Boredoms @ The Arches

Opening with an ethereal chant and wielding two spheres of noise-making light, Boredoms leader Yamatsuka Eye is less frontman and more pan-dimensional shaman performing a digital exorcism. As he gradually conducts his three drummers into a whirlwind, he builds up the intensity and intricate shifts that make it clear why the Boredoms are such a special live experience. It is trance music, but light years away from the vacuous euphoria that normally goes by that name. The dense poly-rhythms combined with drones, electronics and soaring vocal exchanges between Eye and OOIOO leader Yoshimi bear closer relation to the ancient Sufi music of the Master Musicians of Joujouka. There's the most wonderful dance music on the planet buried in there, but only if you become totally immersed in the sound. Equally it can be meditative and serene, and is genuinely the spiritual music of the future. [Ali Maloney]