With their UK tour kicking off tonight (7 May) in London, the road looms large Bo Ningen. With third album III out on Monday (12 May), the trio (Taigen, Kohhei and Mon Chan) have recently completed their first proper tour of America and have made Q this Playlist marking their journey. “This was our first proper American trip. LA, Coachella, NY and Austin. We always dreamt about being on the road in US. And here we are,” they explain. “These songs are the soundtrack for our trip, and for the next one.”
Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets
Kohhei: “I was listening this walking down the street in LA. There was a steep hill and it was extra sunny. There are not much hilly streets in London and the sun. I thought I could walk forever, or fly even. A monumental moment.”
Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle – He Always Felt Like Dancing
Kohhei: “This song has such a road trip feeling. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the voice, but not just the voice. I can listening to only this (and the album) when I go drive across the US. Deserts, motels, rocks, perpetual straight road, winds, the sun and sunsets.”
Massacre – Killing Time
Kohhei: “After all the road trip from west coast, you reach NYC and find this. You’ll see something different if you travel the other way. But I prefer going this way. Sharpest thing awaits, means the trip will go on.”
Steve Reich – City Life
Taigen: “This song would describe my first visit of NYC really well. You can hear many noise samples in this tune, such as, car horns, door slams, air brakes, subway chimes, boat horns, and sirens. And all noises were recorded in reich’s home town, NYC. My first impression of NYC was somehow similar to where I’m from, Tokyo and where I live, London. However, the urban soundscape of Tokyo and London didn’t remind me of this song at all. This would explain that this song perfectly represent the soundscape of NYC, but it also show us the beauty and ugliness of the city at the same time. I could truly understand this song by visiting NYC, I’m happy.”
DJ Rashad – Let It Go
Taigen: “If I take the statistics of “what genre of music I heard the most from the street in US?”, Juke&Trap music would be the Top1, I’m quite happy to hear that extremely fast Hihat and crazy rhythm from the street. And One of the originator, DJ Rashad is one of my favorite artist from this music genre. DJ Rashad, R.I.P.”
Connie Converse – How Sad, How Lovely
Yuki: “This song has always reminded me of New York even if I’ve never been there before until this US trip. My first time in New York. When on the road, when I look down Manhattan skyscrapers in distance, anytime anywhere, it enables me to feel the world of New York in the 1950s. The title and lyric describe the city too.”
Josephine Foster – Waterfall
Yuki: “Everyone drives in LA, even for a cup of coffee around the corner. I was usually in a car seeing its landscape passing by. And this car culture and huge size of freeway and road makes me want to listen to this cheerful, lively and even happy track with an amazing acoustic room sound.”
Philip Glass – The grid (Koyaanisqatsi)
Mon Chan: “On the way to Coachella, we dropped in Josha Tree. Sunbaked horizon, vast rusty mountains, endless road, increbibly long freight train and thousand of white windmills came into view. And gigantic bridge, crowded high-rise buildings and mesmerized night view in NY too. My sense of dimension was out of touch with the sense which i have, due to these experiences.And reminds me all things in the universe are connecting. It’s really fractal structure. USA is big but it is unaffected by size. Everything has strong individuality. I guess it really affect to the music here.The song was written for the film Koyaanisqatsi.His music tells about this film very well. The song has echoed in my head whole way though.”
Karen Dalton – Reason To Believe
Mon Chan: “Comparing with Tokyo and London, New York is more organic to me. Especially around Williamsburg where we stay, buildings and people who live here. Everything has strong individuality and coexist together. Ruins here exist neither sliping into obscurity nor patching up cruelly. Unconvincing emotion and sign of humanity squirm in the rationalized world. That’s why this song matches for this town.I can still feel her here and she has real pure voice.So many musicians covered this song(haven’t checked all of them though).I think her version is the best.”
For more head to boningen.info, plus listen to their track Slider below.
