Loud.
I woke up with my ears ringing and my thoughts still swirling after taking in Boris, a rock quartet from Japan. The band played the Turner Ballroom with Torche and Nachtmystium. The one thing that I consistently heard leading up to the show was that Boris was loud. In the cult classic rock parody, "Spinal Tap," the band has an amp that goes one notch beyond 10. I wondered if Boris was going to be able to push it past 11.
The Japanese four-piece holds a punk attitude, but swirls together experiments of psychedelic, punk and metal with fuzzed-out, de-tuned guitars, heavy, rumbling bass and lots of destructive feedback.
Through the set, Boris owned the stage, standing nonchalant, with little movement, except Nagata who, it appeared, was trying to destroy his drum set and would periodically pierce the sky with his drumstick like a lightning rod asking to be struck. Frontman Takeshi held a double-necked bass / guitar allowing him to switch effortlessly between the energetic assaults and the more ambient ones.
The speed of the night shifted dramatically between songs, shredding loud and fast, followed by far more shoe-gazey, though just as distorted, thought-inducing drones. With every downward stroke across the strings, the noise was sent rushing through the ballroom, enveloping the audience.
It felt like the band was trying to fill the entire ballroom and its captive audience with as much sound as possible, pouring the noise off of the stage and filling in every gap like water. If there was ever a question of whether or not Boris had hit 11, it was definitely answered on the last song when it broke out the loud, splashy gong.
A few weeks ago I wrote about a band called Thee Silver Mount Zion. I said that TSMZ was a great band to see live because you didn't have to be terribly familiar with the music in order to enjoy it. I felt that Boris would play one of those shows as well, but for different reasons. It's less about enjoying the technical mastery or the subtlety of expression, and more about letting yourself be overcome by the overall experience.
It seems like the Turner Ballroom is filling out the summer quite nicely with such gigs, and if you'd like my recommendation for the next love-em-without-knowing-em shows, check out Secret Chiefs 3 lead by Trey Spruance, formerly of Mr. Bungle for a night of musical experimentation on Saturday, July 26. CSS and The Go! Team on Thursday, July 31, should offer an excellent night of retro, '80s-influenced electronica and dancing.
Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.
In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.
Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.
