Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
On Sunday night I got to play records at the premiere party for my friends Tad and Thy’s excellent The Working Man skate video. Actually, it was our mutual friend and actual DJ Wing Ko who was initially invited, but he asked me if I wanted to join him. How could I say no? Isn’t it every dude’s dream to play his favorite songs at maximum volume and make a ton of people listen to it?
For my first, last, and most likely only effort as DJ Moway, I played one set of 7″ singles and another with vinyl LPs, EPs and compilations. Unlike Wing, who did some serious mixing, editing, and other tricks, I just played records. Here are the song lists, as well as links to versions that I put up on Spotify and shared via Facebook. Interestingly, each of the online sets can fit snugly on one side of a 90-minute cassette! That’s appropriate since they’re more like mix tapes for sitting around, shooting the shit, and playing dominoes than packing a dance floor.
Almost impossibly, Boris has been stretching out its style, cranking out albums nonstop, and playing super rad shows without disappointing its hardcore fans since it was formed in 1996. The Japanese band has mastered its unique takes on doom metal, ambient noise, psychedelic rock, and most recently, pop, while releasing limited-edition albums, splits, and singles that make record collector nerds sweat. Sharks were expected to be jumped when Boris released two albums at once (Heavy Rocks is heavy, Attention Please has J-pop influences) on a big U.S. label earlier this year but guess what? Both LPs ruled, and I couldn’t wait to hear how the pop mutations would sound live.
Asobi Seksu at The Satellite (May 28, 2011)
There’s no more print mag with slots for me to fill in with reviews, but I still listen to music more than ever. So should you. Here are my takes on some newer releases. The first one is a free link, so at least read that far!
Asobi Seksu – Big Orange Studios
I was bummed that Asobi Seksu wouldn’t be joining Boris on the West Coast, but at least there’s this recent session that was recorded live in studio for Daytrotter and released in late September. Yes, there are only three songs, but each is an epic example of cinematic-yet-genuine rock, and an excellent example of how the New York band’s humungous sound translates live. “Trails” is the extra dynamic, hyper catchy single with every freaking dial cranked up and percussion sounding like fireworks propelling Yuki’s dynamic vocals. It makes you feel as if you’re flying through space. The middle number is the dreamiest, complete with Cocteau Twins-style scatting, and “Leave The Drummer Out There” is the dream pop equivalent of “Bohemian Rhapsody”–or is it “A Quick One, While He’s Away”? At any rate, if this primo sampling of dream pop were pressed on a limited-edition 12″ slab of candy-colored vinyl it would easily set you back 10-12 bucks before hitting eBay. Instead, you can download it for free. [Daytrotter.com]