VICE BOREDOMS SUPER ROOTS REISSUES IZ HERE

SIX LANDMARK 90s RECORDS REISSUED AND AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN THE US

DOWNLOAD LINK BELOW

Formed in 1987 and about to celebrate their 20th Anniversary, Japan's Boredoms are one of the most influential underground bands ever. There may be no other band in the world that has traced an evolution as simultaneously varied yet focused as Japan's Boredoms. Founder and leader Eye has taken the band on the equivalent of a road trip, from the early swamps of chaos through times of tribal frenzy, oceanic tranquility, and krautrocking sonic constructions. Perhaps most remarkable is the unceasing commitment to vision above all else, and the effects of that commitment.

It is in their little heard Super Roots series from 1993 to 1999 that one can follow this evolution. These albums, EPs, singles, and remixes begin with the band at their most violent and absurdist, and ends with them at their most magnificently tranced-out and blissful. Only one, Super Roots 6, was ever in print in America. When the Boredoms embarked upon the Super Roots series, they were being championed by artists like Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and The Beastie Boys and signed to the stateside major label Reprise Records. During this time they released their groundbreaking albums Pop Tatari (1993) and Chocolate Synthesizer (1994) and toured the US on the 1994 Lollapalooza Festival.

It is of note that Super Roots 2 was a 3" mini-CD given away to those who mailed in a coupon found inside initial copies of Chocolate Synthesizer, and Super Roots 4 does not exist as four is a supersitious, unlucky number in Japanese culture. The band claims they will soon embark on Super Roots 9, and Super Roots 10 will be boxed-set comprising the entire Super Roots series, including 1998's Super Go video.

2007 will also see the world premiere of Eye's greatest work yet - 77 DRUM - a once-in-a-lifetime performance by the Boredoms with 77 drummers. This is being set for July 7, 2007 in New York City.

-------------------------------------

SUPER ROOTS
1993's Super Roots just might be strangest of the group's entire catalogue. It comes off assaultive but playful; a well-executed hit carried out by infant assassins with toy musical weapons. These mostly percussive, acoustic tracks rely almost solely on the performers' heads, hands, and mouths to generate a restless, clanging racket. All over the record you'll hear snatches of bodily functions, metal percussion, Eye screaming as if he's being flogged, various band members beating the tar out of electric guitar and rock drums, mile-a-minute auctioneer vocalisms and barbaric percussive assaults, alien-nerd daisy chain chants, and the sound of getting electrically sick in the bathroom. It's easily the most entertainingly difficult music they ever made. (14 songs, 19 minutes)

SUPER ROOTS 3
The first of their long-form pieces, Super Roots 3's "Hard Trance Away (Karaoke of Cosmos)" rages forth with a full half-hour's worth of unimpeded, breakneck, two-chord thrash. Key changes seem to occur at intervals, and vocal wailing blesses the last 10 or 15 seconds' worth of music, before cutting off and ending in three whole minutes of silence. If the first Super Roots was maddening in its frantic attention deficits, Super Roots 3 quells the frustration with linear, single-minded aggression. (1 song, 33 minutes)

SUPER ROOTS 5
Divesting itself of anything rhythmic, Super Roots 5 consists of one 64-minute freakout called "GO!!!!!," and is perhaps the centerpiece of the entire Super Roots series. "GO!!!!!" is sublime, sublimated crash for the end times, a mélange of churning guitar, electronics, crashing cymbals and bowed percussion. The track is endlessly inventive and in its subtle shifting and unflagging intensity; it's a warm, maximalist rock spin on Japan's then-burgeoning "power electronics" scene; a massive, molten copper disc absorbing all of the power of the sun. It's this piece that most connects to their future psych/trance/drone-based efforts such as 1999's Vision Creation Newsun or 2004's Seadrum/House of Sun. (1 song, 64 minutes)

SUPER ROOTS 6
The 17 numbered tracks of the album Super Roots 6 were issued in 1996 and was the only title in the Super Roots series to see a release in the US, although it has been out of print for years. Aside from a harsh noise buffer in opener "01," some slicing cymbal in "13," and some squeaking ape stomp in "14," Super Roots 6 is the gentlest of any Boredoms release, a collection of static and minimally manipulated beats, sometimes juxtaposed with world music loop overlays. It seems to have been been created in a new headspace: meditative, self-aware, and pregnant with breaks and beats yet to be unearthed by the cratediggers of the world. (17 songs, 66 minutes)

SUPER ROOTS 7
This EP might sound familiar to Mekons fans; ostensibly, it's an extended cover of the group's second single, "Where Were You?" The gods and goddesses of the rave had their way with the Boredoms by its 1998 release date, particularly in its exuberant, 20-minute "Boriginal" mix (numerologically helping to celebrate the Mekons' 20-year anniversary as an active band by proxy). Both this version and the two Eye-sanctioned remixes that bookend it lock into the mekano-heartbeat of Krautrock and embrace synthesizers more fully than any previous releases. These are joyous chords that ring out with precision and abandon alike, when warranted. (3 songs, 33 minutes)

SUPER ROOTS 8
This EP finds the group tackling the theme to the Japanese TV show "Jungle Taitei." It would seem that they took the title literally, as the otherwise majestic track is sliced into thousands of pieces by 250 BPM beyond-gabber drum programming. Yann Tomita's blissed out "Laughter Robot's Hemp Mix" helps to bring the track back to earth, with spacy, phased percussion and heavy electronic dub passages. It's the only selection in the entire collection touched by outside influence, a trend that would surface again with the Rebore series of remixes that followed the Super Roots recordings. (3 songs, 14 minutes)

TO DOWNLOAD: Boredoms - Super Roots Sampler
http://www.vicerecords.com/download/boredomssampler
Password b89