#2 BORIS - New Album (Sargent House)

Every winter needs its stupid rock album to get you out of the doldrums, and this winter has been gifted by one of the best bands in the world with what is arguably their worst album (that is still great in its own way). There is no way to justify this record to long time fans of Boris; the band that at one time stood toe to toe with Earth and Sunn 0))) for sovereignty of the doom drone world are now turning in what can only be described as a J-rock record, but goddamn if it isn't fun. For the most part this is a much more electronicized mix of songs from the band's "Heavy Rocks 2011" and "Attention Please" records from earlier in the year. It basically gathers together all of the pop songs, pumps up the disco and lets loose with abandon. It still rocks, promise, but in a different way.

This record has been out in Japan for a while, but I get the feeling that Boris knew they were going to piss off a lot of American fans with this, and so kind of buried its release, which is a shame, because if you can't get your four on the floor on with Boris and have fun, you probably aren't living. I'm not about to say I want to hear the band go down this road again, but this has became a guilty pleasure that makes even the shittiest days feel grand, in other words: the perfect cure for the winter, or any, blues.

"Spoon"

BORIS - Attention Please/Heavy Rocks 2011 (Sargent House)

I have said repeatedly that Boris are one of the greatest bands in the world today. I say that not only because their music is amazing, which it is, but because of their ability to straddle and mix multiple genres into the unique whole that is Boris. Pop, drone, ambient, noise, doom, metal, indie-rock, even a little electronica are the colors that Boris use to create their always provocative compositions. You would have to look to Radiohead to find another band that is able to push boundaries and redefine themselves as successfully from album to album. Boris are also incredibly prolific. Although their output has slowed in the last couple of years, at one time it was nearly impossible to keep up with their release schedule that would often include differing versions of full lengths, numerous splits, live albums, eps and collaborations. It was somewhat surprising that following the release of the band's last proper album, 2008's "Smile," (which, of course, was released in two radically different mixes) they seemed to fall relatively silent (and by silent I mean they released a live album and dvd, rerecorded some of their old tracks for a Japanese only full-length, crafted an excellent series of 7" singles for Southern Lord, and put out a couple of split eps). Apparently the band have been saving up for 2011, because this year will see not one, but three new Boris records, and who knows what else. The first two come courtesy of Sargent House, rather than Southern Lord, who have typically handled the band's US releases. This move away from the stalwart doom/black/crust metal label is indicative of the shift in direction the band explores on both "Attention Please" and "Heavy Rocks." These are easily the band's most accessible releases to date, but accessibility does not mean that they are any less interesting or satisfying than the band's previous work.

"Attention Please" is the most radical of the two recordings. Featuring vocals entirely by guitarist extraordinaire Wata, the record finds the band at their least heavy, most indie-rockish ever. To be fair, the band has hinted at this sort of release throughout the Southern Lord 7" series and on their "Golden Dance Classics" split. Tellingly, some of the music from that split appears here in an altered form. The titular opener is a silky sexy slow burner with a subtle dance vibe that will likely have the band's metal fans scratching their heads. For those whose tastes are as catholic as Boris', the track is an intriguing taste of what is to come. What is to come is a heady mix of alt-heavy rock, electronics and everything else Boris has ever dabbled in, but toned down. Rockers like "Hope" and "Spoon" absolutely soar, but have more in common with 90s indie-rock or, dare I say, Arcade Fire than anything Boris has done to date. Other songs, like "Hand and Hand" "You" and "See You Next Week," recall the ambient soundscapes of the band's "Mabuta No Ura" buoyed by the fragile beauty of Wata's voice. Some of the likely more divisive tracks are also some of the records most enjoyable. "Party Boy" is straight up electro-clash, and it's also downright addictive. "Les Paul Custom '86" is the album's weirdest pop experiment, featuring sparse instrumentation, blown out beats, effects, and a full-on groove, and it is also a hell of a lot of fun. I challenge you not to smile every time Wata goes "E-E." If you don't or can't, I don't think I really want to know you. There are unnecessary rough spots on the album, like the limp "Tokyo Wonder Land," but overall this record works and works well. More than anything I can see "Attention Please," bringing the band a few new fans who would be initially turned off by the crushing sludge of "Amplifier Worship" or the dour doom of "Smile." As for long time fans of the band's heavier material who might be put off by "Attention Please," they need not despair; "Heavy Rocks" ensures that Boris have not gone soft.

Boris revisits the title "Heavy Rocks" from time to time as they redefine their sound. This record is the third incarnation of "Heavy Rocks" moniker; the first being 2002's foray into tight Stooges-like barnburners, and the second being the more experimental Southern Lord 7" series. With this third installment, the band seems to be taking stock of their various metal and hard rock permutations up to now, and creating something a little leaner, a little more accessible, but no less heavy. Opener, "Riot Sugar" is a cavernous stoner-rock number featuring Ian Astbury on backing vocals that sounds similar to some of the band's work on their collaboration with Astbury on "BXI," but better. "Leak - Truth, yesnoyesnoyes" follows and finds the band returning to the psych-rock of their excellent "Rainbow" recording. "GALAXIANS" is the kind of barnburner which populated the first "Heavy Rocks," "Pink" and "Smile," so of course it rocks. "Missing Pieces," my personal favorite track from both albums, has the band returning to the epic ambient-doom post-rock that made "Flood" and "Boris At Last:-Feederbacker-" the classic recordings they are. It even includes a blast of sustained heavy-as-fuck doom drone. Like I said, this is the sound of the band taking stock and pretty much covering every base. No, it isn't as face melting as "Absolutego" or as brutal as "Amplifier Worship," but it will satisfy long-time fans nonetheless, while also offering an easy to digest sampling of the band's heavier side for new comers.

This wouldn't really be a Boris album, though, if it didn't add something fresh to the mix, and fortunately the band offers up new directions in sound on a few tracks here. "Window Shopping" mixes Brit-pop on top of one of their typical go-for-broke ragers, which breaks down into a doom stomp before starting back up again. The real treat is "Tu, La, La," a continuation of the band's exploration of 90's indie-guitar rock. Taken along-side "Attention Please's" similar forays into alt-rock, it sounds like the band has been listening to some serious Sebadoh, and that is a very cool thing, because they rock this sound completely. I could easily take an entire album of this kind of thing. Then there is the tease that is "Czechoslovakia." At only a minute thirty-five, the number inflames with a trash-metal workout that will leave you craving so much more, and is hopefully a glimpse of things to come.

Boris are going on fifteen years now as a band, but with their third album of the year on the way, they show no signs of slowing down, growing old or becoming any less restless as musicians. "Attention Please" finds them at their most adventurous, while "Heavy Rocks" finds them circling the wagons and maintaining their crowns as one of the, if not the, greatest heavy bands of the last decade, while still finding ways to reinvent themselves. Taken together, both albums may be the perfect introduction to Boris given the breadth and depth of the band's various incarnations presented between the two records. For those who are familiar with the group, these albums offer an equal blend of the known and the novel, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call either record the band's best, they are certainly vibrant documents of the group's seemingly undying originality and vitality.

"Hope"


"Les Paul Custom '86"


"Riot Sugar"


"Missing Pieces"

BORIS & IAN ASTBURY - BXI (Southern Lord)/ BORIS - Luna (Hydrahead)

A couple of quick sweeping statements that may or may not be hyperbole: 1) Boris is one of the greatest bands in the world today. Period. So great that they are often taken for granted as they rack up excellent release after release. One never has to ask whether or not a new Boris album is going to be good; because it is, one just has to remember that even after countless full lengths, singles and eps that they should continue to be celebrated for being one of the greatest bands of our time. 2) Boris is also one, if not the, most versatile rock bands...ever. I cannot think of another band that is, or has been, able to straddle pop rock, heavy metal, hard rock, extreme noise, drone, ambient, post rock, even dance rock with the virtuoso skill of Boris. They have mastered so many styles of music that the only serious question one asks when a new Boris album is released is not whether or not it is good, because, like I said, it always is, but what KIND of Boris album it is. Is it going to be ambient like "Flood", epic like "Feederback", doom sludge like "Amplifier Worship", psyche pop like "Rainbow", or balls out rock and roll like "Pink"? As if to prove that point the band has just released two very different kinds of releases that continue to expand on their ever-growing legacy. "BXI" is a collaboration with semi-legendary Cult frontman Ian Astbury, whereas "Luna" is a single twelve minute track featured on a split 10" with Torche entitled "Chapter Ahead Being Fake". One is an enjoyable but slight detour for the band, while the other is a culmination and leap forward of the sound the band has been toying with since the grossly under-appreciated "Smile".

Of the two, "BXI" is the lesser release, but it is still worth picking up and blaring out of your stereo speakers. When I first learned that Boris had collaborated with Astbury my first reaction was pretty much 'what the fuck?' Back in the day I more than got my groove on to The Cult's still amazing "Love" and "Electric", but let's be honest, the band hasn't really done much since. To his credit those two albums still hallow the ground that Astbury walks to a large degree, also of his hard rocking contemporaries he has aged better than most, if not all. He certainly doesn't provoke the grimaces and smirks that younger progeny like Chris Cornell do(Soundgarden reunion could have been something if Cornell didn't spend the last twelve years crapping on his band's legacy). With that in mind after I got over my initial shock, intrigue and anticipation set in. Maybe Boris could inject some of their magic into Astbury's mid-to-late career status.

What is most striking about "BXI" is that it doesn't really sound like Boris, at first, as much as it does a parallel universe version of The Cult. Closer listens reveal otherwise, but this is a record you crank to 11, so subtleties are not really the order of the day. The ep starts out with "Teeth and Claws", which is the track most likely to get its hooks in you and become the earworm that plays in your head when you wake in the morning. It's an upbeat epic-sounding rocker that sounds a lot like a throwback to the early 90s and grunge. It doesn't hurt that Astbury's voice doesn't sound a day over 1985, and I mean that as a serious complement. Astbury has range and there is nothing here that indicates he has lost an octave since "Love". At the center of the song are Astbury's lyrics steeped in pagan-romanticism. Two of the song's central lyrics are "the animals will save us" and "attack attack attack" (referring to the animals saving us) which is wonderfully complemented by guitarist extraordinaire Wata's guitar counterpoint. Yeah, it's kind of goofy, but it also rocks like hell and plays on a certain primalism that is undeniable.

The ep's other highlight "We Are Witches" follows with an equally heavy rocker that is much darker. Again Astbury's lyrics take centerstage and have something to do with an occult apocalypse, but it does deliver a hell of a refrain; "standing there like a victim will only get you killed!". Boris again perfectly compliments Astbury's almost too big for life presence with a perfectly attuned performance that smolders and burns alongside the singer's charismatic delivery.

Interestingly enough the most expendable track on "BXI" is Boris' cover of The Cult's classic song "Rain". Wata takes vocal duties on the track, and the band plays a reinterpretation of the track that sounds like a hybrid of a bar-band cover version and dance remix that does nothing to add to the original other than bolster it as the one and only definitive version. More than anything what the track makes you realize is that Astbury is a damn amazing singer. I love Wata's songs with Boris, but she really can't compete as a vocalist with Astbury. This track may have absolutely killed if he had re-recorded his vocals with Boris playing.

"BXI" ends with the mellow, but nevertheless epic (as if it could be any other way with this fucking guy singing) track "Magickal Child". Again Astbury paints with lyrics steeped in pagan-romanticism over Boris' perfectly complementary bombast. More than before, though, Boris sounds like Boris. Subtle fuzz turns into a chasmic soundscape that is part doom and part hope which stirs the soul either way. Christ, did I say this was the lesser release of the two pieces in this review? Like I said earlier; all Boris releases are good and this is no exception. You just might have to readjust the settings on your stereo to 1991. Regardless, I would love to hear more. It's clear from this release that Boris respects the hell out of Astbury and plays alongside him as organically as The Cult did. That's a pretty cool thing in and of its self, but its a goddamned amazing thing when you remember that the band we are talking about is Boris, who do not need Ian Astbury to make a name for themselves. The fact that Astbury really is the star of this recording speaks volumes about both artists. "Luna", on the other hand, is a different story entirely.

Starting with "Smile" Boris began to incorporate more pop elements into their experimental heavy as hell sound. Not that they risked producing a top 40 hit, after all, the album's most "pop" song was the ever so radio-friendly titled "My Neighbour Satan" featuring blistering guitar freakouts, and inside out, upside down, kaleidoscopic production. It was not exactly "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". Nevertheless the band continued to explore the boundaries of pop-metal on a series of seven inches for Southern Lord titled "Japanese Heavy Rock Hits". In hindsight "Satan" and those most excellent seven inches all appear to be variations on the band's attempt to digest and produce pop songs on their own terms. In the process Boris has crafted a whole new sound, not just for their repertoire, but for music in general. "Luna" is a culmination of those ideas and that sound. It's Boris' version of pop writ large.

The heart of "Luna" is all blast beats and tonal guitars, yet somehow the song manages to be incredibly uplifting and beautiful. Even when the song shifts and Takeshi's pulsating dance-oriented bass drops out and all that is left is twisted black metal-infected guitar and drummer Atsuo's insane blast beats, the band's harmonies continue to elevate the song into something gorgeous. It's an epic track reflective of the frontiers that Boris has been breaking down and redefining over the past couple of years and one that will either signal an end to this chapter, or another charge forward into more pop-metal bliss. Interestingly, the track comes to an end with a snippet of the kind of massive sludge doom that the band started their career playing, leaving the answer to that question wide open. Either way "Luna" will satiate while whetting appetites for what comes next.

So, like I said, Boris is the one of the greatest bands in the world today. If you don't know that already, then you don't know much.

"Luna" live

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