Mike Taylor - Boris with Michio Kurihara - “Rainbow”, from the CD, Rainbow

I’m reaching back a few weeks here - it’s still the dead of summer and not many tunes on the short list of new releases are rocking my world at the moment. Boris (or, at times, BORIS depending on the type of release. It’s a long story…) is a long-running Japanese trio best known for loud, occasionally ear-splitting variations of heavy metal, or so I’ve read. Normally, not my thing. So, it was with no small amount of reservation that I popped their new disc into the player.

Song 1 rolled by - ears still intact, no problem. Then I got to song 2, the title cut “Rainbow”. This…this I dug. More like a lost track from the early 90’s shoegazing era, “Rainbow” plods along with hushed vocals over a vaguely psychedelic backing guitar leading up to a searing lead guitar lick from Kurihara, presumably a well known guitar whiz in Japan. Works for me!

So while I may not be ready to rush out and add the whole Boris catalogue to my collection, here’s proof that you can still dip your toes into uncertain waters and not have to jump right out.

Matt Shiv - The Budos Band- “Chicago Falcon” from the CD The Budos Band II

I’m a sucker for old soul, funk, and R&B music. Back in the 60’s, you had an in-house crew of musicians who created most of the amazing sounds we heard on all those classic Motown singles. In the 70’s, you had guys like the
J.B.’s backing up the legendary James Brown. Today, that kind of musicianship almost seems to be forgotten…but not at Daptone Records. This is a label that specializes in keeping the funk alive!

The Budos Band are an 11-piece collective from Staten Island, New York who are releasing their 2nd album on Daptone next month. The musicianship on display in this band is nothing short of mind-blowing. These guys come are more than just authentically recreating what has come before them — they seem to truly be living and breathing this music. The record hosts 10 original instrumental tracks and this is the song that begins the new album. If you aren’t yet acquainted with The Budos Band, I can’t think of a better introduction.

The Budos Band - Chicago Falcon

Joe Long - Fionn Regan - “Be Good Or Be Gone”, from the CD End Of History.

I had heard my fair share of buzz about Fionn Regan in the past month or so, and had been meaning to check him out, but didn’t. Then this week Shiv had a few songs from the album put into our playlist and he mentioned that it was right up my alley. Only a couple days later I totally agree. Regan’s album, End Of History has been out and about overseas for almost a year now, but just got a stateside release this week via Lost Highway Records. I know the phrase, “very Nick Drake” is tossed around these days almost as much as Paris Hilton jokes, but I actually feel it applies as much to Regan as anyone I have heard. And it certainly does not hurt that his album was just announced as a finalist for the Mercury Music Prize.

This song, “Be Good Or Be Gone” is a great example. It is simple and quiet, with Regan on acoustic guitar and not a whole lot more, just what I need to ease into the weekend.

Fionn Regan - Be Good Or Be Gone

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 11:03 am and is filed under MP3's, Music, Song Of The Week, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.