4 posts tagged “boris”

 09/28/2008 16:11:34  ♥ written by vu ()

Arianna Solare - Lift Me Up Jacky & Strings - Vamonos Paya Abbotfinney & Jeffrey Alan - Show Me Something Better You Bet! - It's Love The Shangri-Las - Simon Says Gossip - Careless Whisper 2 comments

Links: www.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com

RZA as Bobby Digital - B.O.B.B.Y RZA Tour Dates June 10-Houston, TX@Warehouse Live June 11-Austin, TX@Emo's June 12-Dallas, TX@Palladium Ballroom June 14-Denver, CO@ Cervantes Ballroom June 15-SLC, UT@ Urban Lounge June 17-Tucson, AZ@ Rialto Theater June 18-Phoenix, AZ@The Brickhouse June 20-LA, CA@Henry Fonda Theater June 21-San Francisco, CA@1015 June 23-Portland, OR@Hawthorne Theater June 24-Seattle, WA@Showbox June 25-Vancouver, CAN@Richards June 27-Calgary, CAN@Sled Island Fest June 30-Minneapolis, MN@First Avenue July 01-Chicago, IL@House of Blues July 02-Pontiac, MI@Crofoot Ballroom July 04-Ottawa, CAN@New Capital Hall July 05-New York, NY@Webster Hall July 07-Philadelphia, PA@Trocadero July 08-Washington, DC@9:30 Club

Before Deltron^[W♥M], there was RZA as Bobby Digital. RZA is obviously influenced by genre movies (from Blaxploitation to oldschool Kung Fu movies) and he uses that as a character called "Bobby Digital".

I got a press release that he's going to release a new Bobby Digital CD called Digi Snacks in July 2008 (Wikipedia lists this as Digi Snax).

Excerpt from press release:

Described by his colleagues, admirers, and even haters alike as a "mad scientist," Robert Diggs, aka RZA, comes across more like a relentless warrior. And like any good warrior, he's on a mission...an honorable quest to infect all he comes across with a positive polarity. "You taste everything every day. You go through these different shifts of positives and negatives throughout your whole day," he explains. "I just make more of a fiction thing around it, metaphors in all different ways. That's all I'm doing. You get the Manga, you get the Martial Arts, you get the Sci-Fi, you get the Blaxploitation, but you still get your real life because I'm a real person."

There's also a tour date listing to promote the album in June to mid-July. I am including the tour information here.

PS, you have to give props to RZA for commissioning comic book artist, Bill Sienkiewicz, as cover artist for his debut album, Bobby Digital in Stereo. I am a big fan of Sienkiewicz's art style, from his Stray Toasters series to his more famous work, Elektra: Assassin, with Frank Miller.

Black Kids - Hit the Heartbreakes Black Kids 2 comments Tour Dates May 5 - Omaha, NE at Waiting Room* May 6 - Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry* May 7 - Chicago, IL at The Abbey Pub* May 8 - Detroit, MI at Magic Stick* May 9 - Toronto, ON at Lees Palace* May 12 - Boston, MA at Paradise* May 13 - Brooklyn, NY at Studio B* May 15 - Washington, DC at Black Cat* May 16 - Philadelphia, PA at Pure* May 17 - Baltimore, MD at Sonar* May 18 - New York, NY Bowery Ballroom *with CUT COPY

I also noticed that Black Kids is releasing Partie Traumatic on Columbia Records on July 22^nd in the US (although the album will be released July 7^th elsewhere else on Almost Gold Records).

We've previously mentioned Black Kids here on W♥M, so I am excited to see that they've signed to Columbia Records.

According to the press release, they are "currently being recorded in London by Bernard Butler".

That's the Bernard Butler from Suede. Britpop fans should have known that.

Apparently, they are getting a lot of attention in the UK, where they've been living lately:

So far, in 2008 Black Kids have been included in the 2008 BBC Sounds Poll and tipped as Ones To Watch by the NME (amongst others.) They have headlined a Vice Tour with Ipso Facto and Friendly Fires, done support tours with Kate Nash and Sons & Daughters, and sold out shows at London's Water Rats and two ICA headline dates – all before releasing a single.

Catch them on tour with Cut Copy in April through May, before they become too famous and then you can say, "oh I knew them when..."

I wanted to quickly mention that I'll be at random concerts in Minneapolis - so if you want to meetup and say hi, send me an email!

I'll be checking out: Wild Sweet Orange (myspace.com/wildsweetorange) are from Alabama and are on a long tour from May to mid-June. They're stopping in Minneapolis at the Fine Line Cafe, which is a pretty quaint place.

I was told that if you get the $75 (prices probably varies?) ticket deal, you're also served dinner with a table with a nice view of the show. Although I don't know how distracting that would be, eating, talking to the waitress, and trying to watch the show...

I'm also trying out this widget for Wild Sweet Orange, let me know if it works out. If you are interested, there's actually some tour information and stuff about the band.

Oh, also, Japan's Boris is on tour in the States, with their recent release of Smile... See press release for more information.

Excerpt:

With major features in North American mags such as Alarm, Metal Maniacs, Decibel, Exclaim, Metal Edge, Pitchfork, Outburn, Crustcake, PaperThinWalls, Thrasher, Unrestrained and more hitting, not to mention the countless amazing online reviews from all styles and genres of webzines, the massively-viewed "Statement" video and wide array of other glowing coverage, this is easily the most well-received Boris release to date, and shows the ever-morphing musical diversity of the band spreading thousands of listeners more than their doom metal beginnings.

That's it for now, more news next Sunday!

 05/04/2008 12:46:48  vu my♥posts weheartmusic.com

Boris - Statement Boris Tour Date 04/19/08 Roadburn Festival - Tilburg Video BORIS "Statement" Read More Boris http://weheartmus... Right now, Boris are widely considered one of the most exciting bands to come out west from Japan...

The one thing I've learned in the couple weeks I've been writing here is that metal is a somewhat tough sell to the average music fan (even those with more “underground” sensibilities). And it's definitely not for everyone, sure. But I've also found one band that seems to be an exception to this rule. For some reason, Boris manages to unite all sorts of listeners behind them, despite being one of the more abrasive bands out there right now.

That said, I was excited as hell to get the new album, Smile, for review! After many, many listens, I can say with confidence that this album will probably be at the top of a lot of magazines' year-end lists for 2008. Even early in the year, I say this because yes, it's that good.

The album starts out with “Flower Sun Rain,” a cover of a song by a band called Pyg, which begins some good old fashioned guitar feedback, and ends up sounding more like a funeral dirge, with a “pretty” sounding guitar line repeated under a hypnotic, repetitive vocal part. Guitar feedback builds up into a full-on arena rock lead and then back again into a solo vaguely reminiscent of some of Built to Spill's heavier moments. This is the shortest feeling song it's ever taken me seven minutes to listen to.

“Buzz-In” is a perfect follow up. Some of that nice, spastic rock for which Boris has become known. The dissonant horns playing in the background bring to mind Nation of Ulysses or The Stooges.

“Laser Beam” starts off with a lead guitar dueling with another guitar feeding back. This turns into a vaguely Motorhead style rock 'n' roll song with some killer leads and straight-up punk rock drumming. Eventually it buries itself under a wall of feedback and changes up entirely to full-on Kill 'Em All thrash with melodic sung vocals. It breaks down again into feedback and finally into a drum beat with a bizarre acoustic section over it.

This is followed by “Statement,” the album's first single. A cowbell and a screeching lead guitar kick it off over a nice, thrashy, Motorhead style rock 'n' roll drone. More melodic vocals here. Really, this sounds like a more focused version of the last two tracks. Definitely a lot more straightforward than either of them.

The next track, “My Neighbor Satan,” starts out in more post-rock territory with what sounds like a keyboard with an almost Boards of Canada-esque drum beat with sung vocals high in the mix, and guitar drones in the background that slowly bury them. About two minutes in, the time changes, the crazy guitar wailing takes over, and about a minute later, the song is right back where it started. The song ends with a full minute of feedback that would make J. Mascis proud.

“KA RE HA TE TA SA KI – No One's Grieve” starts out with a Sunn O))) style drone. Downtuned and slow. About a minute and a half in, it's out the door with balls-to-the-wall spastic thrash with a feedback drenched guitar solo playing slower and pulling it all together. The vocals come in slow in contrast with the speed at which the rest of the song is being played. The lead guitar is mixed high and plays a crazy, almost improvised sounding solo. This song could put you to sleep as easily as it could melt your face off.

The last track, “untitled,” (a bonus track on the Japanese release) begins with more feedback, a consistent theme on this album. It goes into another dirge-like section that pretty much goes on for the duration of the song.

A few notes: I'm pretty sure the promo copy I have of this is chopped up a bit, and missing a track. It also sounds like it might be ripped from vinyl. Also, a few of the songs are shorter or longer than Wikipedia lists them as being on the Japanese version.

Still, I can pretty much say with confidence that this is going to be one of the best albums released this year. Definitely worth picking up.

 03/07/2008 00:15:18  soup my♥posts inoxia-rec.com/boris

Right now, Boris are widely considered one of the most exciting bands to come out west from Japan, and rightfully so. Recently, their double-LP, Pink, a record that actually shipped with several sheets of blotter paper, letting the listener immediately know exactly where they're coming from, has achieved near-legendary status with its oddly compelling, spastic mix of thrash, pop, post-rock, and drone, and their collaborative triple-LP, Altar, with fellow purveyors of stoner metal weirdness, and Southern Lord labelmates, Sunn o))) has been a favorite of pretty much every metalhead I know for about the past year.

Well, Boris has a new album coming out this April, and it's called Smile. And the first single, “Statement,” released as a video, recently, is promising. It sounds like a natural progression of the sound they had on Pink (that's Southern Lord's line, but it seems a quite appropriate way of putting it).

3,000 copies of this single have been pressed, on 7” vinyl, and 1,000 of them are an exclusive pressing for mail-order customers on yellow-gold vinyl with a classy gold dust sleeve! The B-side, “Floorshaker,” will be exclusive to this release, so act fast!

To celebrate, Boris will be playing an already sold-out show in London on the 24^th, and another one at the Knitting Factory in New York on March 4^th. If you buy two of Southern Lord's Boris releases (that includes Pink, Akuma No Uta, Amplifier Worship, Absolutego, and, of course, Altar) on CD at Mondo Kim's or Other Music, you can get a free ticket (while they last!) to the show, where they will be previewing music from the new album, as well as a limited edition poster.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to hear what Boris has for us on the new record. If the new single is anything to go by, it'll be spending a lot of time on my turntable after it comes out.

 02/23/2008 22:11:43  soup my♥posts inoxia-rec.com/boris