Superblast!

Holy crap, look at this

 

Look at that mammajamma. So amazing. This is Aaron Horkey's poster for BORIS' current U.S. tour. Limited to 500 prints. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be available at any of the shows! Nor is it on BONA's site... But I found one on stupid eBay for $105! What the hell? Are these being sold directly to dealers???

Boris playing in-store at Amoeba Berkeley

People in the Bay Area have no idea how lucky they are. From Amoeba's site:

"On June 22, legendary Japanese heavies BORIS will play an exclusive after-hours show at Amoeba Berkeley in celebration of their new release Smile! For this EPIC event, Amoeba Berkeley will actually be closing its doors early, teaming up with Southern Lord Records to host a private after-hours show with BORIS."

The only way in is to buy Smile at Amoeba Berkeley (you'll get a wristband for access). 

As of now, the only other U.S. date on Boris' itinerary is the Pitchfork Music Fest in Chicago July 17-19. They're playing the shit out of Europe though.

Photo of Boris by Chinapixie.

Boris taking over things in Europe. Deal with it.

Japanese metal monsters Boris' "Smile" European Tour:

4/19 - Tilburg, Nl - Roadburn Festival
4/20 - Bristol, Uk - The Cooler
4/21 - Manchester,Uk - The Ruby Lounge
4/22 - Birmingham, Uk - Medicine Bar
4/23 - London, Uk - Ulu
4/24 - Nijmegen, Nl - Doornroosje
4/25 - Bielefeld, De - AJZ
4/26 - Copenhagen, Dk - Loppen
4/27 - Aarhus, Dk - Voxhall
4/28 - Gothenburg, Se - Sticky Fingers
4/29 - Oslo, No - John Dee
4/30 - Stockholm, Se - Kagelbanan
5/2 - Helsinki, Fin - Tavastia
5/3 - Turku, Fin - Klubi
5/6 - Leipzig, De - UT Connewitz
5/7 - Berlin, De - Magnet Club
5/8 - Wroclaw, Pl - Firlej
5/9 - Prague, Cz - Palac Akropolis
5/10 - Budapest, Hu - Voros Yuk
5/11 - Vienna, At - Szene
5/13 - Innsbruck, At - Pmk
5/14 - Milano, It - Music Drome
5/15 - Rome, It - Circolo Degli Artisti
5/16 - Ravenna, It - Ravenna Bronson
5/18 - Winterthur, Ch - Salzhaus
5/19 - Stuttgart De - Club Schocken
5/20 - Brussels, Be - Ancienne Belgique
5/21 - Paris, Fr - Nouveau Casino
5/22 - Nantes, Fr - Olympic
5/23 - Poitiers, Fr - Le Confort Moderne
5/24 - Toulouse, Fr - Vents du Sud
5/26 - Porto, Pt - Porto-Rio
5/27- Lisbon, Pt - ZDB
5/29 - Barcelona, Es - Primavera Festival
5/30 - Clermont, Fr - Ferrand La Cooperatve de Mai
5/31 - Dudingen, Ch - Kilbi Festival

All dates are with Growing.

And don't forget: Boris will be the best act at July's Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.

Photo of BORIS by Chinapixie.

Boris tweaks "Smile" for U.S. release

Japan's Boris is giving U.S. fans multiple reasons to "Smile" (and go broke). As they are wont to do, the trio are releasing their new album, Smile (due 4/29) in a variety of formats and a variety of versions. According to Pitchfork, the U.S. LP version will include re-mixes of "My Neighbor Satan," an extended take on "Flower Sun Rain" and two new tracks: "After Me" and "Vein." Plus, there's the "Floor Shaker" 12" (limited to 1,000) and the "Statement" 7" limited to 3,000 (and I've got two, so that leaves 2,998).

Tiny Mix Tapes has Boris' European tourdates.

Here's the NEW VIDEO for "My Neighbor Satan" (really not that exciting; Boris is so weird):

Boris, Vampire Weekend, P.E. at Pitchfork fest

For this year's annual festival, those Pitchfork folks have selected quite a line-up. In addition to Boris (reason enough to go), the fest will entice folks with such bands as: No Age, Atlas Sound, Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Spiritualized, M. Ward, !!!, Dizzee Rascal and, performinig their album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in its entirety, the one and only Public Enemy. The three day soiree takes place in Chicago's Union Park 7/18-7/20. The best bit? Tickets for all three days are only $65! They go on sale this Wednesday.

New Boris video!

Feast your eyes/ears/extra sensory perceptions on this: The killer video for "Statement," Boris' first single off their forthcoming LP Smile (out in April). Tudo bem:

Review: Boris @ Echoplex

10/15/07, Los Angeles: The "Roaring Silence" tour -- pairing Japanese experimental doom-metal gods Boris with folksy Boston duo Damon & Naomi (formerly of Galaxie 500) rolled into L.A. last night. Both groups are joined on the tour by Ghost guitar wizard Michio Kurihara, with Damon & Naomi further augmented by a cellist and a soprano saxophonist.

Boris completely stomp ass. This is an indisputable factoid. As with their eclectic (and frighteningly prolific) recorded output, the live version of Boris jump from droney noise-rock to shimmering feedback-driven psychedelica to pedal-to-the-metal thrash. Kurihara's guitar fattened the band's sound, and he traded noise bursts with Boris' axewoman Wata the same way those guys in Boston would trade wonky solos. Drummer Atsuo had a gong, and he wasn't afraid to use it (what is this -- Morrissey?).

They started by playing a selection of songs from Rainbow, their recent collaboration with Kurihara, including the Wata-sung title track and the hypnotic "Starship Narrator." They also pulled out some stomp-ass rockers from their breakthrough LP Pink, including that disc's blistering title track and a 10 minute+ take on the catchy "Just Abandonded Myself." Best of all, they do it without a single solitary smile, between all four of them. Even when Atsuo dove into the crowd, he emoted about as much as Buster Keaton in The General. Guitar girl Wata looks like the hottie at school who'd rather hang out with the freaks and geeks than the jocks. She probably drives a flaming motorcycle -- like Ghost Rider, but with sexier hair. Bassist-singer Takeshi looks like Cousin It crossed with Lemmy, and he plays a double-necked bass/guitar combo to boot.

Oddly enough, even Boris' loudest tunes sounded sort of quiet, and there was little moshing from the crowd. Instead, the band spent much of their set on their patented brand of slow-burning, Melvins-influenced doom and they offered some of their prettiest noise compositions as well (especially the stellar shoegazey "Farewell").

Poster of the Week: Boris/Michio Kurihara by BONA

Boris/Michio Kurihara/Damon and Naomi U.S. tour, art by Burlesque of North America.

Here comes BORIS

Hell Yes: You just knew they wouldn't come all the way over from Japan for just three shows, right? Right. BORIS is coming to your city:

9/30 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10/02 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10/03 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/04 - Pittsburgh, PA - Kelly-Strayhorn Theater
10/05 - Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts
10/06 - Milwaukee, WI - Mad Planet
10/07 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
10/10 - Bellingham, WA - Nightlight Lounge
10/11 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
10/14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
10/15 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
10/18 - San Antonio, TX - The Ballroom
10/19 - Austin, TX - Scoot's Inn
10/20 - Baton Rouge, LA - The Spanish Moon
10/21 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
10/22 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10/23 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
10/24 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10/25 - Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
10/26 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
10/27 - Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
10/28 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10/29 - Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs