News / / 24.10.12

BO NINGEN

LINE THE WALL (Stolen Recordings)

17/20

Bo Ningen make music that sees psychedelic freak-outs meet spiky, Krautrock inspired repetition. It’s a well-blended combination, but the addition of far-out, wailing vocals from bass virtuoso Taigen makes theirs a truly unique sound. 2010’s eponymously titled debut brought together a blend of sleazy garage punk and big psychedelic fuzz, juxtaposing those sounds with a post-punk edge reminiscent of Gang of Four. Two years down the line, and it seems Bo Ningen have located more power still. Line The Wall hits you hard from the outset, opener Soko driven by sharp, machine-gun bass. The dreaminess survives in parts, but this time the temptation to let guitar solos roll into a seemingly endless swell of improvisation is resisted. On the downright nuts Henkan, the psychedelic noodling is replaced by a more incisive, jagged math-rock guitar duel. Ten to Sen and album closer Natsu No Nioi, meanwhile, work a similar vein to the prog-rock ballads of The Mars Volta. On the occasions where the songs begin with the familiar big riffs and fuzz of their debut, Bo Ningen suddenly take us in a different direction; the drop into the pounding verse of Shin Ichi is superb, and Daikasei Part 2 almost becomes speed metal at three minutes, before ultimately dropping into one of the best half-times of 2012. Radical.

 

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Words: Jack Bolter

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