Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun


I love those moments when I put an album into the player without having the slightest idea of what it might sound like and then be totally blown away. It happend when I heard Devin Townsend's Terria for the first time, or Kayo Dot's Choirs of the Eye, or Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's Of Natural History, or Neutral Milk Hotel's Aeroplane Over The Sea. The list could go on. However, this was not just novelty excitement. The excitement held on...for years.

What I value most in music is uniqueness. I admire artist that created their own sound, outside of any genre. There are great albums out there that sound like nothing else in the world. There are also albums that move inbetween the boundaries of a specific genre such as Singer-Songwriter, several sub-genres of Metal/Rock/Pop etc, but within the limitation, they have certain qualities that make them step out of the crowd, such as Neil Young, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Isis, John Coltrane, Faith No More, etc. I value those artists almost equally ;)

That said, Vision Creation Newsun by the japanese band Boredoms is definitely one of the first kind. I got it after reading some reviews by people whose musical judgement I highly value (this is how I discovered most of the music in my collection). In those reviews, I've read statements like:

"One way to look at the Boredoms is as the Andy Kaufman of rock. Through meticulous study, they have completely mastered the architecture of the transcendent rock jam. But instead of celebrating their achievements, they choose to undercut their monuments to riffology in service of the first commandment of Dadaism: Thou Shalt Fuck With People's Heads."

"Adjectives: repetitive, glorious, paganistic, sun-glazed, heavenly, thunderous, gorgeous."

"the best modern psychedelic krautrock drum circle album in existence"

That's what grabbed my attention. One of my principles when it comes to music is: "There's nothing better than a proper mindfuck". A great album, besides being unique, has to leave you with a feeling of "what the hell just happend" after the listening experience. And that's excactly what happend here. This album is like a drug-induced drum-circle extravaganza mixed with the sheer beauty of great post-rock and ambient works. Imagine driving at 100 miles per hour and then sticking your head out of the window. The sheer amount of air that gets smashed into your faces makes it hard to even breath. But then, a traffic light, you slow down, you almost stand still, and then the light turns green again and you accelerate using the full power of your 500 PS engine.

This album will seriously challenge your understanding of what music is. Even after repeated listens, I can still only use metaphors to describe what is going on here. Well, I think it's best if you experience it yourself. Turn up the volume of your loudspeakers and start the video (a short version of the glorious title track)