young heart. At a certain point I stopped buying Boredom records, mostly due to economics (not lack of interest). When I bought this un-assuming blue plastic disc at the record store I did not know what I was getting myself into.
"Seadrum" starts out with someone singing in a scat style that is reminiscent of Billie Holiday (something I would never expect to hear on a Boredoms record). Pounding trance drums that sound like they come from deep in a subway tunnel come in next. The drumming is joined after about four minutes time by a piano playing very quick tone bursts that move up and down the keyboard. The other-worldly siren song rejoins the mix at this point. At around the 14 minute mark a marimba joins the mix. What is so amazing about this disc is the Boredoms' complete and utter departure from their earliest work. Gone is the Dadaist vocals and skronk-punk rock. In its place is this strange jazzy, droney, joy jam.
"House of Sun" is a complete left turn from the previous track. A sitar is featured prominently. It explores the outer reaches of the sonic galaxy in a more slowed droned out stoned bliss-ed out way. It is in the same spirit of Bardo's Middle Eastern tinged jams or the more far out deep "Space" explorations of the Grateful Dead. Unlike the first track "House of Sun" seems to be content to float around taking its sweet time, in no rush to get where it's going. These two tracks, while varying greatly in style, come together to make quite an enjoyable ride.
(Vice Recordings) (Dan Cohoon)
