https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Borracho, Riffography: March of Time (and Riffs)

Posted in Reviews on December 15th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

borracho riffography

Full disclosure, this past summer I was asked by Borracho to write the liner notes for this release. If you think that means there’s a conflict of interest in my covering Riffography on an editorial level, two things: First, I took no payment. Second, it’s more of an alignment of interest than a conflict, since if I wasn’t interested in them in the first place, I probably wouldn’t have done the liner notes and I wouldn’t be writing about Riffography again now. Still, if you think that means I can’t be impartial, well, impartiality is a myth and I write about the records I feel like writing about. Get over it.

I’ll admit I didn’t think much of Borracho around the time of the Washington, D.C.-based heavy rockers’ 2011 debut, Splitting Sky (review here). I’d heard significant hype about the then-four-piece (always a turnoff) and I found the album in need of a deeper-sounding mix and an editorial impulse. Promising “Repetitive Heavy Grooves” as a slogan, it delivered, but didn’t seem to have the dynamic behind it to stave off redundancy while riding its formidable grooves. Part of my issue as well was the gruff vocal approach of guitarist Noah Greenberg, who was too far forward ahead of his and Steve Fisher‘s guitars. I mention this only to emphasize the most underappreciated and undermentioned aspect of everything Borracho have done since Splitting Sky: their growth.

Now the trio of Fisher, bassist/backing vocalist Tim Martin and drummer Mario Trubiano, they’ve never put out a release that did not showcase marked progression from the one before it, and it’s precisely that story that Riffography (on Ripple Music) is telling as it marks a decade since their first outing, a split 7″ with Adam West the featured track from which, “Rectify,” opens here in suitably raw and rudimentary fashion. Cuts from Borracho‘s three to-date LPs — Splitting Sky, 2013’s Oculus (review here) and 2016’s Atacama (review here) — aren’t featured (one exception), but the narrative arc of Borracho‘s ongoing creative development is clearly represented nonetheless across a packed-in 13 tracks and 75 minutes of weighted riffs, nodding rollout and periodically driving thrust.

Key moments of transition — most notably the departure of Greenberg from the band following Splitting Sky and Fisher taking hold of the frontman role — are depicted, and between “Rectify” and early off-album pieces like “Mob Gathering,” “Circulos Concentricos,” and “Short Ride (When it’s Over),” the collection effectively sets up a timeline that ends with the three songs from Borracho‘s portion of the first installment of Ripple‘s The Second Coming of Heavy (review here) split series — a pivotal moment of arrival in 2015 — and their latest single, “Border Crossing” (premiered here).

The very nature of a release like Riffography is such that, in order to work, it needs to be honest on the level of “warts and all.” It’s true that in the years since Splitting Sky, Borracho have built and worked hard to maintain significant momentum when it comes to their stylistic maturation, the chemistry between Fisher, Martin and Trubiano and amassing an audience. As far as narratives go, theirs is cleaner than most.

borracho

But still, Riffography tells the story from all sides, and while largely consistent on the basic level of their sound — the band has worked over the years on multiple occasions with producer Frank “The Punisher” Marchand — these songs aren’t without their bumps and/or bruises. Of particular note is a version of “Stockpile” with Greenberg still in the lineup. That track would appear on Oculus with Fisher on vocals, but it speaks directly to that essential transition in the group and to their trying to make it work as a foursome despite their original singer moving away.

And for what it’s worth, they seem to have learned lessons from their first LP in terms of finding a balanced approach. By the time they get into “Know My Name” from their 2014 split with Boston’s Cortez (review here), however, it’s Fisher up front, getting his footing as a singer and setting in motion a process still happening in building his confidence at the mic while also holding down the fuzz riffing that has helped earn the band such wide distinction throughout their time together.

“King’s Disease” from the 2015 split with Brooklyn’s Eggnogg (review here) follows and seems to return to an earlier rawness of approach with dry-sounding vocals, drums and guitar and bass tones, but works well to emphasize the classic-style swing Borracho honed as a three-piece and the way in which their “Repetitive Heavy Grooves” learned at that point to add engaging subtleties to go along with the forward march at their core.

And while I won’t take away from Oculus at all or the role that album played in establishing Borracho as the band they are today, it was their appearance on The Second Coming of Heavy that really solidified their presence and let listeners know who they were going to be. “Fight the Prophets,” “Superego” and “Shark Tank” remain a thick, rolling and satisfying listen — an EP unto themselves — and in light of the band’s to-date high-water mark in Atacama, one can hear the jammy aspects of that record taking shape in the solo sections of “Superego” and in the first half of “Shark Tank” as a precursor to the thrust that follows later.

It would be fair enough to leave the story there, but “Border Crossing,” which is shorter at 4:10, and a cover of Scorpions‘ “Animal Magnetism” originally intended for use on an unmaterialized tribute CD cap Riffography with perhaps a look forward at how Borracho will keep combining the various personality aspects that have emerged in their sound over time. No question Atacama was their greatest triumph to this point — and well it should be — but Riffography makes its point unarguably that Borracho are not now and have never been a band to hold still in their sonic take and not push themselves forward each time out. Accordingly, I’d no more expect their next long-player to rest on Atacama‘s laurels than I expected Atacama to stay in the realm of Oculus.

Further, if one wants to examine Riffography on a meta-level, in addition to summarizing Borracho‘s first decade together, it also serves to hold the momentum until that proverbial “next album” arrives, which again, is something they’ve always done so well. It might seem like a curio or a piece for fans more than casual listeners, but in both its exclusives and its gathered inclusions, Riffography puts due emphasis on how special a band Borracho have become over the last 10 years and reminds that their evolution is ongoing. For that, it is ultimately about their future nearly as much as their past.

Borracho, Riffography (2017)

Borracho on Thee Facebooks

Borracho on Twitter

Borracho on Bandcamp

Borracho website

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Twitter

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website/

Tags: , , , ,

Borracho Announce Riffography out Dec. 8; Premiere “Border Crossing”

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 20th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

borracho

By way of a confession, I wrote the liner notes over the summer for the forthcoming Riffography compilation from D.C.-based heavy riffers Borracho. I’ll hope to post them here sooner or later — the writing process involved a great, hour-long conversation with the guys from the band that went all the way back to their start and wound up looking ahead to their plans beyond their most recent long-player, last year’s excellent Atacama (review here), and it was a real thrill to get their perspective on their growth and the core relationship they share as friends and players and how the two interact to make them who they’ve become musically over time. I was honored to be asked to be a part of the project.

Point is, that while I’ve known about Riffography for a while, I’m still really glad to see it’s coming out. The release — through Ripple, out Dec. 8 — follows a timeline narrative of studio outtakes, 7″ off-album tracks and things like that to add to and flesh out the story of Borracho‘s growth as told by their proper LPs, and though it’s different recordings from different times throughout their years together, you get a sense of what’s been at their root all along and, of course, how they’ve grown around that.

Of course, some of the material on Riffography has been out there already for public consumption, but today, I’m thrilled to host the premiere of the previously unreleased “Border Crossing,” which was originally recorded to be part of Borracho‘s portion in Ripple‘s The Second Coming of Heavy – Chapter One split release with Geezer but wound up not being included. Worth noting that H42 Records will also have a 7″ of “Border Crossing” out on Dec. 8, about which you can read more here.

You’ll find the song itself at the bottom of this post, after the following info on Riffography from the PR wire. Enjoy:

borracho riffography

BORRACHO: DC Heavyweights to Release New Album Next Month on Ripple Music

Riffography is released worldwide on 8th December 2017 on Ripple Music

Ripple Music is thrilled to announce the worldwide release of Riffography, a brand-new compendium which pulls together an entire decade’s worth of blood, sweat and rare riffs from one of Washington, DC’s heaviest rock bands, Borracho.

Ten years on from when the trio first got together (and six from the release of the band’s debut album Splitting Sky in 2011), the story of Borracho is one of change, graft, survival, and ultimately, a groove-laden style that has secured them a place at the centre of the US underground stoner rock scene. Drawing on influences that span decades, they combine soaring musicality with subterranean propulsion, encompassing the hard-driven classic rock/metal of Black Sabbath and Mountain, stoner jams of Clutch and Fu Manchu and epic progressive sensibilities of Mastodon and High on Fire.

With Riffography however, what we have in essence is a retrospective companion piece that enriches both their history and discography; with rare cuts from 2013’s follow-up, Oculus, via their inclusion on Ripple Music’s The Second Coming of Heavy series, right the way up to the release of their third album, last year’s brilliant Atacama.

While you can listen to just about any of band’s albums one into the next, those albums alone rarely tell the whole story. In between these key releases, Borracho dropped half-dozen or so limited-edition vinyl singles and split sevens, amassed an enviable collection of unreleased tracks and recorded alternate takes of their own material, with a mind to satisfy fans and collectors around the globe.

Riffography was mastered for digital release by Tony Reed at Heavy Head Recording Company in Port Orchard, WA, and is officially released worldwide on 8th December via Ripple Music. The previously unreleased track ‘Border Crossing’ was recorded and mixed by Frank Marchand in 2014 as part of the Second Coming of Heavy sessions.

Cover illustration by Andrea Nakasato, Lima, Peru – www.facebook.com/andreanakasatoarte

Tracklisting:
1. Rectify
2. Circulos Concentricos
3. Mob Gathering
4. Short Ride (When It’s Over)
5. Stockpile
6. Know the Score
7. Know My Name
8. King’s Disease
9. Fight the Prophets
10. Superego
11. Shark Tank
12. Border Crossing
13. Animal Magnetism

Borracho is:
Steve Fisher – Guitar, Vocals
Tim Martin – Bass
Mario Trubiano – Drums

http://borrachomusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/BorrachoDC/
https://borracho.bandcamp.com
http://www.ripple-music.com
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/

Tags: , , , ,