Boris
Sargent House SH 059
2011
I'm a fan of Henry Rollins' radio show broadcast locally on KCRW. I have been listening to him since he was on the regrettably defunct Indie 103.1 ten years ago. I'm not a big fan of his music although I like it okay, but as a record buff he blows me away. He's a much more adventurous and energetic music collector than I am. He has introduced me to a lot of records and artists I probably never would have otherwise heard such as Boris. I'd read about the band but they didn't sound like my cup of tea and I never bothered to check out their music. Then I heard them a few times on Rollins' show and I loved their heavy sound. I started buying their albums and became a fan. Of the Boris albums that I have, this is my favorite, the aptly titled "Heavy Rocks." It is sometimes referred to as "Heavy Rocks II" since Boris released another album called "Heavy Rocks" in 2002. It is a double album and although the cover looks like a plain purple sleeve in my pictures, it is actually embossed with pictures of the band and text listing credits and song titles - I just could not figure out a way to photograph it so they were visible. Side one opens with the ferocity of "Riot Sugar" which is driven by a juicy metallic riff and lots of loud guitar noise. The lyrics (sung in Japanese but translated on the inner sleeve) are rather sweetly crooned in contrast to the violent music. It is an example of one of my favorite things about this band which is their blending of noise and pop in their sound. "Leak-Truth, yesnoyesnoyes-" is an odd ball title for a song that I don't understand at all, maybe it loses something in translation. It is another noisy rocker reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr. particularly in the contrast between the low key vocal and the rocked up guitar noise. I presume that "GALAXIANS" was inspired by the spaceship shooting arcade game although the lyrics are typically cryptic. It is energetic and punky with lots of lightning fast riffing and electronic sound effects. "Jackson Head" continues in a similar vein with a compelling hard rock attack embellished with electronic noise. The lyrics are truly weird bordering on surreal. In contrast to the relentless intensity of side one, the second side begins quietly with the folky intro to "Missing Pieces." The song gradually acquires noisy overlays although it maintains its slow pace until it explodes into several minutes of speaker shredding cacophony at the song's climax which gradually ebbs away and the folky tune reappears. The lyrics are strikingly poetic even though I remain clueless about what they are trying to say. The subdued, introspective sound continues with the brief instrumental track "Key" which stops abruptly just as it is getting interesting. The third side commences with the hard-rocking "Window Shopping." The band kicks out the jams with high speed riffing and screaming guitar feedback. The song is listed as an instrumental but there is some dialogue in it as well as someone repeatedly crooning "doo doo doo." "Tu, la la" is one of my favorite tracks. It is a rocker with dreamy vocals that sounds like over-caffeinated shoegaze. I'm once again flummoxed by the lyrics but I still love the song. The fourth side opens with "Aileron" which begins with a deceptive calmness before erupting into the usual wall of sound. The song is mostly a thunderous dirge overflowing with throbbing bass lines, pounding drums and soaring feedback. As you might expect from the title, the lyrics do evoke flight although it is more of a psychedelic self-fulfillment/love song. The album concludes with the raucous instrumental "Czechoslovakia" which features ear-pummeling heavy riffing and irresistible rock drive. It gives the album a satisfying high energy finish. I'm not much of a metal guy nor am I into noise-rock but I adore Boris. They manage to combine the energy of metal and the thrilling power and dissonance of noise with pop values resulting in some of the most dynamic and exciting rock music I've ever heard. The lyrics tend to be pretty abstruse, but since they sing in Japanese, they are easy to ignore. I play this record a lot and it never fails to get me going. Recommended to people who think it would be cool if My Bloody Valentine jammed with Einstürzende Neubauten.
