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Archive for the ‘Boris’ Category

Starcrawler (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 19, 2024) [BORIS]

Posted in Boris, Philadelphia, PA, Starcrawler, Union Transfer on October 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 19, 2024] Starcrawler

Starcrawler goes down as probably the biggest let down from a build up for me at a concert.

I had wanted to see Starcrawler for about 5 years because I had heard such great things about their live show.  Since then, their show had evolved (as it probably should) and instead of the crazy rockers I thought I was getting, instead, I got a cocksure LA band who were snotty to the crowd and way overconfident in an unpleasant way.

So, while I might normally have been really excited to see them, I was a little bummed that they were opening for Boris without hearing anything new from them.

There’s a few songs by them that I really do like.  And they didn’t play either “Hollywood Ending” or “No More Pennies.” But the did play the two songs that I liked least when I saw them last time, covers of two genuinely terrible songs, If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough and Pet Sematary (easily the worst Ramones song ever).

The one thing that made me happy was when Wata from Boris came out and played guitar on Kick Me. (more…)

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Boris (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023)

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Boris 

I can’t believe it has been four years since I last saw Boris.  Their shows leave a powerful impression on a person.

I couldn’t make their last tour back in 2022, but that’s okay.  Their last show tided me over for four years clearly.

This tour announcement was interesting because they had just released an album called Heavy Rocks, but this tour was them playing Heavy Rocks, the album they released in 2002, in its entirety.  [They have released three albums called Heavy Rocks, all different–in 2022 they played the 2022 Heavy Rocks in total].

I’m pretty delighted that with the three shows I have seen such a variety of songs.

I don’t really have a favorite Boris album, but this one is pretty fantastic.  With several really heavy songs, several sing a long moments (whether or not you know Japanese) and even a few mellow, quieter moments.

As with each time I’ve seen them, Takeshi stands to our right with his double neck bass/guitar.  Atsuo is in the middle with his drum kit and gong and Wata stood on our left with her guitar and effects pedal.  The previous two shows she had more gear, but since this show was for a twenty year old record, she didn’t need anything else.

The show started, as it should, with Atsuo smashing the gong.  And then the sludgy riff of “Heavy Friends” introduced us to Heavy Rocks.  The lights were still way too red, but it didn’t impact the sound, which was immense and awesome. (more…)

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Melvins: Twins of Evil Tour (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023) [BORIS]

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Melvins 

Despite everything in the world indicating that I should be a Melvins fan, I have never really gotten into them.  I mean, I’ve loved thigns about them for decades.  I loved that they put out three “solo” albums that looked just like the Kiss solo albums.  I love that Boris got their name from one of their songs.

And yet, for whatever reason, I just never followed them. They may just be a little too much in every way for me.   Love them in theory nut not in reality.

So I’ve never wanted to see them live.  And when this dual bill with Boris was announced, it made sense, but I wasn’t that excited about it.  I actually thought that if Melvins were headlining, I might leave to get home early.  Although, honestly, how could I leave without at least laying eyes on Buzz Osbourne in the flesh.

So Melvins were playing their Bullhead album in its entirety.  I didn’t know it. I don’t know if it’s special in any way in their catalog.  But it does contain the song “Boris” so…. (more…)

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Mr. Phylzzz (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023) [BORIS]

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Mr. Phylzzz 

Mr. Phylzzz were described as a “two-piece loud-ass noise rock band from Chicago, IL.”   And indeed, they were a two-piece and in the way of man two-piece bands, they were loud-ass.

Mr. Phylzzz (pronounced Flyzzz) consists of Clinton Jacobs (guitar/vox) & Danny Sein (drums).  Since Sein is behind the kit (and seriously pummeling it), it’s up to Jacobs to be the entertainment.  He pretty much never stood still. He ran back and forth around the stage, he climbed into the audience, he waved his guitar around, he looked very intimidating.  And yet he had a completely childlike (comically so) speaking voice.

Were the songs simple?  Sure!  Did they rock?  Yes indeed.

There was a real classic rock feel to many of the songs (probably because of Jacob’s falsetto).  A song like “Pretend Friends” is only a couple of notes, but they are catchy.  And after the verse (single notes really fuzzed out) the song gets huge when Jacob plays the whole chord.

And there was much entertainment at the end of the song when Jacobs and Sein crashed the chords/cymbals at the same time and Jacobs roared his guitar during the pauses.

Incidentally, Sein was wearing a shirt and tie and Jacobs had on a suit–although the jacket was ripped from the bottom up to the sleeve for maximum free movement. (more…)

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Melvins / Boris / Mr. Phylzzz (Musikfest Cafe, Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, September 20, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Boris, Mr. Phylzzz , Steelstacks, The Melvins on September 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 20, 2023] Melvins / Boris / Mr. Phylzzz 

There’s not a lot that could keep me away from a Boris show.  Although the last time they came to the area, it was the same night that my daughter wanted to see Kurtis Conner.  So obviously she won out that night.

This year, I saw that Boris and Melvins were touring together.  I’m not a big fan of the Melvins.  I like them in theory but never really got into their music.  And yes, I know that Boris gets their name from a Melvins song, so this tour is just too perfect.

Anyhow, the one thing that could keep me away from this show was the fact that I had tickets to see Igorr this very night and I wasn;t going  to pass up that rare opportunity.  PLUS, this very show was going to be in Philadelphia the next night.

Mr. Phylzzz are described as a “two-piece loud-ass noise rock band from Chicago, IL.”  Sounds like a perfect fit for this show.  I’ll find out tomorrow.

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Boris / Nothing (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, September 1, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Boris, Nothing, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on September 1, 2022| 5 Comments »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 1, 2022] Boris / Nothing

I came to the Boris part way too late.  They’ve been melting faces for over 25 years and I really only found them about five years ago.  They were on the verge of breaking up, in fact, when they were inspired to make some new music and to keep touring.

I so wanted to get to this show (which would have been my third). But, it was scheduled for the same night as a Kurtis Conner show that my daughter wanted to go to.

I have to assume that Boris will be back at least one more time (since there’s a new album in the works already).

Nothing is a shoegaze band from Philadelphia.

I was a little surprised that Boris would have a shoegaze band open for them since in the past, they’ve had some pretty heavy rockers open up.  But I listened and Nothing is quite heavy.

I’m a little puzzled when shoegaze became associated with heavy metal.  I know there are many metal bands who successfully use shoegaze elements, but I would never have had a blanket association with metal given its origins.   My Bloody Valentine is certainly loud, but not really heavy.

Either way, this would have been a great show.

 

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Jhumpa Lahiri–“Casting Shadows” (New Yorker, February 15 & 22, 2021)

Posted in Boris, Jhumpa Lahiri, New Yorker, Nick Drake, Romance, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, Translation on May 2, 2021| 2 Comments »

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. (more…)

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Andrea Lee–“The Rivals” (New Yorker January 4 & 11, 2021)

Posted in Andrea Lee, Boris, Japanese Music, Madagascar, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Violence on May 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BORIS: Boris at last -Feedbacker- (2003).

Boris’ sixth album is pretty iconic, what with the bloodied head of Wata on the cover and all.

The album contains one song–43 minutes of “Feedbacker.”  But it is broken into five surprisingly discernable parts.

Part 1 (9:38) opens with low feedback and slowly played chords that ring out.  Then single notes pick out a melody that recurs throughout.  Low bass notes and low harmonic frequencies play out through the bulk of the track until it segues into Part 2 (14:54).  That’s when the drum is added.  It’s a slow beat at first with the low feedbacking tones.  Then the guitars start playing a slow chord progression.  Eventually there’s some quiet lead guitar noodling added.  After about 8 minutes, Wata start one of her big slow solos.  Then around 12 minutes, Takeshi starts sings softly.  But after a minute and a half of this, the song shifts gears and gets much louder–big chords, crashing drums and louder vocals.

Part 3 (5:52) opens with serious crashing of cymbals which turns into noisy chaos.  There’s some high-pitched feedback and and then a seriously heavy riff starts up.  The rocking part of the song takes over with heavy distorted guitars and rumbling bass and drums.  A really noisy guitar solo is followed by a buzzy riff after which things slow down for quiet vocals once again.  The drums are still heavy but the guitars are quietly echoing.  The end gets louder again with roaring and chanted vocals.  (I have no idea what they are saying but it’s easy to sing along to).

Part 4 (9:52) is basically a wall of noise and feedback with echoing distorted cymbals and crackling sounds.  Near the end, noisy piercing feedback soars through until it segues into Part 5 (3:34).  As the feedback fades, the song resumes part 2, with soft drums and slow guitar chords and a quiet feedback floating over everything.

It’s a pretty monumental record.  Not as abrasive as the cover would suggest, but with enough heavy parts so that it’s not just a pretty drone record.

[READ: April 30, 2021] “The Rivals”

I feel like I tend to read stories that are written in a convoluted way.  Either with multiple time lines, or multiple threads that eventually come together.  So it was nice to get a story that was pretty straightforward.

Sure, it started in the middle, but it flashed back, got to the opening scene, and continued along in a pretty straight line.  And it was very enjoyable.

The story is set in Madagascar.  Floristella, a plump Italian man, sees his former friend Pianon, a skinny Italian man, and jumps out at him, hitting him with a walking stick.  It takes a bunch of servants to pull these older men apart.

The narrator then fills us in on what’s going on.  Pianon and Floristella were at one time very good friends.  Pianon is from Verona.  He is a widower who always dresses nicely. He is the bookkeeper and rental manager at the Red House.  Floristella is from Sicily. He comes from a small fortune and acts like it, even if his money is mostly gone now. His house is next to the Red House.

Floristella’s wife was bored of Madagascar, so she returned home, allowing Floristella to enjoy the beach and all of its perks. Like Noelline.  She was his secretary and then his mistress.  She was no longer young, but she was voluptuous and stylish.  She also flouted all conventions on the island.

Each morning she came to his place, did work for him, had sex with him and then went home.

Most of the women on the island hated her. (more…)

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Matu Santamaria–Caliente (2020)

Posted in Bad Bunny, Bag Gyal, Billie Eilish, Boris, Bunbury, Catalan, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, Chita, Coronavirus, Dua Lipa, Feminism, Hayley Kiyoko, LGBTQ, Matu Santamaria, Merzbow, Puerto Rico, Rayden, Residente, Rexler, Rosalia Cazzu, Sex, Sexism, Spain, Uruguay on February 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BORIS with MERZBOW-Gensho (Disc One: Boris) (2016).

In 2016, Boris teamed with Merzbow to create Gensho, a 2 CD package that was designed to have both CDs played at the same time.  Not the easiest thing for many people, but with the advent of digital recordings it’s now pretty easy to play both discs at the same time (this release is on Spotify).

Disc 1 was all Boris.  Disc 2 was all Merzbow.

When you play them together, you get the drumless Boris with all of the glitching electronica of Merzbow sprinkled around it.  The songs are set up in a very clever way with one of Merzbow’s songs being exactly equal to two or three of the Boris songs.

I played the CD of Boris and the stream of Merzbow on Spotify.  It was cool to be able to raise and lower the volunme of one to change the intensity of Merzbow’s glitches.

Merzbow’s “Planet of the Cows” plays over the first two Boris songs “Farewell” and “Huge.”  Farewell’s quiet drone tacks on Merzbow’s squeals and glitches which fill in the gaps quite nicely.  When “Farewell” ends, the Merzbow continues until the loud gongs heavy chords of “Huge” ring out.  The Merzbow chaos sounds almost like a solo over the slow low heavy drone chords.  Atsuo’s low growling even complements the spare noises.  Both parts ends with squealing feedbacking sounds–analog from Boris and digital from Merzbow.

Merzbow’s “Goloka Pt. 1” plays over three Boris songs “Resonance” “Rainbow” and “Sometimes” (the My Bloody Valentine cover).  “Resonance” is mostly percussion–kind of randomly hit in a slow rhythm.  Merzbow’s noises sound like static in a distance echoing signal from outer space.  “Rainbow” is a piece I don’t know.  This version features Boris playing some quiet guitar and a grooving bass with Wata singing vocals. Merzbow’s electronics sounds restrained here, adding louder noises when the vocals back out  This song has some tasty soloing from Wata with the electronics almost keeping pace.  It segues into “Sometimes,” with its loud thumping echoes and eventual wall of noise.  The vocals are pretty well buried but you can hear the melody of the MBV song.

“Goloka Pt.. 2” plays over “Heavy Rain” and “Akuma No Uta.” “Heavy Rain” starts out with noisy stabs of sound–it’s actually hard to tell who is making what, but then things mellow out as Wata sings.  The guitars drone loudly and the vocals mix in with the electronics.  It ends with the noisy guitar buzzing from Boris while the noises from Merzbow continue between songs–sounds of noise and electronic bleeps.  “Akuma No Uta” starts slowly with washes of guitar build up. The glitching Merzbow adds keeps it from being purely a drone.  The drone gets louder and louder and I like the way Merzbow’s glitches seem to back off as the man riff enters the song.  As it nears the end, glitching sounds to me like a menacing voice coming through the static and heavy riffage.

The final song is Merzbow’ “Prelude to a Broken Arm” which plays over “Akirame Flower” and “Vomitself.”  It starts out with watery sounds before the big chords and vocals kick in.  Merzbow’s noise is like a screaming train underneath the slow crooning.   The main riff from Wata has some electronic percussive sounds tacked onto it.  As the final chord rings out the song segues into the musch noisier “Vomitself.”   It introduces a huge wave of low chords as Merzbow’s noise amps up to correspond with a lot of low growling percussive sounds. As the song rumbles to an end the squealing intensifies like feedback added on top of the roar with the last notes sounding like a person raging.

It’s interesting how I don’t really like the Merzbow tracks, but how they add interesting textures to the Boris songs.

[READ: February 19, 2021] Caliente

Matu Santamaria is an Argentinian illustrator and his work is really stunning.

This book has a big warning: 18+ but it’s not fully explicit.  There are drawing of naked women and sex acts, but there’s only a few things that are NSFW.

Santamaria’s work is full of clean lines and and dramatic colors.  I really enjoy looking at it, regardless of the content.

This book contains a lot of his most recent work.  It seems to be split between positive messages about sexuality, body positivity and appreciation for frontline workers during the Coronavirus.  There’s also some celebrity pictures as well.

After some definitions of the word caliente, the book opens with series of pictures of women exploring the sexuality with each other.  Interracial women kissing and a woman taking her top off with the comment–“and without realizing it, it’s poetry.” (more…)

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Martin Roper–“Our House” (New Yorker, November 26, 2001)

Posted in Book Club, Boris, Cormac McCarthy, Irish Writer, Marriage Trouble, Martin Roper, Merzbow, New Yorker, Short Story, Violence on February 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BORIS with MERZBOW-Gensho (Disc Two: Merzbow) (2016).

In 2016, Boris teamed with Merzbow to create Gensho, a 2 CD package that was designed to have both CDs played at the same time.  Not the easiest thing for many people, but with the advent of digital recordings it’s now pretty easy to play both discs at the same time (this release is on Spotify).

Disc 1 was all Boris.  Disc 2 was all Merzbow.

Merzbow is a real challenge for me.  I’m not really sure how anyone can listen to his music for pleasure.  It’s harsh, electronic sounds, with high pitched squeals and low staticy distortions.  As an exercise in noise, it’s fairly interesting, but never enjoyable.

This disc includes four songs.

“Planet of the Cows” is over 18 minutes long.  It’s high pitched squealing and a low distortion.  There’s a thumping that works almost like a rhythm.  After ten minutes it sounds like a space alarm is sounding.

“Goloka Pt. 1” is 20 minutes long.  It feels bigger and more metallic.  The noises seem to coalesce into a distant screaming sound.

“Goloka Pt. 2” is 19:30.  It’s got a slightly lower tone, with slower movement among the noises.  Although sirens and pulsing sounds are present.  Then at 12 minutes all the sirens drop out to just a quiet robotic pulsing with thumping that sound like a heartbeat.  The track ends in what sounds like mechanical breathing.

“Prelude to a Broken Arm” is the shortest song at only 16 minutes.  It is quieter with a low crunching and bug-like sounds.  At 6 and half minutes the distortion comes in really loud with a mechanical drum/broken engine sound and then a looping siren with the kind of static noise that sounds like more screaming.

It is an unsettling and challenging listen and not for the squeamish.

[READ: February 10, 2021] “Our House”

Irish writers are often known for their humorous storytelling.  But wow, can Irish writers really hit hard with the tragedy, too.

This is one of the darkest stories I’ve read in a long time.

The story begins with the narrator saying that his father always told him to never buy a house on a  corner.  But the narrator and his wife did anyway.  It was in bad shape and needed a lot of work, but they fell in love with the place and felt they were up to the task.

The story sets up the spouses as opposites in love.  She is a non-practicing Protestant with a Catholic name (Ursula) and he is a non-practicing Catholic with a Protestant name.  She thinks he is funny and he never dares to admit that she rarely gets the jokes.

The previous owner died three years ago and they are the first people to check out the place.  The more they clean the more work they see needs to get done.  Although there are some nice surprises (like the five hundred pounds in cash they find under the carpet).

But it’s the neighborhood that proves to be more hostile to them than they could ever have imagined.  Children began gathering at the corner every day.  They get up to mischief right away–ringing the doorbell and running, bouncing a ball off the house.  But there is an underlying air of menace behind all of this. (more…)

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