Last Sunday night's show at the Independent was as pedigreed a concert as could be assembled on one stage in one evening: two-thirds of Galaxie 500 (one of my favorite bands ever), one-fifth of Ghost (yet another), one-sixth of Espers, one-half of nmperign, and all three of the mighty Boris. The "linchpin" for the concert, as Damon Krukowski put it, was none other than Michio Kurihara from Ghost, who was essentially playing that night for a couple of hours with both Damon and Naomi and Boris.
I can't say I envied Damon and Naomi opening for such a legendarily loud band like Boris. (The announcer at the Independent actually warned the audience to get earplugs -- the first time in three years, said the coat-check woman.) Their frail bedroom music didn't seem particularly matched for an audience mostly clad in black and in Pig Destroyer and Converge T-shirts. (I myself was wearing a Swans T-shirt.) But soldier on they did, augmented by folks including Kurihara on guitar, Bhob Rainey on sax, and Helena Espvall on cello; "We're the silent part of the Silent Thunder tour, if only to make Boris sound even louder," Krukowski told the crowd.
Things don't really get rolling until two guitar-related moments: first, when Kurihara launches into a beautifully Allmanesque guitar solo on the second song. And the second, when Naomi Yang leaves the keyboard and finally picks up her Gibson bass. (I'm not a guitar person at all, but Yang's bass lines are as immediately recognizable to me as, say, Peter Hook's.) Excellent set all in all, but slightly marred by all the folks talking in the back. (I haven't heard the latest album yet -- it's on top of my shopping list -- but one great song sounded vaguely familiar from their set list: a Sandy Denny / Shirley Collins / Pentangle cover, maybe?)
I didn't expect Boris's drummer Atsuo to do a stage-dive right on top of my head, but such are the wages of standing front and center. At least I wasn't directly inhaling all the liquid nitrogen from the smoke machines (note to the Independent folks: aim them up like you did at the SUNN O)))) concert!). But it was the perfect place to witness how all those slabs of drone / doom metal / hard rock were produced: Kurihara freaking out with his guitar during the encore, Atsuo yelling in delight, Wata very calmly playing furious solos on a guitar that (and I know this sounds patronizing) looked heavier and longer than herself. Too bad Takeshi was having problems with his guitar at the beginning of the set, but otherwise an excellent evening.