Boredoms - Aggravate your senses

Japan: land of karaoke madness, weird porn fetishes and ludicrously violent movies. I'm guessing Japanese culture has a lot more to offer other than this triad of seemingly ill-conceived concepts but as far as personal experience goes, I really don't know any better. Nevertheless, the extravagant nature of these is evidence enough of the cultural distance between us, civilized keep-it-on-the-safe-side-of-things westerners and those crazy what-the-fuck-were-they-thinking Japanese.

So, I guess it comes to no surprise that Japan is the go-to destination for enthusiasts of eccentric music (because weird just sounds mean).

Introducing Yamatanka Eye, one of Japan's foremost music experimentalists. Hanatarash was an early project, set on spreading terror-inducing noise while putting at risk the lives of those brave enough to attend their shows. In one particular gig, he actually ran a bulldozer into the audience. It just goes to show the fine line between art and attempted murder.

Later on, Eye founded Boredoms, an ever-mutating musical outfit that has suffered several line-up changes and that has been renovating its sound since their early stages. From noise-rock to full blown psychedelia with incursion through African music, they have tampered with many sounds, leaving a long and confusing discography along the way.

Not exactly comfort music. It's noisy, confusing, a bit aggravating? All those shrieks and blips coupled over those inane riffs. It's sounds disjointed and convoluted, bearing no ties to any particular style of music. But it sticks to you. The incessant drumming, the weird vocal mantra, the off-kilter melodies, all gaining momentum, expanding in every direction, coalescing into a bewildering piece of music.
So it dawns on you that there's actually something to this, that it's more than just wild experimentation for weirdness sake. And maybe - hopefully - you'll even think that it's good. And if that moment comes, you'll have a hard time going back to your comfort music.