Boris @ Nice 'n' Sleazy's

After another year of hard work, both in touring and release schedule, Boris return to the UK for a largely sold out tour, including this packed date in Glasgow. As has become the norm for Southern Lord bands on tour, talk concerning this gig has either focused upon the merch available or how 'posers' who turn up for the merch are tossers and don't deserve the tickets. Which is all a bit of a shame, Boris have recently released a formidable run of albums and EPs, most prominently 'Pink' and 'Rainbow', both of which contributed to the show. In short Boris are still at their very peak, and the increasing variety of their material indicates a band that are far from stale.

The set tonight includes a large chunk of 'Pink' including both the post rock and heavy rock sides, culminating in a gorgeous rendition of Flood, perhaps the pinnacle of Boris' career so far. Before Boris though was the questionable support, local 'electro doom' one man project Loss Leader. Playing guitar and singing over laptop backing, he immediately hit problems with the backing going out of sync almost immediately after about 30 seconds. After a couple of attempts he resorted to playing an improvised, Khanate inspired (yet particularly uninspired) few minutes of doom. Sadly it just doesn't work tonight, and the set is abandoned abruptly. After listening to a few tracks away from the gig, Loss Leader has a very interesting m83 mixed with some Joy Division type sound, which seems a baffling relation to doom, but would be well worth checking out.

After the extremely brief support, and the novelty of the merchandise stall wearing off, Boris come to the stage quickly and kick off the evening proper with 'parting'. A straightforward and easy opener to the evening, it seems to set out the band's agenda for the evening i.e. waves of feedback, riffs and some great vocal melody. Sadly this rules out the Melvins inspired sludge of Amplifier Worship, but you can't have it all. A nice mix of tracks are played across the rest of the set, including tracks from Heavy Rocks, Akuma No Uta, Rainbow and more from Pink. The heavy rock mid section of the set is utterly exhilarating, Atsuo's drumming being a major high point. For a band that do rock and roll so well, Boris are equally if not more impressive at droning post rock soundscapes. Of which 'Flood' is a perfect example, and is the highlight of the set and a perfect second half. Boris play a slightly truncated version tonight, around 35minutes compared with the 70 minutes and four parts of the original album.

The performance is near perfect and every movement works wonderfully. The band moves quickly through the quieter parts, yet the cacophonous, feedback drenched outro is milked for everything it is worth. Atsuo steals the show at this point, abandoning his drumkit and concentrating upon hammering the gong at the back of the stage, making perfect use of what could have been a gimmick. But Boris are far from being a band that could ever be seriously accused of being gimmicky, and they work through a varied set which is absolutely seamless. The only criticisms tonight are that most people cant actually see the band and we don't get an encore.

Boris may be constantly evolving their sound yet as long as they are willing to play the likes of Flood, Feedbacker or Absolutego live they will continue to be an incredible live band.


Notes

• Boris have a packed release schedule this year, so far this year they have released - Walrus/Groon, Rainbow LP + Boxset, Split 2xLP w/Doomriders
• A live 2xCD with Merzbow is on the way, as well as a split 10" with Stupid Babies Go Mad
• The UK tour culminates with a date at Koko in London with Isis and Oxbow (full band, not the Oxbow acoustic duo that toured the UK with Isis)

Links

• Inoxia Records
• Boris Homepage
• Southern Lord
• Hydrahead Records
• Nice N Sleazy Homepage