Boris Archives - Chicago Reader

Black and white image of one of the members of Boris in a dramatically large woven black hat and flourishing black dress

On the new W, Boris find serene sounds amid their continuous sonic explorations

by Dave Cantor January 12, 2022January 5, 2022

As Boris continue to steer in and out of avant-rock territory, the 30-year-old Japanese band increasingly splinter genre ideas and expectations fans might foist upon them. The trio have been prolific during the pandemic, releasing nearly a dozen albums whose variety almost necessitates a disregard for boundaries: they include studio full-lengths, EPs, and live and […]

Music

Prolific Japanese artists Boris and Merzbow bid farewell to 2020 together

by Luca Cimarusti December 30, 2020August 18, 2021

I tried to tally up the total number of releases by noise wizard Masami Akita, better known as Merzbow, and polymorphous metal trio Boris before I started writing about their new joint album, but it proved to be a fool’s errand. These Japanese artists are among the most prolific musicians in modern history, and their […]

Music

Merzbow’s four-decade-plus reign of sonic terror continues with Screaming Dove

by Luca Cimarusti November 19, 2020August 18, 2021

Japanese sound artist Masami Akita has been revolutionizing noise with his project Merzbow since 1979—he’s put out somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 albums, singles, and live recordings under that name, but who’s counting? Akita has bounced between electronics, tape manipulations, and scrap metal and contact mikes, both in his solo work and his collaborations […]

Music

Boris rage against a world turned upside down on the urgent, hardcore-driven No

by Jamie Ludwig July 10, 2020August 18, 2021

In their nearly 30 years as a band, Boris have developed the rare ability to alchemize practically any sound in the vast realm of heavy, atmospheric, and psychedelic rock into their distorted, amplified vision. The Tokyo trio’s release and tour schedules have been equally ambitious (they’ve played Chicago so often over the past decade they […]

Music

Two of modern heavy music’s most prolific acts, Boris and Uniform, hit the road together

by Luca Cimarusti September 6, 2019August 18, 2021

Japanese metal trio Boris have been at it for nearly 30 years, and over the course of nearly 40 full-length releases and collaborative albums they’ve covered nearly the entire spectrum of loud, harsh, and heavy music. On the band’s latest single, “Love” (the first taste of the upcoming album LφVE & EVφL), they blur the […]

Music

Boris celebrates 25 years of mastering the heavy music spectrum

by Luca Cimarusti October 12, 2017August 18, 2021

One of the greatest joys of pressing play on a new Boris record is the excitement of hearing which direction they take each time around. Formed in 1992, the Japanese trio have dabbled in—and mostly perfected—the entire spectrum of heavy and heady music. They kicked off their career tipping their collective hat to the doom […]

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