Boredoms (or V ∞ redoms, as they're confusingly billed in their home country) preside over a haphazard patchwork of a discography. For every official album, there's a slew of EPs, remixes and side projects, chronicling in detail the Osaka group's evolution from schizoid noise punks to ecstatic tribal-drum circle.
Hot on the heels of last year's "Super Roots 9" live album comes "Live at Sun Flancisco," billed as the group's first concert DVD (presumably the scraps of gig footage on 1998's rare-as-hen's-teeth "Super Seeeeee!!!!!!" don't count).
Fans hoping for a deluxe treatment are in for a disappointment, though — "The Last Waltz" this ain't. Shot roughshod on a single camera that drifts in and out of focus, this recording of a show at The Independent live house in San Francisco during the band's 2005 U.S. tour is about as bare bones as they come, verging on YouTube quality.
There's no arguing with the strength of the performance captured, mind you. This hourlong onslaught of motorik rhythms, chants and fried electronics is potent stuff, even by their standards. It's just hard not to feel that it deserved better presentation than afforded here. The DVD comes bundled with an 11-minute CD of two unreleased percussion workouts, neither of them essential. For the collectors only.