Here are the Japanese and American editions of Boris' 2008 album Smile. While the songs on the records are the same, the production is different enough to make these essentially two distinctive albums.
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"Ah Boris, that Japanese juggernaut that has released no less than 18 albums since their inception in 1992; for many years, the Japanese trio was an underappreciated -- indeed largely ignored -- group that explored virtually all dimensions and terrains of feedback-drenched stoner, drone, psychedelic, noise, and thrash metal on its own terms. As a unit, Boris have also had an irritating penchant for releasing significantly different versions of their records in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., with this or that limited-edition single tossed in the mix, vinyl editions that were significantly different than the CDs, ad nauseum. To round out the first quarter of 2008, Boris have released Smile, the American version of an album released earlier in Japan on the punk/metal/psych Diwphalanx imprint. Boris change up the game plan yet again by releasing their first vocal album -- there have been vocals on other sets, especially where an entire side was one track, but this marks the first time that there is nearly an album full of them. Smile picks up where Pink left off, but is both more accessible and more extreme. The trio goes back to the noise aesthetic here, but also embraces something approaching noise pop in the process. They are still heavier than God fronting Blue Cheer, but they don't forget that songs usually contain recognizable melodies.
In essence, while the Japanese and American versions contain some tracks in common, they feel like totally different offerings. Alas, the Southern Lord version released in the States is solid, but it is the lesser of the two. While the American Smile is a worthy follow-up to Rainbow and Pink, it's the Japanese version of the album that makes it a masterpiece." - Thom Jurek/Allmusic.com
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"Boris' affinity for every variety of psychedelia has been unending, so it's no surprise they finally went and named a record Smile. Discovering what you're best at would be a thrill to most bands, but to Boris, it apparently felt like a burden, and so Smile is their exquisite-corpse sequel, a near-automatic exercise in drawing inspiration from anybody but themselves. For the Japanese version, the trio went so far as to leave the record behind with engineer and veteran of the Stars You Ishihara, who mixed and mastered it while the band was out of town.
Those in the market for something truly unfathomable should seek out Smile's Japanese version. Beyond an entertainingly hollowed out "Statement", Ishihara leaves most of the other instrument sounds untreated-- all the better to scrape off your skin. This swarm-of-hornets sound suits a band that consistently hesitates just at it appears ready to turn loose. I also prefer Isihara's version of "No Ones Grieve", a The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked 2 outtake, which here dispenses with the ceremonial marching of the U.S. version for an undifferentiated, Comets on Fire feedback spray.
It takes a few listens just to sort out which song is which relative to the U.S. version. "My Neighbor Satan"-- subdued, crooning-- becomes, on the Japanese version, thick, layered: a Justin Broderick outtake, drenched in JAMC fuzz. The O'Malley duet, which ends both versions, is a noisier, more guitar-hero affair via Ishihara, whose instinct is to consistently pull out both extremes (melody, solo-y chaos) in the band's sound. It's a creative way of bluffing some unity from the record." - Zach Baron/Pitchfork
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"By now, we shouldn't be surprised with anything Boris do. While the Japanese version of their new album Smile has been available for months, Southern Lord's release sees the band nurturing two substantially different versions of what is nominally the same record.
In both incarnations, Boris make concerted efforts to interpolate something previously un-thought of in their musical formula. For example, the band employs bass-boosted, grimed-out disco on the Japanese track "Message" and then uses the same structure to birth "Statement," a thrashy younger brother, for the American version. Each share the same unique distortion of guitar and drum tone, mutations that in fact find their way into nearly every sound on both versions. These stylistic and tonal subtleties are simultaneously expected and edgy as ever.
Despite any confusion arising from the multiple versions, the tracks function as part of a cohesive whole that manages to pull off something quite incredible. This dual angle creates an instant continuity, suggesting that the songs' composition shines beyond its individual production. As if to accelerate the test of time, Boris' drastically different mixes prove that their songwriting is still what makes them the much-scrutinized band that they are.
Although initially unsettling, this kind of incongruence isn't much different from the heart of Boris' music itself, which is precisely what makes it so convincingly confusing. Jagged song and register changes, for example, result in a brutally raw elaboration reminiscent of their debut album, Absolutego. And thankfully, this record is not a rehashing of 2005's much-acclaimed Pink, so a song like "Message" might show up on a few "hey, noise is cool!" mix tapes, but that's about it. While Smile may be inarguably more accessible than their previous releases, it still has enough cloaked treasures to keep the diehards interested. With their new ideas oscillating between the hard and long-form manifestations of sludgy noise, the band has changed less than we think, and this is a very good thing." - Benjamin Bernstein/Tiny Mix Tapes
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artist: Boris
title: Smile
type: album
label: Diwphalanx Records
release date: March 7, 2008
length: 61:45
genre: experimental/stoner/hard rock
country: Japan
language: Japanese
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
codec: lame 3.92
credits:
Takeshi - guitar, bass, vocals
Wata - guitar, vocals, effects
Atsuo - drums, percussion, vocals
Souichiro Nakamura - guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Michio Kurihara - guitar (tracks 4, 5, 7)
Stephen O'Malley - guitar (track 8 )
You Ishihara - effects, percussion (tracks 4, 7)
Produced by You Ishihara
Track 4 is a cover of a song by PYG
tracklist:
1. メッセージ [Messeeji]
2. Buzz-In
3. 放て！ [Hanate!]
4. 花・太陽・雨 [Hana, Taiyou, Ame]
5. となりのサターン [Tonari No Sataan]
6. 枯れ果てた先 [Kare Hateta Saki]
7. 君は傘をさしていた [Kimi Wa Kasa O Sashiteita]
8. untitled
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artist: Boris
title: Smile
type: album
label: Southern Lord
release date: April 29, 2008
length: 56:56
genre: experimental/stoner/hard rock
country: Japan/US
language: Japanese
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
codec: lame 3.97
credits:
Takeshi - guitar, bass, vocals
Wata - guitar, vocals, effects
Atsuo - drums, percussion, vocals
Michio Kurihara - guitar (tracks 1, 5, 7)
Stephen O'Malley - guitar (track 8 )
Track 1 is a cover of a song by PYG
tracklist:
1. Flower Sun Rain
2. Buzz-In
3. Laser Beam
4. Statement
5. My Neighbor Satan
6. Ka Re Ha Te Ta Sa Ki -No Ones Grieve-
7. You Were Holding An Umbrella
8. untitled
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"Ah Boris, that Japanese juggernaut that has released no less than 18 albums since their inception in 1992; for many years, the Japanese trio was an underappreciated -- indeed largely ignored -- group that explored virtually all dimensions and terrains of feedback-drenched stoner, drone, psychedelic, noise, and thrash metal on its own terms. As a unit, Boris have also had an irritating penchant for releasing significantly different versions of their records in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., with this or that limited-edition single tossed in the mix, vinyl editions that were significantly different than the CDs, ad nauseum. To round out the first quarter of 2008, Boris have released Smile, the American version of an album released earlier in Japan on the punk/metal/psych Diwphalanx imprint. Boris change up the game plan yet again by releasing their first vocal album -- there have been vocals on other sets, especially where an entire side was one track, but this marks the first time that there is nearly an album full of them. Smile picks up where Pink left off, but is both more accessible and more extreme. The trio goes back to the noise aesthetic here, but also embraces something approaching noise pop in the process. They are still heavier than God fronting Blue Cheer, but they don't forget that songs usually contain recognizable melodies.
In essence, while the Japanese and American versions contain some tracks in common, they feel like totally different offerings. Alas, the Southern Lord version released in the States is solid, but it is the lesser of the two. While the American Smile is a worthy follow-up to Rainbow and Pink, it's the Japanese version of the album that makes it a masterpiece." - Thom Jurek/Allmusic.com
---
"Boris' affinity for every variety of psychedelia has been unending, so it's no surprise they finally went and named a record Smile. Discovering what you're best at would be a thrill to most bands, but to Boris, it apparently felt like a burden, and so Smile is their exquisite-corpse sequel, a near-automatic exercise in drawing inspiration from anybody but themselves. For the Japanese version, the trio went so far as to leave the record behind with engineer and veteran of the Stars You Ishihara, who mixed and mastered it while the band was out of town.
Those in the market for something truly unfathomable should seek out Smile's Japanese version. Beyond an entertainingly hollowed out "Statement", Ishihara leaves most of the other instrument sounds untreated-- all the better to scrape off your skin. This swarm-of-hornets sound suits a band that consistently hesitates just at it appears ready to turn loose. I also prefer Isihara's version of "No Ones Grieve", a The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked 2 outtake, which here dispenses with the ceremonial marching of the U.S. version for an undifferentiated, Comets on Fire feedback spray.
It takes a few listens just to sort out which song is which relative to the U.S. version. "My Neighbor Satan"-- subdued, crooning-- becomes, on the Japanese version, thick, layered: a Justin Broderick outtake, drenched in JAMC fuzz. The O'Malley duet, which ends both versions, is a noisier, more guitar-hero affair via Ishihara, whose instinct is to consistently pull out both extremes (melody, solo-y chaos) in the band's sound. It's a creative way of bluffing some unity from the record." - Zach Baron/Pitchfork
---
"By now, we shouldn't be surprised with anything Boris do. While the Japanese version of their new album Smile has been available for months, Southern Lord's release sees the band nurturing two substantially different versions of what is nominally the same record.
In both incarnations, Boris make concerted efforts to interpolate something previously un-thought of in their musical formula. For example, the band employs bass-boosted, grimed-out disco on the Japanese track "Message" and then uses the same structure to birth "Statement," a thrashy younger brother, for the American version. Each share the same unique distortion of guitar and drum tone, mutations that in fact find their way into nearly every sound on both versions. These stylistic and tonal subtleties are simultaneously expected and edgy as ever.
Despite any confusion arising from the multiple versions, the tracks function as part of a cohesive whole that manages to pull off something quite incredible. This dual angle creates an instant continuity, suggesting that the songs' composition shines beyond its individual production. As if to accelerate the test of time, Boris' drastically different mixes prove that their songwriting is still what makes them the much-scrutinized band that they are.
Although initially unsettling, this kind of incongruence isn't much different from the heart of Boris' music itself, which is precisely what makes it so convincingly confusing. Jagged song and register changes, for example, result in a brutally raw elaboration reminiscent of their debut album, Absolutego. And thankfully, this record is not a rehashing of 2005's much-acclaimed Pink, so a song like "Message" might show up on a few "hey, noise is cool!" mix tapes, but that's about it. While Smile may be inarguably more accessible than their previous releases, it still has enough cloaked treasures to keep the diehards interested. With their new ideas oscillating between the hard and long-form manifestations of sludgy noise, the band has changed less than we think, and this is a very good thing." - Benjamin Bernstein/Tiny Mix Tapes
---
artist: Boris
title: Smile
type: album
label: Diwphalanx Records
release date: March 7, 2008
length: 61:45
genre: experimental/stoner/hard rock
country: Japan
language: Japanese
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
codec: lame 3.92
credits:
Takeshi - guitar, bass, vocals
Wata - guitar, vocals, effects
Atsuo - drums, percussion, vocals
Souichiro Nakamura - guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Michio Kurihara - guitar (tracks 4, 5, 7)
Stephen O'Malley - guitar (track 8 )
You Ishihara - effects, percussion (tracks 4, 7)
Produced by You Ishihara
Track 4 is a cover of a song by PYG
tracklist:
1. メッセージ [Messeeji]
2. Buzz-In
3. 放て！ [Hanate!]
4. 花・太陽・雨 [Hana, Taiyou, Ame]
5. となりのサターン [Tonari No Sataan]
6. 枯れ果てた先 [Kare Hateta Saki]
7. 君は傘をさしていた [Kimi Wa Kasa O Sashiteita]
8. untitled
---
artist: Boris
title: Smile
type: album
label: Southern Lord
release date: April 29, 2008
length: 56:56
genre: experimental/stoner/hard rock
country: Japan/US
language: Japanese
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
codec: lame 3.97
credits:
Takeshi - guitar, bass, vocals
Wata - guitar, vocals, effects
Atsuo - drums, percussion, vocals
Michio Kurihara - guitar (tracks 1, 5, 7)
Stephen O'Malley - guitar (track 8 )
Track 1 is a cover of a song by PYG
tracklist:
1. Flower Sun Rain
2. Buzz-In
3. Laser Beam
4. Statement
5. My Neighbor Satan
6. Ka Re Ha Te Ta Sa Ki -No Ones Grieve-
7. You Were Holding An Umbrella
8. untitled