Boris @ The Ottobar, June 4

What's better than going 85 mph the whole way to Baltimore on the Baltimore - Washington Parkway? Not a lot, I usually have to set the cruise control at 5 mph and turn the music up to 11 to numb the pain. But tonight, there was something better...Boris was playing at the Ottobar in B'more. Top had landed in Philly a couple of hours prior and he was cannonball running his way to meet me there. That's right. He did Radiohead Friday night in Philly, rocked a wedding and reception on Saturday in Santa Monica, CA and then decided he didn't want to miss his live dose of Japanese stoner-metal and decided to hit the show on the way back to Arlington. I use the term stoner-metal lightly because I really can't pigeonhole the sound. If you check us out on a regular basis I usual mention the album PINK once a day. It is just that good. After reading the NY Times article that JK posted a week back I was foaming at the mouth and cringing at the ears to check the whole deal out live. I came prepared with Top's ticket and two sets of earplugs because the aural cavities have been getting abused lately.

We caught up with Growing halfway through their set which was a couple of guys on guitars wandering down different avenues of sound, some of which I followed them down, and others which just left me wondering what Boris was going to be like. The Ottobar was a healthy mix of college kids, younger ones, metal devotees, the curious and the locals that probably check out the Ottobar every Sunday. Thrones was a one man bass attack with a drum machine and tape loop of some lead guitar. Some songs had vocals, others didn't. Some of his riffs were amazing and really pulled me in and others were just kind of there. But, he drew a lot out of the audience and there was a lot of head-banging going on and he seemed to have a little bit of a following. What I remember most from the set was him tapping his mic at the beginning and sending a shockwave through the crowd. I literally thought that he had burned hairs on my arms. It hurt. I'm serious.

Boris came on at 11:30. If you're doing the math at home, that means I have to be at work in 6.5 hours, to include the drive from Baltimore. Fuck it. It wasn't the first time I entered the work week completely smoked from the Sunday night show and I am sure it won't be the last. Boris is three people. The lead singer, named Takeshi, rocks a sweet double neck, guitar-bass combo and is rarely seen beneath his long black hair. Lead guitar falls on Wata's shoulders, a slight, unassuming young lady who blows that description away with her fierce licks and dominant riffs. I think I saw her half-smile once. She was all business. On the drums (and the gong) is Atsuo, who marked just about every song beginning with a drumstick (or gongstick) point to the crowd. He was mic'ed as well and contributed to the vocal duties a little, mostly with shouts of encouragement to the crowd and screams to accompany a tempo change.

Boris had the crowd reeling from the jump. Their sound is monstrous and it is amazing to watch it come from only three people. While the vocals leave something to be desired, and this could be, perhaps, a knock on their album sound, as well, I believe that it fits their raw, unadulterated sound. The total assault informs the audience that this is a band that has been around a while, and, in fact, the band has been rolling since the mid-90's. And, it is, in fact, an assault. There is no other way to put it. The fragile screams from Takeshi and the heavy, pulsating riffs make the crowd move: some head-banging, some dancing, and others just bobbing. They quickly moved from one song to the next with two breaks for some experimental tunings. After the main set closed with the monstrous "Farewell" the crowd began to chant "Boris! Boris! Boris!" and they re-emerged to slay their way through two or three more songs. I am pretty sure "Psuedo-Bread" was the middle or end, but it was hard to tell. I am terrible with the names of their songs because their listens are "album listens" much in the way that I can't tell when a Mars Volta or Cloud Cult song begins as another one ends. I was also numb from the neck up and my ear-plugs had started to absorb the blood from the experience. So much beautiful noise.

The crowd left impressed and I left hoping to catch them again soon. They only downer was the deutschbag that yelled "That. Was. Good." in a slow mocking tone, suggesting that they didn't understand English, and also suggesting that he was completely inconsiderate and infantile. The ride home focused on NPR at volume -3 because I was nervous about pushing it too far. The earplugs were not enough. You can dig the pics above and setlist below. Note the Orange Crush behind Wata. Hot.

Boris Official Site
Buy PINK

Main Set:
Black Out
Pink
Woman On The Screen
Nothing Special
Ibitsu
Electric
A Bao A Qu
--tuning/drone--
The Evilone Which Sobs
--tuning--
Just Abondoned My-Self
Farewell
Encore:
? (this could have been more tuning/drone)
Psuedo-Bread