Boris ‘Smile’ On Their Future; Buzznet Album Review
Boris’ unique brand of experimental doom rock has risen to new heights with Smile, their 14th full-length record. Matching chaos with pop sensibilities, the Japanese musicians seem willing to push every boundary when it comes to their music.
Smile opens with a decidedly odd track: “Flower, Sun, Rain,” a cover from Japan’s super rock band Pyg. It’s a country-twinged folk-rock song and hardly as heavy as their previous efforts. But it’s a great summary of how weird this record is and how well Boris pull it all off.
Known for creating epic, heavy, and lyric-less doom tracks, Smile finds the band courting with psychedelic pop melodies and contrasting this against hyper-kinetic rock, metal, and even a bit of thrash.
“Buzz” sounds a bit more like traditional Boris, with its distorted punk riffs and trippy guitar freakouts during the final bridge. “Shoot!” finds the band at their fastest and most thrash, as the song turns into a somber, reverb-filled rock jam near the end.
“Next Saturn” is immense and reminds me of the shoegaze-turned-chaos styles of The Smashing Pumpkins. Where Boris transcends the Pumpkins, though, is their ability to meld these disparate styles together without any bland results.
The album closes with the mesmerizing combo of “Untitled” and “You Were Holding an Umbrella.” Perhaps the best songs of the band’s entire catalog, they showcase what this band does best: craft larger-than-life rock songs that combine so many genres and create songs that are so distinctly their own.
Coachella ’08 Pics: Does it Offend You, Yeah?
The electro-rockers crossed the pond for Coachella on Sunday. Look at these pics.
Miley Cyrus ‘Embarrassed’ Over Racy Pics
Miley Cyrus
is all apologies for the scandalous pics of her that have been floating
around online recently and the ones that will be in the coming days,
weeks and, likely, months.
Scandalous pictures of the girl otherwise known as Hannah Montana
have been circulating online, and the series has cultminated in a batch
of overly revealing photos to be featured in the next issue of Vanity Fair.
But
on Sunda, Cryus backtracked and issued the following statement: “My
goal in my music and my acting is always to make people happy. For Vanity Fair,
I was so honored and thrilled to work with [photographer] Annie
[Leibovitz]. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be
‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I
feel so embarrassed.”
The Vanity Fair ish hits stands May 6.
As
for those other recently circulated pics, Cyrus said: “The pictures of
me on the Internet were silly, inappropriate shots. I appreciate all
the support of my fans, and hope they understand that along the way I
am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect. I never intended for
any of this to happen and I am truly sorry if I have disappointed
anyone.
“Most of all, I have let myself down,” she added. “I will
learn from my mistakes and trust my support team. My family and my
faith will guide me through my life’s journey.”
Coachella ’08 Pics: Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly punked up this year’s Coachella festival with an intense and lively performance Saturday night. Check out images of the show right here.