The Boredoms are a
Japanese noise band that have a distinction that makes them different from their peers: they've released a
major label album.
When two very well known bands, Sonic Youth and Nirvana, began plugging the Boredoms in the early 90s, the band signed a deal with none other than Warner Brothers. This is especially notable because at the time the Boredoms were signed to Warner Brothers in the US, they specialized in loud, abrasive, punk-ish songs that were high on the noise factor and low on listenability.
Ironically, now that the band has significantly refined its sound, it's no longer on a major label in the states, and its frankly enormous import discography is being selectively issued in the US by the Birdman label out of California.
The change in the Boredoms' sound really got started around 1997, which saw the release of the Super Roots 7 EP, actually the 6th of their "Super Roots" series (there was never a number 4).
With Super Roots 7, the Boredoms began to manifest a psychedelic, "trance-rock" sound that most closely resembled such Krautrock pioneers as Neu! and Can.
In 1998, the band released Super Are, a masterful, sprawling opus that continued in the loud, trippy trance-rock groove, while incorporating the tape splicing and noisy studio antics that characterized the band's earlier releases.
1999 saw the Boredoms at a particularly prolific stage, as it was then that they released the 8th in their Super Roots series, and another full-length LP, called Vision Creation Newsun. Vision Creation Newsun was first released in an extravagant box set, and later released regularly, both domestically and in Japan, in 2000. Both albums showcased the band's continued journey into the psychedelic, motorik regions of rock, and while many critics consider Vision Creation Newsun to be the band's masterwork (this noder included), others were put off by the nature sounds and almost tribal nature of the album, deriding the band's recent output as "hippie Boredoms".
In addition, in 2000 the Boredoms released Rebore Vol. 1, the 1st in what is currently a four part, import-only series. Each release features a gorgeous fold out poster, and each is a continuous DJ mix of all the old Boredoms material and more, featuring artists such as U.N.K.L.E., Ken Ishii and DJ Krush.
Below is a basic discography. The unfortunate thing about the Boredoms is that an incredible amount of their albums is still unvailable outside of Japan. Releases available in the US (and UK) are noted with a *domestic*: