In 1994, the Japanese noise-rock collective Boredoms gained its widest exposure in the US as the opening act for that year's first leg of the Lollapalooza touring festival. Drawing acclaim for its kinetic live performances, the almost innately spastic group followed up with CHOCOLATE SYNTHESIZER, its second full-length major-label outing.
While the disc was widely considered to be the most accessible Boredoms album up to that point, that notion is qualified by the fact that the word "accessible" doesn't seem to exist in the ensemble's vocabulary.
Despite the presence of a few more melodies, this is still art-damaged, chaos-obsessed, genre-hopping music that delves into everything from speed metal to Krautrock to collages of pure cacophony. As always, frontman Yamatsuka Eye's arsenal of screams, yelps, and vocal histrionics is the group's main weapon, as revealed on SYNTHESIZER's metal-tinged opener, "Acid Police." Other highlights include the visceral "Action Synthesizer Hero," the insanely giddy "B for Boredoms," and the herky-jerky "I'm Not Synthesizer (YPY?)." Though any Boredoms release is bound to be bizarrely fascinating, CHOCOLATE SYNTHESIZER stands out as one of the mercurial band's best offerings.
Live Recording
Recording information: LM Studio.
Boredoms: Eye, ATR, Yamamotor, Yoshimmy, Hilah, Yoshikawar.
Audio Mixer: Ohji Hayashi.
Rolling Stone (7/13-7/27/95, p.111) - "...Without question, the Boredoms are one of the most bizarre, adventurous bands on the planet, but for anyone who doesn't thrill to disjointed beats and cacophonous clatter, CHOCOLATE SYNTHESIZER may be a tough sweet to swallow."
Spin (3/95, pp.95-96) - 6 (out of 10) - "...Their dissonant vocal repertoire...combined with herky-jerky stop-start thrash and spontaneous feedback explosions, hardly beckons for repeated plays. CHOCOLATE SYNTHESIZER is...less abrasive than last year's POP TATARI...leaning more toward conventional song structures..."
Chocolate Synthesizer Music
Boredoms - Chocolate Synthesizer Songs
Chocolate Synthesizer Music
Chocolate Synthesizer Review
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