OOIOO is a name that should be familiar for anyone whose waded into rock and if their name isn’t, YoshimiO, their leader, should be. Percussionist and founding member for the Boredoms, and Saicobab, and a long time collaborator of Kim Gordon, Susie Ibarra, & Robert Lowe among others. It’s no surprise that each OOIOO record has been as energizing and enthralling as the last, which might be the most consistent thing about their 8 records that each focus on and offer listeners something new. Nijimusi was mainly recorded using a conventional rock ensemble of of two guitars, bass, and drums, but often feels more than that, the phrasing and rhythms becoming something new slowly and then all at once. It’s rock, but can be hard to pin down exactly; psychedelic, shimmering distortion, shouts, and tight instrumentation giving way to a controlled burn of instrumental breakdowns. Mishina’s, added as the drummer in 2016, drumming shines. They use an improvisational process for recording, which leaves us with a record that feels so alive it’s sometimes surprising it’s still the same record every time you play it.
