Boris - Smile

Not wanting to be labeled as a racial profiler, I have previously pondered many times in these pages about why Japan does actually, factually have the best bands - Boredoms, Ghost, Fushitsusha etc. When gajin bands try to mimic their brilliance, they generally sound more like a frenetic collage of awesome genres, still awesome nonetheless, but nowhere near the awesome uniqueness of a band like Boris. Releasing more than anyone but the most hardcore collector could keep up with, Boris here provide a kind of primer, as they did with 2006’s Pink, to the band’s overall aesthetic: Sgt Pepper's on US military strength LSD, pastoral musings, Hendrix-esque guitar explosions - and all other manner of pickings from everything that's great from 60s and 70s pop and rock with a fair splattering of hardcore and noise, all filtered through the psychedelic rebirthing light of an H-bomb. Wayne and Garth would love this one. [Ali Maloney]