self-titled - no. 1 - (Page 36) LINER NOTES Boris “Japan as a country isn’t interested in the arts, per se,” explains Boris drummer Atsuo Mizuno, who designs most of the band’s albums under the more-metal-than-thou alias Fangs Anal Satan. “When you go down the path of art school, you’re already viewed as getting off the rails of mainstream society, as being unable to work or contribute to society.” To complicate matters even further, Boris’s sales in its home of Japan are one-tenth of what they are in the US. And the gap hasn’t stopped growing since the sudden crossover success of the band’s 2005 LP Pink, a nearly drone-free collection of shoegazer soundscapes and raucous, balls-to-the-wall rock. Because Boris is known as much for its meticulous packaging as its music (according to Mizuno, “It’s often as much about the artwork as the music”), self-titled sat down with Mizuno during a New York press trip for the group’s latest album, Smile (out now on Southern Lord), to talk about the thought process behind some of his strongest record sleeve designs. andrew parks Altar (Southern Lord, 2006) “This release is a document of our original meeting and continuing relationship with Sunn O))). The jacket image, designed by Aaron Horkey, was originally designed for a Boris/Sunn O))) tour poster. I added a few drawings and did the art direction for this project with Stephen [O’Malley, of Sunn O)))]. Our idea was to make a passport to an imaginary country.” Akuma No Uta (Southern Lord, 2005) “I was looking at [Nick Drake]’s second album, Bryter Layter, one day and thought, ‘It would be pretty cool if he were holding a double-necked guitar.’ Boris and Nick Drake sound completely different, but I thought it would be nice to have listeners visualize the connection between the two of us. For the Japanese LP version, we originally wanted to use the same paper that the Bryter Layter jacket was made with, but it was too expensive.” Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (Conspiracy/Diwphalanx, 2003) “The concept here was to imagine an animated series or show called Boris. This jacket is a straightforward depiction of [Boris guitarist] Wata’s demise. At the time, lots of bands were using pictures of real dead people on their sleeves, so Feedbacker was also a parody of those jackets. We took ‘carcass shots’ of all three members of Boris and used those images for the Feedbacker DVDs. So there are three different versions of that. For us, one’s ‘end’ also implies a new beginning, so we don’t think of it as a negative concept. The Japanese version has the lyrics printed in white ink, but I’m guessing very few people picked up on it. I love vellum. Especially the way every person experiences it differently, depending on things like the light in the room. I like the idea of providing each person with an individual experience. http://homepage1.nifty.com/boris
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of self-titled - no. 1 self-titled - no. 1 Contents Spiritualized No Age Les Savy Fav The Teenagers Booka Shade Michael Gira Ellen Allien Magik Markers Jens Lekman Yeasayer Daptone Records Tipping Point Boris Fiery Furnaces Black Dice Black Mountain The Black Lips self-titled - no. 1 self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 1) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 2) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 3) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 4) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 5) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 6) self-titled - no. 1 - self-titled - no. 1 (Page 7) self-titled - no. 1 - Contents (Page 8) self-titled - no. 1 - Contents (Page 9) self-titled - no. 1 - Contents (Page 10) self-titled - no. 1 - Contents (Page 11) self-titled - no. 1 - Spiritualized (Page 12) self-titled - no. 1 - Spiritualized (Page 13) self-titled - no. 1 - Spiritualized (Page 14) self-titled - no. 1 - Spiritualized (Page 15) self-titled - no. 1 - No Age (Page 16) self-titled - no. 1 - No Age (Page 17) self-titled - no. 1 - The Teenagers (Page 18) self-titled - no. 1 - Booka Shade (Page 19) self-titled - no. 1 - Michael Gira (Page 20) self-titled - no. 1 - Michael Gira (Page 21) self-titled - no. 1 - Ellen Allien (Page 22) self-titled - no. 1 - Ellen Allien (Page 23) self-titled - no. 1 - Ellen Allien (Page 24) self-titled - no. 1 - Ellen Allien (Page 25) self-titled - no. 1 - Ellen Allien (Page 26) self-titled - no. 1 - Magik Markers (Page 27) self-titled - no. 1 - Jens Lekman (Page 28) self-titled - no. 1 - Jens Lekman (Page 29) self-titled - no. 1 - Yeasayer (Page 30) self-titled - no. 1 - Yeasayer (Page 31) self-titled - no. 1 - Daptone Records (Page 32) self-titled - no. 1 - Tipping Point (Page 33) self-titled - no. 1 - Tipping Point (Page 34) self-titled - no. 1 - Tipping Point (Page 35) self-titled - no. 1 - Boris (Page 36) self-titled - no. 1 - Boris (Page 37) self-titled - no. 1 - Boris (Page 38) self-titled - no. 1 - Fiery Furnaces (Page 39) self-titled - no. 1 - Fiery Furnaces (Page 40) self-titled - no. 1 - Fiery Furnaces (Page 41) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 42) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 43) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 44) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 45) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 46) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Dice (Page 47) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 48) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 49) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 50) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 51) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 52) self-titled - no. 1 - Black Mountain (Page 53) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 54) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 55) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 56) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 57) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 58) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 59) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 60) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 61) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 62) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 63) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 64) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 65) self-titled - no. 1 - The Black Lips (Page 66)
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