***May 5, 2007: The Boredoms continued their sprawling kraut drum-corps meets psychedelia era last Donnerstag at a half-full Volksbühne. With no opening act, they launched into their drum-centered set, a fast-paced romp through the lands of Neu and calculated free-jazz. Three full-stocked drum sets faced each other with peripheral gadgets, keyboards and pedals while Eye stood Northeast with a stack of electronics in front of a new invention: a color-coded arrangement of rack-mounted lapsteel guitars each tuned to a different chord and set up to be struck and manipulated with various sized sticks.
eyeA high-energy performance is inevitable with this many drums on one stage and the Boredoms tightly carved their way around a giant oak, shaping it from all sides, hacking away with quick coordination, stopping together flawlessly, then going about their way without a moment's hesitation. Just when you thought that they were improvising they would all unexpectedly grab a cymbal in unison and then sport various chops, linking up on their high-hats and snares reminiscent of the ongoing 4/4 kraut-rock beats slathered with layers of electronic bursts and flanges in pitch. Though their tightness and depth was staggering they somehow lacked the dynamics which brought them so much attention in the 90s and which made them powerfully unpredictable. Watching Eye play the lap-steel setup was wonderful, drum rolls along the strings, playing them like a huge xylophone, yet the sound was muddy, a layer of dull sparkling slush over the driving drums. The repetition and plowing-ahead created an odd lack of trance, perhaps due to it's technical proficiency, making it feel more professional than spiritual. This slight sterility seemed to be enacted by the performers themselves at times who could've just as easily been playing a solo at a drum magazine convention as opposed to creating some sort of collective transcendental moment. Nevertheless there are so many possibilities within rehearsed music that are impossible with improvisation, and the show was full of these.
At times Eye would grab the microphone from the stand and jump into the center of the drum circle, screaming, dancing and jumping, bringing a more human and emotive aspect to the show staged in front of the calm sit-down audience. The high points were not so much in the interlocking drum licks, but in Yoshimi's vocals and the moments when she would turn 180 degrees to her keyboard and sing into the darkness. Her drumming was also stand-out and original with odd timings and an impossibly calm fluidity to her high-speed fills, coming off as a self-taught mad, yet composed, genius.
**Still, one had the sense that the Boredoms are at a strange point in their lifespan, rumored to have broken up fully or partially over the last several years and not putting out a truly proper album in seven years. Member changes and side projects seem to have had an odd effect and they still seem to be playing a similar set to the Seadrum material from a couple years ago, but I don't think that anyone should lose faith in the Boredoms. They are still innovators and if the show had been performed by another band I'm sure that the audience would have been floored. They have a legacy which is difficult to continue to top, but have faith in their ability to prolifically surprise everyone because they seem quite far from exhausting all of the mania which still seems to boil under the surface. The Boredoms may go through makeovers again in the future, but never in order to appease trends. They do what they do and live their music in a way that few other bands are able to, even for brief moments, let alone to sustain it for 20+ years. -- text/video/fotos: © chris kline 
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