Boredoms, OOIOO, Rovo: what comes next?

May 9, 2006 1:02 AM

Japanese music recommendations: if I love stuff by the Boredoms, OOIOO and Rovo, what else might I like?

Over the past couple of months I've been growing to love the music of some Japanese artistes: I started with OOIOO, whose Feather Float and Green & Gold discs I particularly enjoy, and then moved on to the very marvellous later Boredoms stuff: Super æ, Vision Creation Newsun & Seadrum. Most recently, I acquired Mon by Rovo, which is pretty damn good too. What other CDs / downloads would you recommend by these & other like-minded musicians?

posted by misteraitch to media & arts (24 comments total)

Polysics & Hoppy Kamiyama come to mind
posted by 0bvious at 1:18 AM on May 9, 2006

(that's two artists by the way)
posted by 0bvious at 1:18 AM on May 9, 2006

For late boredomes, which is psych-y (early boredoms more noise-y) you might like Acid Mothers Temple or Les Rallizes Denudes (older, sort of a precurser).

Also, Ground Zero (Consume Red, in particular, is amazing), or Ghost (more "inside" psych rock).
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:22 AM on May 9, 2006

Ruins - Symphonica (if you like Magma especially)
Nisennenmondai - myspace
Les Rallizes Denudes - Heavier than a Death in the Family
Afrirampo - We're Acid Mothers Afrirampo!
Acid Mother's Temple - they have millions of albums
Boris - Feedbacker
Supercar -
Cornelius - Point
Nagisa Ni Te - On the Love Beach
Omiode Hatoba - Kinsei
FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND - Satori

check out Aquarius Records for samples of stuff.
posted by dydecker at 1:35 AM on May 9, 2006

You can't go wrong with Dydecker's Aquarius link above - they're pretty much a guarantee of satisfaction for me, so seconding that (especially Ruins and Afrirampo).

Also: everything connected to Haco:
Hoahio
Synapse - Raw
Happiness Proof
After Dinner

Otomo Yoshihide's done lots of stuff that's all over the place, but his various New Jazz Quartets/Quintets/Ensembles would be worth investigating.

Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden

Satanicpornocultshop
posted by nylon at 1:48 AM on May 9, 2006

On the slightly heavier end of the spectrum, might I also suggest Melt-Banana and Zeni Geva.
posted by macdara at 1:52 AM on May 9, 2006

Here's a proper Aquarius link
posted by dydecker at 2:00 AM on May 9, 2006

Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Blues Du Jour
posted by minkll at 2:09 AM on May 9, 2006

Classic (1971): Kimio Muzutani (mp3 blog, check for other japanese psych/folk/prog/acid/rock recommendations).

Contemporary (1997): Fantasma, by Cornelius, is also a gem.
posted by unmake at 2:39 AM on May 9, 2006

Ah, Mizutani! Someone told me he is in jail now. Total r'n'r badass.
posted by dydecker at 3:34 AM on May 9, 2006

Teengenerate
and more recently: Gitogito Hustler
posted by punkrockrat at 4:45 AM on May 9, 2006

A number of these recommendations are Japanese but aren't in the ecstatic/tribal vein of recent Boredoms.

Black Dice's Beaches & Canyons CD is right along those lines. One of the tracks was even remixed by EYE of the Boredoms and can be found on the flip of the Cone Toaster 12" (as well as one of the DFA compilations). If you like those, also try their Lost Valley 12". Other Black Dice things are further afield from the sound you're looking for.

Excepter is another band that floats in the same area. Start with their Ka CD, the version that includes the tracks Vacation and Forget Me; those are the 2 tracks that apply most here. It's less focused and more "druggy" than Feather Float but has definate similarities. The Throne CD is more consistant but doesn't reach the highs of those two songs from Ka.

Animal Collective veers into this territory occasionally, but in a much more pop setting. Their song Leaf House from Sung Tongs makes my case most explicitly. I'd love a CD of them exploring this side, even though their most recent CD left me absolutely nothing to complain about.

OK, back to Japan. Seiichi Yamamoto of the Boredoms and ROVO has a handful of solo CDs. They're much more abstract than those bands though.

If you poke around any filesharing networks, definately hunt down the live Voordoms tracks as well. There are two long tracks in the vein of Vision Creation Newsun that were recorded at Scala in London. When I saw the Boredoms recently, they were still playing things similar to this.

Due to ROVO's popularity, there are a number of ripoff bands. Strobo comes to mind. Their CD Zero has a couple of tracks that sound OK, but they're just so close to ROVO that it's embarassing.

Further afield is Asa-Chang & Junray. Their Jun Ray Song Chang mixes IDM with tradition Japanese in a novel way.

Good luck.
posted by Hubajube at 5:08 AM on May 9, 2006

Oh, Zanzo, that was the other one I was trying to think of. Their only release so far is the 6-track MDRM. They're somewhere in ROVO's neighborhood with a bit of Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden style jazz added in. My favorite of the 6 songs is Taiyan which has an urgency that's been missing from ROVO's last couple of CDs. One to watch.
posted by Hubajube at 6:04 AM on May 9, 2006

Second the Acid Mothers Temple [in both their Cosmic Inferno and Melting Paraiso UFO incarnations] and the Flower Travellin' Band. Bands like Ghost & LSD-March tend to have a somewhat lighter sort of psych, while Up-Tight and Overhang Party are straightforward heavier stuff. I've heard good things about Miminokoto, but haven't listened to them myself. Boris brings up the heavier end of things - more instrumental metal than psych. I love the Polysics dearly, but they're not all that much like either recent or old-style Boredoms.
posted by ubersturm at 6:13 AM on May 9, 2006

last.fm has a fantastic 'similar artist' search facility, based on its listener's habits. There is even a 'similar artists radio' feature, which plays you tracks from the said artists.

Here you go:
Similar artists to Boredoms
Similar artists to OOIOO
Similar artists to Rovo

God, I love last.fm
posted by unSane at 6:14 AM on May 9, 2006

Most of the best ones have been recommended (Afrirampo, AMT, the Ruins, Jun Rae & Asa-Chang).

Some that were missed—
KK Null, of the band Zeni Geva
Voodoo Boots, on Bulb Records
The King Brothers, also on Bulb. Both VB and TKB are more on the early Boredoms side.
Merzbow, one of the most prolific and extreme Jap noisers.

(And here's a list of more folks to check out).
posted by klangklangston at 6:24 AM on May 9, 2006

Oh, and for American bands, check out both Bulb and Load records. They'll have a lot of stuff you'll enjoy. Stop/Eject is a good label too.

American bands in similar vein:
Black Dice, Lightning Bolt, 25 Suaves (their early stuff, they turned into an awesome punk/Motorhead hybrid later), Galen, Wolf Eyes, Couch (the American Couch), Chrome, The Godz, Slovak, 01V, Pulse Emitter, IUD Polk, Paul Velat (also records under the name Lord of the Yum Yum. If you EVER get a chance to see him, go in a second), My Name is Rah Rah, Balde, Brain Science, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, Smegma, Sesselberg...
posted by klangklangston at 6:35 AM on May 9, 2006

I'll second Melt Banana; you can't go wrong with "an even more energetic incarnation of the Boredoms." I find Zeni Geva more monotonous and harder to take, though.
posted by mediareport at 7:34 AM on May 9, 2006

Two more from mrs nylon, and one more from me:

Kangaroo Paw
Limited Express (Has Gone?)
Zuinosin

Zuinosin are fantastic live.
posted by nylon at 7:36 AM on May 9, 2006

One of my favorite Japanese labels is Snuffy Smile. If found out about them when they released a 7" v/a tribute to Snuff. Most of their releases are good, sloppy melodic punk. They are hard to find in the US, but Broken Rekids has released some of their stuff in the US. Check out Sprocket Wheel, the Urchin, Blew, and Water Closet.
posted by toddst at 10:50 AM on May 9, 2006

If you like Mon, you'll like most of ROVO's stuff. My favorite is Imago; it's a little more varied than their later CDs. The track Horses from it is top notch.

Their Pyramid CD is the odd one out. It's one 40+ minute long song that has a proggy edge to it. It takes a while for the percussion to even show up at all, but when it does it keeps piling on, moving faster & faster until the end. Great CD.
posted by Hubajube at 10:51 AM on May 9, 2006

If you like the spacier psychedelic moments of these groups, you might like Mainliner, Suishou no Fune, Karuna Khyal, Taj-Mahal Travellers, Kosugi Takehisa's solo work (Catch-Wave comes to mind), Fushitsusha, White Heaven, Magical Power Mako, Tsurubami, and High Rise, in no particular order of preference or noisiness.
posted by hototogisu at 10:51 AM on May 9, 2006

Ex-Girl (quirky heavy proggy). And similarly, but much more difficult to find, Mizutama Shobodan.

If you end up liking Polysics, try out one of the bands they model themselves after: P-Model. The first 4 or 5 albums are my favorites.
posted by zonkout at 2:37 PM on May 9, 2006

I knew you’d know about this stuff! I hope you’ll all excuse me for not flagging any responses as the best answers, as it’ll take time for me to follow up on these recommendations—and I do intend to try a whole bunch of them for size—and the ones I find best will ultimately depend on the peculiarities of my taste (or the lack of it). I thank you all for taking the time & the trouble to answer.
posted by misteraitch at 11:52 PM on May 9, 2006