9dw/Boris - Golden Dance Classics

Okay, it's been a long time, but I decided to write something again. I revamped my rating system on My RYM, so I figured this would be a good point on which to start and tell a little about what I listen to. I guess you could see this as a review, but that's an overstatement in my opinion. It's more jolting down my thoughts while or shortly after listening than anything else, and it happens quite often that I later don't agree with what I wrote anymore. I'll only publish these reviews on RYM if I consider them to be worthy.


CD cover.

12" cover.


It seems this split EP has generated a bit of controversy among Boris' fans.
Some people seem to feel that 9dw's two funk tracks, 'エイの宇宙遊泳 (Stingray)' and 'スパイス (Spice)' are a lot better than Boris' side of the split. For me, as for probably most people, 9dw is a band I haven't heard of before this split.They play pleasant, dancable and instrumental funky music on this split.
The Boris side, on the other hand, consists of two tracks that are kind of hard to put a label on.The first, トーキョーワンダーランド (Tokyo Wonder Land), can be seen as a continuation of what 9dw does on their side.If you try to imagine Boris doing a funk track, with some kind of noisy weirdness in the background and Takeshi's typical voice singing something gentle (?) in Japanese, you're probably on the right track.Continuing after this into the final track, あきらめの花 (Akirame Flower), Boris hops back to their trademark doom-like sound a little, but the funk can still be heard.

In conclusion: 9dw was a pleasant and funky suprise, Boris did something I personally didn't expect at all, but it caught on quite well for me. 4/5.

RYM entry
Discogs entry
Buy the 12"
Buy the CD
Source for the directly linked MP3's. Obviously, I have no control over those.