BORIS - Live In Japan
That Boris are curious explorers of guitar music's arctic wildernesses is no secret - their expeditionary twenty year career has wandered through every nook and cranny of rock, metal, punk and drone. In a way, you know what a Boris DVD will be if one thing at all: loud! But on the other hand you can't really have any idea what form this cacophony will be packaged in.
As it happens, this concert was part of the band's 'Smile' tour and, since it includes every track from that 2008 album, it's remarkably cohesive. The trio, supported by longtime contributor and
best-friend-forever Michio Kurihara, open with 'Flower Sun Rain' - a suitably hippy-ish title for the long-haired prog psychedelia it contains. This restrained opening lasts for approximately eight minutes before 'Buzz In' does just that, slamming into the audience. "WOO!", shouts Atsuo from behind his drum kit.
The full-steam-ahead rock'n'roll lasts for several breathless songs before any other ideas even get a word in. Then things start getting weirder; a wailing, heroic guitar coupled with melodic shoegaze; even an "oh-oh!" pops up somewhere. Michio Kurihara gets his turn in the spotlight on the much slower, creepier "Rainbow". It's the title track from a whole album he did with the band, and he lays claim to it with what's probably the most discordant guitar solo ever recorded.
Even on DVD, without the soundsystem of a venue, the entire set sounds huge. Boris' ability to crush doesn't come from deft riffwork, throat-ruining vocals or breakdown rhythms. Their ingredients are all vintage: fuzzy chords and squalling, Hendrix-esque guitars. The power of it comes from sheer weight alone; the band cover everything they do with an enveloping sludge that takes over any space in happens to flow into - including both the Tokyo live house this DVD was filmed in, and your front room.
This heftiness comes without the menacing atmosphere of such becloaked, devil-worshipping bands as Sunn O))). It's also free of youthful exuberance; the sole reason for Boris' volume is a love of music. From Wata's elegant dress to Takeshi's graceful swaying, the band emit the sophistication of master artists. They just happen to prefer messy sketches to careful paintings.
The phrase "amplifier worship" - used as a title for one of their earlier records - remains as appropriate as ever.
Reviewed by Nick Oakden
'Live In Japan' is out now on Southern Lord
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