UFO or Die
Cassette Tape Superstar

THE REVIEW

The Boredoms, in addition to contributing to noise pollution under their own social identity, have created an infinity of side projects, in which the most diverse musical genres are shattered - as usual.

These UFO or Die (where UFO stands for Unlimited Freak Out) are a kind of "power trio" that includes three Boredoms (Yamatzuka Eye on sampler, Yoshimi P-We on drums, and Hila Hayashi on bass) free from the parent group, although, considering the music they produce, it seems more like an escape from the asylum. Luckily for you, this Cassette Tape Superstar is (so far) the only testimony they have left.

Those who already know the Boredoms (not so much the modern psycho-freaks today, but the totally batty ones of the early days) know more or less what to expect; for everyone else, the music here might resemble a violent hardcore-punk record, if not for the amount of dissonance that shakes it from start to finish. Crazy cross-breeding between dub and metal; unlikely mutations of industrial music; hardcore beatdowns; dementedly improvised passages, complete with fragments taken from who knows what records; to this add the truly terrible recording and the usual absurd titles (just to mention a few: Exploding Toilet Action, Anti-full Of No Empty, and we'll stop here).

There's not even a trace of commercial intentions here: Eye sticks with his proven repertoire of screams, squeals, beastly spasms; but it's Yoshimi who is the real star of the record, thanks to drumming more sensible than it might seem on first listen, and that wouldn't look out of place in more canonical contexts. What else can I say: the friend who made me listen to them said they are very useful in the car, to give a little scare to the hitchhiker of the moment.