I may have mentioned before that I. FUCKING. LOVE. BORIS. Boris are Japan’s great shapeshifters, they lurch from epic drone and crushing doom to stoner rock to ambient noise weirdness to J-pop with little care for what sticklers for genre types think. I first got into Boris through their rock opus ‘Pink’ in 2005. That title track man, what a fucking rock tune that is. It’s one of my all time favourite records, and opens with one of my all time favourite songs of any genre ever, ‘Farewell’. ‘Farewell’ is an epic piece of post metal beauty; staggeringly fragile yet powerfully heavy. I will never get tired of that song, it is movingly, achingly perfect.
They also have a history of collaboration, with US drone terrorists Sunn0))) (the staggering ‘Altar’), Japanese guitar virtuoso Michio Kurihara (‘Cloud Chamber’ and the volcanic ‘Rainbow’) and Japanese noise artist Merzbow (most famously on ‘Rock Dream’). Their work with Kurihara particularly is electric, bringing extra psychedelica into the music. Boris debuted with 1996’s ‘Absolutego’, a one hour plus drone track that taught me a true appreciation of music as sound, rather than as music. It was a pivotal moment for my tastes in general; lying in bed a bit pissed and letting that record expand my brain.
Three records that are essential: 2005’s ‘Pink’, 1998’s ‘Amplifier Worship’ and the classic ‘Feedbacker’ from 2003. Other highlights from their discography include the skull caving debut ‘Absolutego’, the heavy rocking ‘Heavy Rocks’ from 2002 and their ‘Soundtrack from Film Mabuta No Ura’, a soundtrack written to a film that doesn’t exist. Of their collaborative efforts, ‘Rainbow’ with Michio Kurihara and ‘Altar’ with Sunn0))) are of particular note.
Turn on, turn up and melt
The Killchain 