Boris In-depth Biography
Japanese cult favorite sludge}/doom rock} trio Boris} takes its name from a song on grunge} godfathers the Melvins}' Bullhead} album. They also have a lot in common with the Melvins} musically, including a fondness for heavily down-tuned guitar/bass tones and exceedingly slow tempos. But they also incorporate elements variously drawn from other sources, including psychedelic rock}, punk}, noise}, minimalism}, pure sludge-drone} music à la Earth}, and more. Also, despite the unpretentious psychedelic}/stoner rock} imagery that accompanies much of their work, there is an ambitiously experimental aspect to much of it. Their albums, for example, have tended to be massive conceptual projects: Absolutego}, in its original form, was a feedback-heavy drone exploration consisting of a single 65-minute track; Flood} consists of another extremely long track, 70-plus minutes in length, exploring the band's quieter sides with a minimalist/phase music slant. Also on the more experimental end of their discography are collaborations with Japanese avant-garde} enigma Keiji Heino} and power electronics/noise legend Merzbow}.
Boris} formed during the early '90s and consists of guitarist Wata}, bassist Takeshi}, and drummer/vocalist Atsuo}. They made their first recorded appearance on an obscure 1994 compilation entitled Take Care of Scabbard Fish}, released only in Japan and now out of print. Absolutego}, their full-length debut, came out in 1996 on the band's own Fangs Anal Satan} imprint but was unavailable in the U.S. for years, a situation that was remedied by the Los Angeles-based Southern Lord} label reissued the album in early 2001 along with a bonus track and new packaging. Their next album, Amplifier Worship}; came out on the Mangrove} label in 1998 and was also unavailable in the U.S. for several years; San Francisco's Man's Ruin} had planned to reissue it in the fall of 2001, but the label folded before that could happen. 1998 also saw the release of the Boris}/Keiji Haino} collaboration, a live disc entitled Black: Implication Flooding}, which came out on Japan's Inoxia Records}. In 1999, Boris} issued a split CD with fellow Japanese band Choukoko No Niwa}, More Echoes, Touching Air Landscape}, which also came out on Inoxia} and featured Boris} weighing in with a brief (for them) 28-minute contribution. Their third full-length album, Flood}, was released two years later on the MIDI Creative} label. ~ William York, All Music Guide
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