Boredoms - Super 10 EP

Calling this an EP is stretching things somewhat. In reality it’s one song, with four added remixes of varying quality and usefulness. It’s probably only defined as an EP as it’s far too long to count as a single.

To say veteran Japanese noise-rock cum post-ambience merchants Boredoms have had a varied career would be to do them an injustice. Super Roots 10 (confusingly, the ninth title in the series) is their latest release and it would be fair to say they’ve calmed down somewhat after 23 years of activity.

Gone are the trademark yelping and screeching and in comes calmly built ambience with experimental, Oriental tweaks. ‘Ant 10′ is the much-remixed track and the original version is an intriguing and enthralling proposition even though at pushing ten minutes it is far too long. Any feeling of immersion is long gone by the closing bars.

Only one of the four remixes serves a worthy purpose, with DJ Finger Hat’s version (yes, really) cutting almost half the length from the song and making it almost dancefloor-friendly with the tribal drumming enhanced and brought to the forefront. DJ Lindstrom’s version turns into a bizarre jazz-funk wig out that bears little or no resemblance to the source material, and Altz’ take is to barely alter it at all.

Baffingly the EP opens up with a track called ‘Super Root’, containing 38 seconds of pure silence. The cleverness is clearly lost on me.

Unfortunately, despite the always inventive experimentation, almost an hour of this is just too much, and by the end, Boredoms has well and truly set in.

This review was written for Muso's Guide.