Koroshitai Kimochi - Bo Ningen

From The Sunday Times

December 13, 2009

Stewart Lee

Bo Ningen

Japanoise freak brothers blow minds for a living

"Cosmic lullaby and chant from East Enlightenment activists", runs the legend on their Facebook page, but it's hard to imagine anyone nodding off to Bo Ningen. They're fantastically energetic, often brain-crushingly heavy, and quite probably the most exciting young band in London right now.

All four members were born and raised in the environs of Tokyo or Osaka. They each independently moved to our capital to study. Taigen Kawabe ( voice, bass ) met Kohei Matsuda ( guitar ) when their respective bands played on the same bill three years ago. In the ensuing few months, they picked up Yuki Tshjii ( guitar ) and Mon- Chan ( drums), and Bo Ningen ( meaning Stick Men ) was born.

Thus far, Bo Ningens reputation has been largely built on their incendiary live shows, their far-out antics attracting many admirers, including Stolen Recordings, who have just released the bands second EP, Koroshitai Kimochi ( rough translation: intention to kill ), and Faris Badwan, The Horrors, singer, who saluted them in MOJOs Best Thing I've Heard All Year feature last month.

The foursomes feral punk/metal approach and hectic tempo changes nod to Jap freak-out combos such as Acid Mothers Temple, Melt-Banana, Boredoms and Boris."Of course we are influenced by Japanese noisy music" says Taigen.

But there is more. " Also, in Japan growing up, we were surrounded by too much information, and so many announcements on everything. Everything is too much in Japan, in a good way and in a bad way. So I think that's how we became quite extreme in making music".

On Stage, Tiagen wears Japanese traditional frocks belonging to his mother, a folk singer, and sports the square fringed "psychy hair" instantly recognisable to readers of Julian Copes Japrocksampler tome. Yet Bo Ningens worldview has also been shaped by their adventures away from their homeland.

"We did a Japanese tour recently". continues Taigen. " And everyone said,' You guys don't sound like a Japanese band, but you don't sound like an English band either. You're something inbetween."We're quite comfortable with that".

"Generally", adds Yuki, " everyone says we're like Can meets Black Sabbath" And MOJO, for one, is quite comfortable with that. MOJO Andrew Perry

having stared their own night 'east electric psychedelic' and playing shows that have devestated and elated audiences, japanese four piece, bo ningen, release their debut ep 'koroshitai kimochi' on 10 inch vinyl on stolen recordings. limited to 200, everyone is hand done by the band. if someone in the 1960's had imagined ('space: 1999' style) what rock and roll would sound like in 2009, bo ningen is what they would have heard in their head. in its obbession with repetition and the twisted patterns of its ungraspable musical narrative, the 10" has all the appeal of listening to amon duul, can and melt-banana but at the same time. -ROUGH TRADE

Finally got the CD version of Japa-noise quartet Bo Ningen's ace debut, Koroshitai Kimochi. Originally available on 10", we couldn't review it as it was so elaborately packaged we could get into it without tainting the product. Well, finally I can give it a spin and boy oh boy am I a happy lad. Abrasive, almost psychedelic guitar phrases bounce of post-punk style grooves accompanied by the obligatory snappy Melt Banana-esque vocal attack. As with all good Japanese party bands Bo Ningen are keen to exploit hitherto forgotten or ignored musical genres, in this case the strange middle ground between prog and noise rock that is often explored by King Crimson. Loud, unbelievably precise and very satisfying stuff. Norman Records

It starts with crashing cymbals counting it in (as surely all songs should) before a car alarm guitar line wails over Taigen’s barked vocals. It’s a bit like Blood Red Shoes if there was twice as many of them, making twice as much noise, but only half as much sense. But when it’s this earnestly delivered, making sense doesn’t seem to matter.

The band are enjoying a growing reputation as one of the best live bands in London at the moment but there have been questions over how their sound transmits to a recorded setting. Surely the gloriously rampant, sugar-rush experimental noise-rock of Koroshitai Kimochi will allay those fears with its boundless energy and wealth of ideas.

Koroshitai Kimochi sounds very much like I would expect the number one track on the pop charts from Mars to sound like. And that’s a very good thing. Now, where to explore next? MUSO'S GUIDE