Boris: Akuma No Uta (2003)
You may wanna play this song -- and âmedicateâ yourself accordingly -- before reading on ...
Today, Tokyo, Japanâs Boris need little introduction, at least among hip fans of indie/stoner/doom/drone/experimental music, as the prolific, microphone-swapping trio of Wata (guitar/keyboards), Takeshi (guitar/bass), and Atsuo (drums) has churned out nearly 50 recorded works since they formed in 1992.
Easily identifiable by its rather clever, Nick Drake/Bryter Layter-inspired cover art, the 20-year-old Akuma No Uta was the groupâs fifth long-player (not counting their many collaborations with other artists) and its title, I only recently discovered, translates to âThe Devilâs Song.âÂ
Which may explain (along with Borisâ association with Southern Lord) why a promotional copy of the CD was once shipped to my West 27th Street studio apartment, where I routinely supplemented my meager music industry income by writing passionate and often vitriolic heavy metal reviews for the All-Music Guide.
And I did, in fact, submit one for Akuma No Uta, stating that the album âoffers a back-to-front cross-section of the Japanese trioâs entire career, in all of its many stylistic varieties,â though I honestly canât remember if I knew that for sure or was just taking a flyer in those misty days before all-you-can-eat music streaming.
In any case, I was almost literally knocked off my feet by the albumâs frugally, criminally-named âIntroâ (the same track I linked to overhead), which unleashed a series of reverberant, rumbling, tectonic shockwaves, and remains one of the most exceptional examples of droning stoner rock riff/tone/feedback-sculpting Iâve ever encountered.
Later revisited in rather-less life-altering fashion by Akuma No Utaâs similarly instrumental, ragged reprise of a title track, that initial, near-ten-minute excursion showed Boris could go amp-to-amp with just about anyone, even formidable label mates like Earth and Sunn 0))), and they soon would.
If only the rest of the album were as impressive, or even cut from the same sonic cloth, I might now own a dozen Boris LPs, but ensuing numbers like âIbitsu,â âFuri,â and âAno Onna No Onryou,â delivered comparatively unsurprising outbursts of rudely distorted acid/garage/psych: think The Stooges or Spine of God-era Monster Magnet -- wilder, faster, heavier, but frankly not as good.
And then thereâs the twelve-minute âNaki Kyoku,â which takes a little too long, if you ask me, to abandon its psychedelic beginnings for extended vocal-chanting, guitar-strangling, bass-twiddling, and drum-abusing over ambient space rock on its way to a shuddering feedback-laced climax that could level Tokyo like ... you know who.
All kidding aside, if Iâd known two decades ago, as I sat pondering these sounds in my crumbling Manhattan studio (now probably renting for $3,000/month or some such outrageous sum!) that Boris allegedly captured all of these tracks to analog tape in ONE take, my respect for their achievement would have grown tenfold.
And despite my personal ambivalence, Akuma No Uta did a lot to raise Borisâ career profile beyond Japan (they were even astute enough to tap into the Nick Drake revival initiated by âPink Moonâsâ appearance in that Volkswagen commercial), and it was great fun to witness the bandâs explosive performance in some long-forgotten hole-in-the-wall at SXSW 2007.
Plus, thereâs always that perfect âIntro,â which Iâve been spinning on repeat for almost a week while preparing this blog, and even as I tap this final punctuation.Â
More Droning Sounds: 35007âs Liquid, Acrimonyâs Tumuli Shroomaroom, Belzebongâs Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves, Black Capricornâs Born Under the Capricorn, Bongripperâs Satan Worshiping Doom, Bongzillaâs Stash, Cavityâs Supercollider, Dead Meadowâs Dead Meadow, Dopethroneâs Hochelaga, Electric Wizardâs Come My Fanatics âŠ, Eternal Elysiumâs Spiritualized D, Green Druidâs Ashen Blood, Hauntedâs Haunted, Karma to Burnâs Karma to Burn, Lowriderâs Ode to Io, Mammoth Stormâs Fornjot, Monster Magnetâs Spine of God, The Mystick Krewe of Clearlightâs The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight, Los Natasâ Corsario Negro, On Trial's New Day Rising, Reverend Bizarreâs In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend, Samothraceâs Lifeâs Trade, Sleepâs Holy Mountain, Sons of Otisâ SpaceJumboFudge, Spaceslugâs Lemanis, Spirit Caravanâs Dreamwheel EP, Sunn O)))âs DĂžmkirke, Toner Lowâs Toner Low, UFOMammutâs Snailking, The Wandering Midgetâs From the Meadows of Opium Dreams, Yuri Gagarinâs Yuri Gararin.
