LINKS:

inoxia-rec.com/boris

myspace.com/borisdronevil

Japan’s Boris rolled their monolithic caravan of all sounds sludgy, searing, and smart into New York’s Webster Hall on 11th Street with a bang (of the gong behind drummer Atsuo) on this hot Thursday summer night. In support of their new Southern Lord Records release Smile, Boris are gaining even more respect and drawing larger and larger crowds. Throughout the rapturous evening, the thrilled and packed like sardines audience responded with feudal, blissfully moshing allegiance or rapt stares following the band’s every move.

I missed the opening bands Torche, (Too bad! They are excellent, heavy yet with infectiously catchy vocals thrown atop the mud), and black metal pavement pounders Wolves In The Throne Room, (perhaps the band’s name references George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire? I’ll have to learn more!), but Boris put on more than a satisfying show themselves and I definitely left feeling satisfied and with my mind blown. I knew that Boris would be great live, from seeing video footage online like their recent Knitting Factory dates last year, but I was blown away. I think that drummer Atsuo could very well have had the best live kick drum sound I ever heard in my life, just crisp and booming and perfect.

From the moment the opening noise collage of Smile’s album starter “FlowerSunRain” began, a huge waft of pot smoke filled the room. It was so strong where I was standing I thought someone must be burning a police evidence barrel nearby! Contact high! “FlowerSunRain” set the mood for the show as Boris commanded the stage confidently in front of a background of glittering light that looked like stars. The mantra-esque “FlowerSunRain” hypnotized the crowd and demanded artistic attention but not in a difficult way, as it sounded so good and captivating. It made me think of how cool a song it would be to watch playing over the best highlight footage of my favorite anime ever Cowboy Bebop.

The whole band sounded fantastic and gigantic, with guitarist/bassist Takeshi a Geddy Lee-esque blur on his double necked Ibanez and guitarist Wata’s rig just searing through the room, especially on her jaw dropping, chilling high note syncopations at the end of my favorite song of the set, Smile’s moody and psychedelic masterpiece of sonic wave theory “You Were Holding An Umbrella”. That song went on and on, towards the end of the set, with guest guitarist Michio Kurihara of the band Ghost guesting alongside Boris. Michio was actually on stage as a band member for the whole set, bringing Boris’s usual three person drone to even thicker depths. Throughout much of the set Boris sounded like nothing short of an orchestra, with unbelievable levels and combinations of sound emitting from a relatively small group of people. The end of “…Umbrella” throbbed into lava lamp worthy repetition courtesy of Takeshi’s strobbing bass pattern and the ghostly tones of the rest of the group swirled around like storm clouds as Takeshi sang of a sad story of dreaming of someone you parted from.

The whole band was very impressive, their instrumental chops just killing the crowd. I knew they had a great live reputation but was staring at Wata’s fingers in awe during Smile’s lead off single “Statement”. Drummer Atsuo was a blur of crazed spazz drumming, enthusiastic rock star crowd hamming and mad kit glory. Seeing him play drums live is something any aspiring drummer should witness, because the controlled chaos yet precision is wild. From the Melvins-esque opening slow drum fill of “FlowerSunRain” to the stratospheric lift his kit antics gave the tempo/breakdown/chorus section of “Statement”, Atsuo was a force of nature. The chorus of “Statement” with its fun, sung “laughing, laughing, laughing, la-li-lu-la-li-lu-la” got the crowd hopping in appreciation like hyperactive bunnies on speed. “Pink” from a previous record of the same name also railed hard, coming off convincingly even though Boris can obviously play it in their sleep. (No easy feat since the tempo changes and riffs in that song are blistering.)

When Boris tapped into the Sabbath-book for the gigantic space stomp ending of new and destined to be classic “My Neighbor Satan”, one of Smile’s songs that also features Michio Kurihara on the record, the center of the crowd exploded. I found myself throwing horns and thrash-jostling people around me and caught a humorous look from the photographer I’d gone with like if she should decide she didn’t know me if anyone asked. But I decided to be a good boy and not throw myself into the swirl of whirling male and female bodies. We joked about it later.

It was cool; the crowd was very mixed, including a wide swath of different racial backgrounds, ages, and other famous musicians, (like some of the guys from Coheed and Cambria) in attendance. There was even some dude in a freakin’ basketball jersey that looked like he should be at an S.O.D. show or something that jumped onstage before leaping back into the crowd. He seemed more like a meathead hardcore type, and it was cool to see that even less “hip” looking people were beginning to appreciate such a creative band. But the simple fact remains, they rock, so it is easy.