SOUNDTRACK: BORIS-Akuma No Uta (2003).
Boris albums are never an easy thing to find. This album was originally released in Japan in 2003. Then it was reissued in America in 2005 with a vastly superior cover. The cover to the right, a hilarious mock up of Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter album (left). The original album (cover way below) was only 31 minutes, but the reissue was extended to 39 minutes because that’s how long the Nick Drake album was.
So this new album is quite different from the original: In addition to running an additional 7 minutes, the opening track of the newer version is a totally different take; both use the same riff from “Akuma no Uta,” but the original, shorter track repeats it far less and opens with over a minute of ambient, resonant amp noise absent from the longer version.
I have the newer edition and don’t know the original. “イントロ” (Intro)” opens with a slow, simple infectious riff and then a sort of soaring siren sound starts. The four note riff is enveloped in distortion while the backing chords cycle through slowly. Then comes soaring guitars and washes of noise which stretch this song out to almost 10 minutes.
The opening track lulls you into a false sense of mellowness until “Ibitsu” comes blasting out with heavy rocking guitars, pounding drums and screaming vocals. Most of the verses are just drums and Atsuo’s singing with an occasional riff from Wata. Then Takeshi joins in on the chorus and turns it into a big old crashing metal song. The middle is a three note riffs before a brief Wata solo and some wild drumming. The end is so loud it seems to blow out the speakers.
There’s a brief pause and then “フリー” (Furi) kicks off even faster and more intense heavy rock. There’s a fast riff and a chorus that is super fun to sing along to even though I have no idea what they are saying.
“無き曲” (Naki Kyoku)” is a grooving slower song. The first three minutes are primarily a solo by Wata. The middle turns into a slow jam with stops and starts. A slow grooving solo resolves into a another catchy rocking singalong before feedbacking out. Around five minutes, the vocals come in. The middle has another solo and some meandering bass from Takeshi–almost like a call and response musical section.
“あの女の音量” (Ano Onna no Onryou) is another big crashing rocker with heavy ponderous chords. It’s got screaming guitars and shouted vocals but plenty of room for noisy feedback.
The album ends with “”あくまのうた” (Akuma no Uta). A big gong introduces the three note riff. Around two minutes the fast guitar riff begins and the song rocks out–a classic short heavy Boris rocker.
[READ: May 1, 2021] “Casting Shadows”
I haven’t read a lot of Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories, but she was very popular a while back. I’m not sure if she still is.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this story is that it was written in Italian (translated by the author, which is also interesting).
Lahiri used to write in English but she has recently begun writing in Italian. I find that fascinating, especially since she translated this work herself–how different is it than if she had written it in English first, I wonder.
This is the story of an older woman and how she interacts with the world around her. particularly the men. She was
Never married, but, like all women, I’ve had my share of married men.
It’s a really interesting character study and shows a powerful woman who some people might (foolishly) try to take advantage of.
The first man she speaks about is a neighbor. He is married to the narrator’s friend and the two of them run into each other quite often. They are very friendly and have a good time together (he even goes with her to buy underwear). She often thinks that something could happen between them but he’s a good man and he loves her friend. She is content with this friendship.
Springtime is tough for her because of her allergies and the chilly weather which never seems to be warm enough for her. She also seems to run into an ex-boyfriend a lot. They were together for five years and her role was more of a nurse maid than anything else. He was sickly and she was often running around taking care of him. He was always distracted and was always late so she was constantly tending to his needs.
Then one day a woman rang her bell. It was a woman who was also seeing her boyfriend. I was very pleased that this did not dissolve into the two women fighting each other. Rather, they compared diaries over coffee to see how he manipulated the two of them for so long.
The secret was revealed when he gave the other woman a book that the narrator had lent to him–it still had a bill from the narrator as a bookmark. They marvel at the way they met.
In the summer, the place is largely empty. She sees a lot of people that she normally doesn’t notice during the busier times. Like the man who is selling items in the street. All of these items have a story and she winds up buying a number of them, imagining her own backstory filling in with these pieces.
The one married man she did have a fling with ran up to her while she was walking down the street. She says she’s not a particularly beautiful woman, but she was in her 20s and this 50 year old man ran up to her and asked her out, Her friend encouraged her–why not? And so they began an affair. She never went to his place and he never went to hers. They had wonderful day trips to fancy places.
It was an incendiary time, a momentary surge that has nothing to do with me anymore.
The story catches up to the present, when on this day, one of her lovers keeps calling her. But they are mostly butt dials. She listens in on his day: his lunch out, his office work. She starts to get annoyed that he calls so much.
Finally in late afternoon he calls her on purpose. He says his day was exhausting and that he even skipped lunch.
When he asks her to dinner she refuses, even though she is starving
She tells of more encounters with her friend’s husband. Some do seem like they could be romantic. Finally, he calls her in the middle of the night and she thinks this might be the big move. But he has something else in mind.
The end of the story sees her laughing for the first time in ages.
Oh, and the drum sound on Akuma is immense.
This is ridiculous! I’ve been listening to Boris for the last three weeks, loving it. I was really disappointed with them when I saw them finally about four years ago—they were bored themselves, as it turned out, and close to splitting—but a recent revisit of their album with Merzbow sent me down the rabbit hole to their early stuff. Flood, only ever on CD and in licensing limbo this last few years, is a recent discovery and a masterpiece: a circular, Reilly-Esque out of phase motif developing trough a proggy phase into the more familiar sludge, an hour of real enjoyment. I then dug out Absolutego, an hour long thing they did which recently got a Third Man reissue. It’s far more challenging than Flood, much more Melvins-y, but once again, total immersion reaps amazing rewards. By the end I was sitting doing nothing else but listening (rare luxury) and then ordered the vinyl.
Next up was the one you reviewed, and you’re spot on as usual. It feels light after Absolutego, but so would most factories and power tools. After that, next day, it was Noise, far more recent, in the supermarket. Far more accessible but a little too wide ranging on one album. They can tend, like Ruins, to sound a little parodic now and again. Anyhow, I’m on a quest for Heavy Rocks, the first one, that is, to continue my delve. In the meantime, shout out to Walrus, one of my favourite Beatles covers and a wonderful intro to this hugely talented band. Between this and King Gizzard you’re reading my mind, still, my friend!