SOUNDTRACK: BORIS-Archive Volume Five “Pink Days” (2014/2020).
In early August, Boris digitally released six archival releases. Volume Five is called “Pink Days” and it is the best sounding of the bunch.
This show was recorded live in New York on May 31 during Boris’s 2006 US tour. PINK had just been released and the band played 7 selections from the album. But they also played two classics from Akuma No Uta and, one from Dronevil and a track from The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked (or Mabuta No Ura depending on which version of the song they play).
This show
transmits wild enthusiasm; the songs in this full set recording could even be called their greatest hits.
(Originally released on March 5, 2014. Included in Archive 2, limited to 1,000 copies)
The set opens with four songs from Pink. The first is “Blackout” which serves as a noisy introduction for what’s to come–feedback, squeals, waves of noise and Atsuo’s gong. As the songs settles in around 7 minutes, Wata takes some soaring solos while Atsuo pounds away on the drums and Takeshi plays some super heavy bass lines. Atsuo adds some vocals and a big YEAH! before the band starts “PINK,” with its fast, heavy riff and more soaring guitars. Atsuo sings the melody as the song speeds along. “Woman on the Screen” continues the fast heaviness with two and a half minutes of pummeling guitars and drums. “Nothing Special” is two more minutes of blistering noise with lots and lots of YEAHs!
A quick jump to the Akuma No Uta album for the riff-tastic “Ibitsu” before returning to Pink for the two minute “Electric.”
Boris has two songs called “A Bao A Qu.” Apparently they are entirely different. I gather that this one is from the Mabuta No Ura album and not The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked (that version is over 8 minutes long and this one is about 4). It’s heavy and dense with a lot of slow vocals and screaming solos.
Things finally slow down for the 15 minute “the evilone which sobs” from the Dronevil album. This is a solid drone song–waves of low end feedback pulsing throughout the concert hall. After four minutes of ringing, Wata plays a slow four note melody. About half way through the song, a new melody enters–both Takeshi and Wata play different parts while Atsuo smashes the cymbals. By nine minutes the two parts have more or less melded and the four note melody returns with the powerful backing of Takeshi. The last five minutes show Wata whaling away on her guitar creating soaring textures and sounds.
The feedbacking end segues into the title track from Akuma no Uta. This five minute instrumental features a lot of gong and a lot of cymbals as the slow riff unfolds. Until about half way through when the song takes off with a wicked riff and lot of whiooping from Atsuo.
For the last two songs the band returns to Pink. Up first is the the ten minute “Just Abandoned My-Self” which is a simple, fast singalong (if only you could figure out the words). The last five or so minutes lead the song into a droning outro–feeback and noise–that abruptly shuts off to wild applause and Atsuo telling everyone that there’s one more song.
The last song is the opening track from Pink called “Farewell.” It starts slowly with a pretty guitar riff. It’s a really catchy song with a great melody. Atsuo’s soaring vocals at the end are a nice capstone to a great show.
[READ: August 15, 2020] “Nobody Gets Out Alive”
I didn’t really like the way this story unfolded. It started out intriguingly enough: “Getting past the mastodon took planning.”
The mastodon skull was in the middle of the room where a coffee table might normally be. The setting is a house in Alaska, being used for a wedding party.
The newly married couple are Carter and Katrina. They are in Alaska visiting Katrina’s father. His neighbor Neil decided to host this wedding party for them. Its apparent that he and Katrina used to date (or maybe wanted to) a long time ago.
They went to Alaska because Carter had never been there. Nor had he met her father (in fact they’d only met each other a year ago). But Katrina’s father is very dull–he eats the same meal every night, he watches the same shows every night and he doesn’t even want to go to the wedding party. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: TAME IMPALA-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #69 (August 24, 2020).
With so many artists that I’ve never heard of doing really long Home Tiny Desk Concerts, why on earth did Tame Impala, one of the biggest bands around, only play for 16 minutes?
I’ve never heard of the Flatbush Zombies, but I really like their chill rap style. Musically the songs are groovy and complex and the live backing vocalists (l-r: Danielle Withers; Nayanna Holley; Stevvi Alexander) really flesh out the sound.
I Just Read About That... 