Boredoms Super Roots 9

Words: Dave Segal
Label: Thrill Jockey
XLR8R Rating: 10/10

Over the last decade, no group has more convincingly and consistently replicated peak hallucinogenic experiences through sound than Japan’s Boredoms. The unparalleled highs continue on Super Roots 9, which contains a single 40-minute track titled “LIVWE.” Starting with angelic, male/female choral aahhs, bell-tree shaking, panning cymbal splashes, and booming bass drum, the piece gradually blossoms into a spiritualized whirlwind. Twenty-four massed voices ebb and flow, reaching heavenly heights of transport while three drummers generate galloping thumps with Olympian might. Earth’s greatest psychedelic band thus has created a masterpiece of gospel-tribal-interstellar overdrive that dwarfs all other musical efforts. By disc’s end, you’re convinced the Wagner-on-mescaline storm Eye & Co. have conjured could cure cancer and eradicate terrorism.