BO NINGEN: ‘Line The Wall.’
It’s hard to believe that Japan born but London based psychedelic noisniks BO NINGEN are to shortly embark on their first headline tour of the UK. Formed as far back as 2006, the formidable foursome have built a burgeoning underground fanbase and have toured the country several times in support slots, the latest having been with The Horrors. In that time they have also cemented themselves as on of the ‘must see’ (and it has to be said, loudest) bands on the London circuit.
So it’s been with great anticipation that fans have been waiting this release, their second full-length album.
‘Line The Wall’ certainly fulfils the expectation for an album of heavy rocking riffs mixed with psychedelic undertones, but it does have its somewhat surprising quieter moments –especially so in the closing song, ‘Natsu no Nioi, which starts out almost imperceptibly and rises to only a hushed, dream-like state at its conclusion some four and three-quarter minutes later.
‘Ten to Sen,’ has formed part of the live repertoire for some time, I believe and is like a gentle space-rock ballad, if such a thing does exist. (Well, it does now …..!)
But it’s the psych-drenched riffs and trippy rocking guitar noise that sets BO NINGEN apart from anyone else around at the moment. A few of these tracks have appeared on previously ‘sold out’ and highly sought after vinyl versions, but the likes of ‘Daikaisei (Parts 1 and 2);’ ‘Henkan,’ and ‘Nichijyou,’ have been sort of bulked up and given a much more ‘rounded’ sound than they had on their excellent ‘live’ recordings.
‘Chitei Ningen Mogura’ kind of falls somewhere between those heavy psychedelic sounds and a more ‘commercially acceptable’ single, with it bringing a sort of ‘sing-a-long’ refrain to its mid-tempo chugging space-rock sound. ’32 Kaiten’ heads off into a sort of trippy guitar-rage, while ‘Shin Ichi,’ carries little ‘experimental music’ snippets buried deep into its krautrock inspired repeated riffs before erupting into an off-kilter, frantic free-jazz-like rant and falling back to ‘normality,’ again.
With most tracks around the five to six-minute mark (‘Daikasei – Part 2’ runs to marginally short of ten minutes) there is plenty time to really get ‘into’ the riffs and let the tracks take over your senses.
And they will!!
(Released through Stolen Recordings on 8th October 2012)
(11/10) … a first on LOUD HORIZON!
You can catch BO NINGEN on their first UK headline tour at the following venues:
OCT 04TH THE HORN, ST ALBANS
OCT 05TH KASBAH FRESHER’S FRIDAY, COVENTRY
OCT 06TH CRAUFURD ARMS, MILTON KEYNES (ALL AGES)
OCT 08TH THE FLEECE, BRISTOL
OCT 09TH JOINERS, SOUTHAMPTON
OCT 10TH GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON
OCT 11TH HOXTON SQUARE BAR & KITCHEN, LONDON
OCT 13TH WISH YOU WERE HERE FESTIVAL, CAMBRIDGE
OCT 14TH BAR ACADEMY, LEICESTER
OCT 15TH HARLEY, SHEFFIELD
OCT 17TH RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER
OCT 18TH THE COMPASS, CHESTER
OCT 19TH SWN FESTIVAL, CARDIFF
OCT 20TH MAD FERRET, PRESTON
OCT 22ND STEREO, GLASGOW
OCT 23RD CLUNY 2, NEWCASTLE
OCT 24TH STEREO, YORK
OCT 25TH FRUIT, HULL
OCT 27TH VICTORIA INN, DERBY
OCT 28TH MELLO MELLO, LIVERPOOL
