Seadrum/House Of Sin:Boredoms

Seadrum/House of Sun
Label: Vice

Genre: Noise-rock

Rating: 8.3/10

Osaka, Japan's eponymous noise-quintet Boredoms haven't released an album since 1999 ("Vision Creation Newsun," which didn't even get release here until 2001) and there are only two tracks present. The real silver and blue packaging is more impressive. Folks, that's all the bad news there is here. The good news is everything else: The audio is relentlessly entrancing and while maybe not their finest releases, still completely viable in today's increasingly noise-friendly environment. "Seadrum" starts off with a simple African tribal line that slowly unfolds and launches into a torrent of hypnotic melodies, wild piano-banging and, as the name implies, imposing percussion. 23 minutes of pure power. How to follow up the African influence? Look further east, indeed: "House of Sun" brings sitars right to the fore as the song's fluid drones carry the song just over a third of an hour, a great come-down from the intensity of the opener. All in all, this is a tremendous couple of songs that proves Boredoms are still doing interesting things over two decades after their debut. There's little doubt Vice made the right move signing them to a long-term deal.

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