Amplifier worship!

 On your left, a huge orange stack of doom with added amplifiers and a big effectboard. On your right an ampeg-based bass rig and a big marshal based guitar rig (with another big effectboard), with a hell of a lot added amplifiers. In the middle, a minimal drum set, backed up by a big gong. Add to this a lot of smoke and a deep sound coming out of nowhere, taking over your stomach, and voila, the stage is set for a three headed beast hailing from Japan: BORIS!

Boris are Wata, Atsuo and Takeshi. Three japanese art students who decided to form a band and make the music they like.

But boris is more. Boris is Jimmy Page in the desert (Takeshi).

Boris is the gong pummeling Atsuo between his yeehaws and ear piercing drumattacks.

Boris is the ice cold guitar solos coming from the silent Wata.

Boris is Heavy Ambient Sludge, Doom Noise Punkish Psychedelic Rock,

and much more…

They got their name from a track by (the) Melvins, and you can hear they are inspired by them. But Boris isn’t just drone/doom like everybody likes to tag them. They are everything they like. And that is very eclectic, with influences ranging from Black Sabbath to Pink Floyd. They also work with other artist from other genres ( like Keiji Hano, doom experst Sunn o))) or noise ‘god’ Merzbow ). The same counts for their records, from their first (absolutego) to their last (rainbow), they are all different.

So if you ever have the chance to see them live, be prepared for a trip through a wind tunnel, with only Boris as your guide…

website: http://homepage1.nifty.com/boris/

It’s a corporate world

In honor of Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006).

This is why people OD on pills, or jump from the golden gate bridge…

Imagine a civilized lumberjack making music together with his wife, who could have stepped out of the american gothic painting by Grant Wood. These are Brett and Rennie Sparks, the handsome family, bringing songs from the deepest roots of americana.

Brett Sparks, who writes the music, draws from medieval melody, country-politan string arrangements, tin-pan alley crooners, and dusty hillbilly records to weave together the fabric of their records. Rennie Sparks, who writes the lyrics, makes magical realism from polar adventure stories, turn-of-the-century electricity wars, pagan hunting songs and her own time spent (like most people) riding up elevators, staring out hotel room windows, and driving interstate highways.

If you ever have the opportunity to see this ramblin’ duo on stage (like I had recently) then don’t miss it. Mostly with a third man (either a sad drunk playing drums, or someone who looks like an Irish docker) who joins them on tour, since they need a great range of instruments. From melodica to banjo to bass(Rennie) to guitar and drum computer (Brett) to lapsteel, violin or a little guitar(the docker). They also have the habit of telling strange stories and bickering playfully between songs which adds to the charm of their live performance.

And strange stories isn’t something unfamiliar to them. Just listen to a couple of their songs and get sucked in the world that is the handsome family. Dark yet happy, Strange, yet very normal. About bottomless holes, evil airports, Nikola Tesla, and someone’s boyfriend who is eating hot dogs on the fire escape with rats after his wife starved to death…

I believe that Rennie is one of the best lyricists of the last years. Couple that with the musical genius that is named Brett and you get one of the best country/bluegrass/singer-songwriter acts that one can see these days…

website: http://www.handsomefamily.com/