Friday, July 11, 2008
The Middle East Downstairs
BORIS (from Japan)
Torche (Hydra Head Records)
Clouds (Hydra Head Records)
18+
$13adv/$15dos
8 PM doors
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BORIS (from Japan)
Boris are a Japanese experimental trio, known for their genre-hopping in between and on records. As of 2008, personnel are drummer Atsuo, bassist/guitarist/vocalist Takeshi, and guitarist Wata.
Boris take their name from a song on the The Melvins’ Bullhead, and released their first album Absolutego on their own label, Fangs Anal Satan. Since then, they have released 17 studio albums (including such acclaimed works as Pink and Heavy Rocks), a number of EPs, 7″ singles, and full-length collaborative recordings, on various record labels around the world.
Boris were originally a four-piece, with Nagata on drums. Nagata departed in 1996 leaving Atsuo to take over drumming duties and they have remained a three-piece since.
From their formation, Boris’s members have made deliberate efforts to avoid being pigeon-holed, or too strongly associated with any musical style. “Having some kind of preconceived message or theme is very boring to me,” noted Atsuo, the band’s drummer. “It becomes a crutch. Just say what you want to say.”
The band’s influences are eclectic, with Sleep, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Venom, and the Melvins being a few of the more important ones. The group quickly realized that they did not fit in with the Japanese hardcore punk scene that birthed them, though they retain a fondness for the scene and its music.
In Japan, Boris release most of their music on the indie label Inoxia Records. Though relatively unknown in their home country, a recent series of reissues on US label Southern Lord Records has seen their popularity in North America increase dramatically, even gaining them widespread recognition in the mainstream music press. Many of Boris’s vinyl releases feature similar artwork for the inner label of the record (pictured). This is a parody of the original Roger Dean artwork that Virgin Records used for many of their releases (seen here).
2005’s Pink was met with considerable critical praise and a strong response from music fans when reissued in the US on Southern Lord Records. Blender magazine and SPIN magazine both named it one of 2006’s best albums.
The album also topped the metal section of Canadian magazine Exclaim’s 2006 Reader’s Poll, and was in the top 10 of Pitchfork Media’s Top 50 Records Of 2006.
Boris’s recent vinyl-only release, Vein, focused on a sound derived from classic Japanese crust bands, such as Gloom, Confuse, and Gai.
Boris began their career as a hardcore punk band before quickly changing to a drone metal group. Their debut album, 1996’s Absolutego, clocks in at well over an hour in length, yet features only one “song,” essentially a collage of shapeless guitar noise — with single chords sometimes stretching past the 4-minute mark — and screamed vocals. Throughout their career, they would continue to dabble in this style; their albums Flood and Feedbacker also consist of single epic-length songs, though typically broken into smaller parts, and their The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked series could be described as being recorded experiments in the drone genre.
However, since about 2000, Boris has become more often seen as an updated version of the blues-rock power trio, influenced heavily by late-’60s and ’70s groups such as Motörhead, Blue Cheer, and Cream. Boris first made use of this sound on their album Heavy Rocks, which has since become a fan favorite. This album marked a major shift in tone for Boris; comparing Absolutego to Heavy Rocks, it is as if one were comparing two very different bands.
Boris has collaborated with fellow Japanese musicians Keiji Haino, Michio Kurihara, and Merzbow, as well as the US’s Sunn O))).
Another important concept in the band’s aesthetic is the idea of “uppercase” and “lowercase” Boris. According to Atsuo, if the band’s name appears as “BORIS” on the record cover, the music is a relatively conventional dose of rock or metal. If the name appears as “Boris” or “boris,” then, the music is most likely an experimental recording.
As mentioned, Boris play music in a variety of genres. This dictates that their setup in a live environment be equipped with many different effects pedals and other guitar accessories. Wata uses an E-bow to achieve bow-like sounds or to manipulate feedback; this device is held in the hand, like a pick, but relies on a strong magnetic pull to move the guitar’s strings.
Further allusion to the sound of ’70s hard rock is made in the band’s exclusive use of Gibson guitars such as the SG and Les Paul models. Takeshi sometimes plays a double-necked Ibanez SG-style bass/guitar live, which allows him to drone away on the guitar during longer numbers but quickly switch to bass without needing to switch instruments. Wata uses the Orange cabinets and Matamp heads also favoured by stoner metal groups Sleep and High On Fire; Takeshi uses Ampeg bass amps, a trademark of desert rock legends Kyuss, and influential Palm scene guitarist Josh Homme.
In the studio, Boris records on analog equipment. They record as much as possible live, with minimal overdubs and as few takes as possible. — wikipedia
Artist Website: http://www.myspace.com/borisdronevil
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TORCHE (Hydra Head Records)
It’s almost as if Torche wrote a record in response to Hydra Head Records’ habit of releasing discs of doomy, unlistenable forty-minute songs. The band that once penned sludgy, stodgy songs have produced an effort inarguably their most accessible to date: “Meanderthal”, an album that’s anything but its title as it’s a strong collection of XM-friendly stoner-pop/straight-up rock jams that tempers their elder sound and strikes territory closer to alternative radio acts like Queens of the Stone Age and even the Foo Fighters.
Whether it’s through the layered declarations of the stomping, mid-tempo “Grenades” or faster romps like “Piraña,” “Fat Waves” and “Healer,” guitarist/vocalist Steve Brooks can often be found singing or shouting in an easily digested delivery that’s less harsh and ugly than last year’s In Return EP, 2005’s self-titled or, especially, his days in the noisier and more off-kilter Floor.
The contrast the band presents is an interesting one, though. With songs like “Speed of the Nail,” distorted guitars and bass can rumble and roll, creating an austerity that isn’t always present; but then there’s the incredibly happy and melodic in the seriously exceptional “Across the Shields,” where Brooks could fill an arena with his proclamation, “I am your armor!” “Healer” and “Fat Waves” both find particularly smooth middle grounds, with a hard-charging riff driving each respective song and an excellently energetic pacing in both.
One of the especially confounding tracks is the brooding “Sundown” because, swear to fucking God, aside from the chorus it sounds like Jawbreaker circa Bivouac or 24 Hour Revenge Therapy; Brooks’ nasally, distorted delivery on the verses could even pass for Schwarzenbach’s. Upon further analysis, though, it makes sense: Brooks is highly influenced by punk rock, and not only sonically; the average song length here is under three minutes.
High-gloss production would probably really take this record over the top, but thankfully, Kurt Ballou applies his signature grit, which keeps the record steady and slightly muffled amid all the bold melodies. And frankly, the last two tracks, “Amnesian” and “Meanderthal,” make sure things aren’t all SquiZZ; the former is a six-minute thunderstorm and the latter a four-minute instrumental mammoth, both of which harken back to the band’s earlier days.
Meanderthal is a different kind of mammoth than one’s used to hearing from Torche, but when they seem to do it better than the bands they’ll now assuredly be lumped with, they’re certainly deserving of immunity. —punknews.org
Artist Website: http://www.myspace.com/torche
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CLOUDS (Hydra Head Records)
…And they said it couldn’t be done. Then again, “they” say a lot of things, don’t they? And in this case, when they implied, insinuated, or outright insisted that Boston rock freewheelers Clouds couldn’t possibly get any more awesome, they – in the sadly timeless words of our soon-to-be ex-president – severely misunderestimated our immensely talented and totally gregarious homeboys. And so it follows that Clouds have followed up last year’s Legendary Demo with an even bigger, better; and more brilliant slab of Hott Rock Action. Led by the estimable and inimitable Captain Adam McGrath, who brings his impeccable musical pedigree (see: fellow Hydra Head all-stars Cave In) to bear upon this lofty enterprise, Clouds deliver all the anthemic choruses, white-hot licks and psychedelic grandeur that anyone could ever possibly hope to cram into a single album made by mere mortals. Not that we’re bragging or anything.
Artist Website: http://www.myspace.com/cloudsrock
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