Boris at Last - Feedbacker
A band of many faces. Many places you look you may see they pigeonholed as "stoner rock", labeled as doom, or slapped with a drone tag. While none of these are technically, "wrong". I think kage hit the nail on the head, when he simply called them alternative. Though no two Boris albums are the same, one thing I have noticed is that whatever direction they take it is GOOD, actually it's very good. Today we are going to look at there masterpiece "Feedbacker".
Great things require patients, and listening to this album is really a prime example of this. The actual music doesn't start until about a minute or so in, you can tell there in no rush. When things do come in, they come in roaring, fuzzed out low end feedback that wafts on, a lot of people would say it drones on, to me that is a bit of an understatement, to me drone kind of means its lumbering around, and you're just waiting for it to pass, this on the other hand swirls around you, it starts as simply noise, but slowly becomes more articulate until, your surrounded by its energy. The first movement of the song is simply there to build the atmosphere, with its buzzing, hypnotic guitar, and mind bending, electronics. On first listen it might seem like noise to sum, but there is a reason for it, there is a reason for everything Boris does.
The low end rumble continues to shake your bones while, the rest of the band comes in and plays a relaxing surf like bit, your starting to like this But you can't get comfortable, no because while they mellow things out you still hear something, you still FEEL something whizzing around you. You are listening, harder now, because these pings that were once whizzing by are starting to make sense, they slowly melt into a distinguishable lead, you finely start to get it, and everything is fitting together, but don't get to excited you should actually be getting a little scared, its not just the music changing, YOU are changing too. You're going somewhere with the music, you don't really want to but you don't really have a choice. The music is getting thicker, the feedback is getting stronger, and that low buzzing is as unsettling as ever. A mind melting solo begins; it hits you from every angle, you really don't know were this came from, and you sure as hell don't know were it is going, but it picks you up and doesn't let you go, it sounds like its going to fall apart any second now. It holds up though, like a wooden air plane crash landing, you made it, you're here, you don't know where, but you made it out here alive.
Things have settled down, you have caught your bearings, but your not alone now, there someone with you, he is singing, and you're a bit worried. But, he seems friendly; you get the feeling he is as scared of you as you are of him. After spending a few minutes with this guy, you really just want to leave; he's not so friendly anymore. He went from mellow to, something completely different, he's gone crazy. The band has picked up, things have gotten progressively darker, you're unsettled but you're still oddly intrigued, at least that man stopped singing. You have a whole new problem. All hell has broken loose among the band.
The band starts to approach you, things have gotten decidedly heavier, and they are really closing in on you, you have been through a lot already and this is it, they have snapped, and you're not too far off from doing the same. You're out of there and chase ensues. There not happy. Your running as fast as you can, but your not getting anywhere on them, the music has sped up considerably, and even another element has been added. The bass announces its presence, with authority. You can barely stay up while you run the ground is rumbling so much now.
It's too much.
You fall.
You're surrounded.
The man who was singing peaks out from behind them, and begins to sing again. You think "Ohh he's with you guys' sorry". The man wants none of it. He begins to sing again, you're not going anywhere, you might as well listen. Only problem is, you have no idea what he's saying, but, there is certain calmness in his voice, you finally realize, he's not hostile.
When the man stops singing, the band stops playing, and all that's left swirling feedback, cymbals crashing, and an overall sound of calamity, a half hour ago, this would have scared the crap out of you, but now, you're stronger, eventually you even start to feel comfortable again, like your surrounded by electricity, but everything is ok. Soon your left with the siren like sound of guitar feedback and the bass drone that sounds like a distant fog horn. Maybe someone's coming to help?
The noise has subsided for the most part, and you"re taken back to where you started, a simple chord progression, with unsettling feedback Things start to fade out, and all your left with is
feedback-
feedback-
feedback
It's over...
...You made it.
