Line Bo Ningen Against The Wall...

I was supposed to have interviewed London-based Japanese acid psychers Bo Ningen last week, but due to unforeseen circumstances I missed the boat. Which is a shame, as new record Line The Wall is as wailtastic as you could possibly imagine. Brought out by Stolen Recordings and newly-minted Aussie label Black Night Crash Records (run by one third of awesome Melbourne band Iowa, no less), Bo Ningen's second LP is a face-melter. There are moments when I feel like I'm listening to At The Drive-In mechanics driving The Mars Volta flights of fetid fantasy - single 'Henkan' truly embodies such celestial clusterfucks of flailing sonic frisson. There are moments where the four-piece take things into a more chugging, 70s psych mode - 'Daikaisei Part I' is the perfect encapsulation of that, at least in the beginning - further into the album and Parts II and III strap you to the fuselage of a ship destined for a distant sun. The repetitive squall of '32 Kaiten' on the other hand will always get my pulse racing...

I've seen these guys a few times when I lived in London. Once in the 100 Club - I think they supported Pulled Apart By Horses? They blew everything to smithereens every time, and they do so again here with Line The Wall - buy it here. They are playing Big Day Out right now, and they are going to play Primavera Sound (alongside the most excellent Courtney Barnett, an incredible coup for her!) in May. This hallucigenic mind melt is only getting started...

Bo Ningen all over self titled

Sometimes you get the feeling that its really about time you posted about a band. It really is about time we posted about Bo Ningen. Brendan posted about Chicken Hawk earlier this week when they supported Bo Ningen and Pulled Apart By Horses a few months back at the 100 Club. The words "blown away" were used and they couldn't be more accurate. I think I've seen Bo Ningen live three or four times and they always make an impression, a mass of screaming riffs and flailing long black hair. Be it the confines of the 100 Club basement or climbing to the top (literally) of the main stage at this year's Offset.

But why have I failed to post about Bo Ningen's brand of glorious Japanese progressive, psychedelic punk before? Maybe its because I've only seen Bo Ningen play their twisted, raging noise rock as a support role to other bands? With the reputation Bo Ningen have worked hard to achieve the Japanese four piece have kept very good company, Pulled Apart By Horses and Nisennenmondai spring to mind. Maybe its because the band's last release was 10" Koroshital Kimochi that dropped this time last year. It seems Bo Ningen have been, for those in the know, their own insanely loud dark little secret. Whatever the reason, I suspect thats about to change. Bo Ningen's self titled L.P drops on Stolen Recordings early next month. I suspect things wont ever be the same again.

Bo Ningen - Koroshitai Kimochi


Bo Ningen- Koroshitai Kimochi from Stolen Recordings on Vimeo.