SXSW Sixpack: Borzoi
Somewhere between AmRep and SST Records, somewhere between The Minutemen and the Kinks, Austin’s Borzoi are a postpunk two-by-four made of Faberge eggs upside your head –you’re not sure what hit you, but you’re impressed with the level of detail.
“This ain’t no California, we ain’t got no time for surfing,” repeatedly exclaims the band on ‘Hang 10’ –2 minutes of garage fury that wouldn’t be out of place on Sorry Ma/Hootenanny era Replacements.
They may not have time for surfing, but they will use their blistering 30 minutes of garage punk to impress with melodic hooks, dissonance and angular force, a straight-to-the-point flare of pre-Joy Division Warsaw.
Loud, sharp, pointed but not pointless, the vocals trade between guitarist and drummer, often times meeting up to share the chorus to drive the point home. The songs are unafraid to take on the sublime or the silly, falling in love with a pinball machine or the –according to folklore– Japanese practice of abandoning elderly parents in the mountains known as Ubasute.
A band you’d have expected to once see on a Jesus Lizard or Cows bill, not for their stage antics but intensity. Melody pervades and builds along the stop starts, blistering bass and cymbal thrashing and vocal hooks of ‘Pinnacle’ –which is four of the best minutes to be had in Austin or anywhere else.
On the scene for a little less than a year, Borzoi’s ascent of the Austin totem pole is showing signs of being underway, developing a dedicated pack of repeat attendees. An album is in the works, so too a presence somewhere in Austin during the SXSW season.
Check out Borzoi’s songs on their BandCamp page
More SXSW Six Pack 2015
SXSW Six Pack 2014