Perhaps one of my favorite "near impossible dreams" when it comes to my bootleg exploration is to be able to find a full shining lossless soundboard recording of a 98/99/00/01 Boredoms show. Super æ and Vision Creation Newsun transitional period. Oh my lord. So wonderful. Yamataka was at full force during these shows, regardless if he didn't have those massive ensembles surrounding him and fulfilling his musical ambitions as much as possible, here he was already living up to his ambitions. VCN can be seen as chaotic, some might say miscellaneous even, in the way it is presented as a whole, but it is not just a work born from improvisation and chance. Working with John Zorn and a ton of wonderfully trained musicians over the course of the 90s, Yamataka seemed to have found many inspirations in order to turn his inner improvisational spirit into something more focused and purposeful. Super æ and VCN are not seen as classics just due to their loud, abrasive, sparse and unpredictable nature, but because in the massive world of music these are perhaps some of the best examples of "orchestrated rampage" one will ever be able to find.
The backbone of the tracks are all there, and every single member added to them in their own way. Outside of Boredoms feeling like an EYE album backed up by a band, these two albums and the Super Roots entries and complementary EP's that came with them were the starting point for Boredoms feeling like a group effort that aimed to achieve EYE's goals.
I see people often judge Super æ as the unfulfilled vision that was later expanded and mastered in the follow up album, the one most people tend to gravitate towards at first. But I firmly disagree. Both compliment each other in such a beautiful way, along side the Super Go!! and VCN EPs. There are things Super æ does that VCN doesn't quite fulfill at times, and viceversa, but in the end this is barely a matter of competition or comparison since the era that surrounds these two main albums just doesn't let them get distinguished from another. Proof of this is simple, the live shows and tours from this period all present distinctly VCN compositions that are complemented by Super æ riffs and patterns expanded in the jamming. These shows are masterful, so beautifully hipnotizing and entrancing one can simply just imagine what it must have been to witness all of this in person.
I love all this period of Boredoms so much (getting a VCN tattoo in order to engrave that sentiment for a lifetime should be enough to show how much these mean to me), and I know a full soundboard show, fully clean and able to be witnessed in all its glory is just very unlikely to surface, but for now, these glimpses are enough to make me one of the happiest persons to have ever lived.
Loud, noisy, far from the best sound quality, but god damnit, unforgettable nonetheless. Just how I love my Boredoms. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do (somehow).
1. Ambiance (0:27)
2. Intro Jam (4:01)
3. ◯ (18:01)
4. Super Are / GO!!!!! (8:18)
5. ♡ (3:04)
6. Ҩ (4:12)
7. ～ (4:00)
8. ◎ (2:22)
9. ずっと (4:51)
10. Super Going (9:52)
11. Vision Creation Newsun Medley (Encore) (12:01)
PS. Everyone should check this EYE "documentary" at least once in their life if they want their life to be complete at least in some way (I'm Everyone). You can check small snippets of John Zorn shows like Spy vs Spy or Naked City's Torture Garden ensemble with Tatsuya Yoshida. Getting full recordings of these are some of my other wet near impossible dreams in bootleg land (my favorite land).
Download Here! - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kxZIC_CLHG_ftXNcahxo8BiAnfYYk7pj?usp=sharing
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