Bo Ningen / Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen
Bo Ningen
(Stolen Recordings)

The last time we met psychedelic Japanese noise-ninjas Bo Ningen we were watching them at Offset Festival, and between the songs, the lead singer offered us these ominous words of warning:
“We are going to release our album soon. Hahaha! You will buy it! Hahaha!”
Happily we can report that this witch-like prophesy actually stands a chance of coming true, because their debut album for Stolen Recordings is a mind expanding, consciousness opening, vision distorting, flashback inducing experience – a bit like the popular drug coffee.
The band utilise their arsenal of lazer beams, kung-fu cries and backwards guitars to full effect from the outset of this album, but things start getting really interesting with ‘Gasmask Rabbit’ – a progressive beast which travels from the melancholic night skies of Gotham City to a phorce phactor phive acid-jam, all the while pinning you to your seat with a concentrated focus.
Fans of The Doors’ shamanistic improvisations will find themselves grabbing a cushion to mong on while ‘Post Yakai’ tells its story. Don’t ask me what the story is (like many pathetic westerners I can’t speak Japanese), but I can reveal that ‘Yakai’ are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore – and that the song acts itself out like an epic battle, ranging from chess-like meditation to a kind of heroic fantasy theme.
Elsewhere the album ranges from blissful night time drives (‘Yuruyaka’) to fish-serenading space rock (‘Maguro’ which translates as ‘Tuna’). Whatever part of the album you happen to be visiting though, one thing is certain: all bets are off. Bo Ningen don’t follow convention – they just go where the spirits take them.