Rubies (Podcast #173)
July 21, 2009
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This week, we’re excited to feature Rubies, a band led by Simone Rubi and Terri Lowenthal, both formerly of Call and Response. If you’re familiar with that Bay Area indie pop band, who released some great California-feeling albums in the early-to-mid 2000s, it won’t surprise you that catchy melodies and warm harmonies are some of the new band’s strengths as well. At the same time, the group’s sonic toolkit is considerably tougher to pin down, with a blend of folk, pop, disco, and electronica that’s catchy and danceable. The melange has a distinctively cosmopolitan, modern feel to it, and it seems quite understandable that Rubies are already an international hit even as they introduce themselves to stateside audiences with their debut full length, Explode from the Center.
The band’s global reach extends to the origins of their debut album, out worldwide last month on Telle Records. Explode emerged out of Simone’s travels in Scandinavia, where she reconnected with old friends like the Kings of Convenience and met new collaborators like album co-producer Karl-Jonas Winqvist. The variety of contributors is appropriate given the band’s expansive sounds, but, rather than become bogged down by the various hands involved, the songs exhibit a welcome “less is more” leanness befitting their airy grooves. With melodies and voices as compelling as these, it’s no surprise that the band’s been remixed multiple times to great effect and their versatility will come in handy on the band’s upcoming domestic tours.
We sat down with Simone and Terri at The Bay Bridged Studio recently to discuss how Rubies emerged from Simone’s solo songwriting, their experiences touring Russia and more. We’ve also included four songs in the episode, including a couple from Explode from the Center, another new one, and a remix.
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Dudes abide: Lebowski Fest 7/24-25 ticket giveaway
July 21, 2009
Maybe it’s just like, your opinion man, but a national summerlong tour should only be granted to the best film in history. Catch the celebration at the Fox Theatre, it’s on us! We’re giving away two pairs of tickets for the Saturday movie party featuring the sexual overtones of Har Mar Superstar (7:30pm, $22.50). To enter send an email to contest@thebaybridged.com with your full name and address and the phrase “I Love Lebowski” in the subject line. Entries 4 and 5 will win a pair of tickets each and the winners will be notified via E-mail.
Friday is a chance to enter the round robin at the Lebowski Fest bowling party at Classic Bowl in Daly City (900 King Plaza, 8pm, $28 in advance). The evening includes special guest Liam Hoosier and would be incomplete without costumes, trivia, and a cowboy at the bar (most likely). Just don’t go over the line, and you’ll come out alive.
More information about the local festivities is on the official website.
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Mission Creek Holds Court at McLaren Park
July 20, 2009
Mission Creek held a major free concert in McLaren Park on Saturday featuring over a dozen great bands and a bunch of good times. For me, the event was equal parts great local music and sales pitch for the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, which I hadn’t known existed prior to the show. I was admittedly skeptical as I got off my second bus of the day, bringing the travel time to the fest to a round hour-and-a-half, and adding a “This better be worth it” feeling to the experience, but I wandered down a hill to the emerge upon the backside of an amphitheater full of hipsters, hippies, families, and weirdos all enjoying great weather and great music. In a moment, it felt so naturally San Francisco, as if of course there was a 600-person amphitheater in McLaren Park and of course it was filled with people on a Sunday afternoon, and of course Bart Davenport and band were playing onstage.
Mission Creek Music Festival: Rubies – “Dreamhunt”.
But the event only felt predestined. Clearly a ton of work was involved, and the between-band announcements for raffle tickets and donations left me hoping that it was at least a break-even proposition. In a city facing an ongoing War on Fun, a free, all ages, mostly local music event like this is the sort of thing we should all get behind, particularly when the bands are, as they were, so great. Which brings me off the soapbox and back to the afternoon: Davenport and band were sublime, and his showmanship was masterful as always. Rubies, who we’ll be talking more about tomorrow, got people dancing with their effervescent “mellow disco” sound. And Persephone’s Bees were loud and poppy and thoroughly enjoyable. I left completely satisfied, inspired by the afternoon’s success and wondering how to take advantage of the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in the future.
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Casiotone for the Painfully Alone goes full band for BotH Tuesday
July 20, 2009
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone isn’t about to change his moniker, but maybe everything else behind it. The once solo electronic musician Owen Ashworth (born of Redwood City, CA) has committed to a full-band for his latest record Vs. Children (Tomlab), and is on the road performing in both past and present styles. The tour is stopping in the city at Bottom of the Hill tomorrow night with local openers David and Joanna and Ashworth’s brother Concern (9pm, $10).
03-White-Corolla.mp3
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – “White Corolla”
CFTPA collectors are already used to accruing demo versions, covers and compilation tracks like they’re sacred Pokemon cards, but the lazier folk might be interested in Advance Base Battery Life (Tomlab), a rarities and b-sides compilation released in February.
If you make the show tomorrow night, you might consider buying as much merchandise as you can to donate to the CFTPA wrecked car fund.
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Photos: The Builders and the Butchers, Illinois @ Bottom of the Hill
July 20, 2009
Photos by: Charlie Homo
The Builders and the Butchers
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Sade Sundays #2: The Secret Lives of Men – ABC BBD
July 19, 2009
A sort of tired determinism lay in the air over the second Sade Sunday meeting between Josh and myself. We intended on talking at a rope swing, which we had relieved ourselves of care on the month previous, that lay high in the Berkeley hills overlooking the bay and all its bridges.
The voyage was arduous at best. We got lost. Once we had found our former place of repose, the old rope swing was gone and in its place a frayed rope and now silent skid marks down the hill. Yes readers, we could have died.
So, we forsook to find a deeper nature. I was in my flip-flops and Josh in his typical short pants. Walden Pond this was not though, as we found only an uncomfortable log to sit on and spent most of our time relieving our feet of the burning burrs and miniscule prickers that had set themselves to task during the hike. The Fat Tire beer was good though, the conversation better, and the company, unparalleled.
Boyz II Men – Cooleyhighharmony (expanded)
The germane of our conversations started with the recently reissued and expanded Cooleyhighharmony by Boyz II Men. I had chosen this record personally, for I have a love of blissed out R&B from the early 90s (e.g. P.M. Dawn and the Divine Styler). Imagined in my mind, the Boyz II Men debut held secrets within secrets, rich production and found unintended pleasures, not too mention memories of riding in minivans with suburban moms to haunted houses, junior high dances and cassingles. [More...]
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Or, the Whale: new music, acoustic performance at Regional Bias
July 17, 2009
Or, The Whale – Never Coming Out – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo.
There’s been a lot of news emerging from the Or, the Whale camp recently. The band just redid its MySpace page and posted a couple of songs off their upcoming second album. Or, the Whale (the album) comes out September 22nd on Seany Records, and we predict big things to happen for the charismatic country-rock septet in its wake. You can get another taste of the new songs in the session they recently did for Luxury Wafers, and have a couple of chances to catch them in the Bay later this month.
Honesty demands that we note the Thursday, July 30th show at the Starry Plough, with El Olio Wolof and Mikael Jorgensen, but we really, really hope you come check out a special acoustic set from the group at Regional Bias: A Celebration of Bay Area Music and Culture to Benefit The Bay Bridged on Friday, July 31st at the Verdi Club. Like the rest of the groups performing that night, Or, the Whale put on a consistently amazing live show and the new batch of songs sound terrific.
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Three Mile Pilot: Bottom of the Hill 7/18, Blank Club 7/24
July 17, 2009
Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship. Sometimes relationships end, and even though you start dating someone else, there’s still something that prompts you to get back together and give it another go. Band breakups and reunions can be like that too, and recently reunited bands Three Mile Pilot and Optiganally Yours will soon show Bay Area audiences whether they’ve still got the magic in a couple of upcoming shows.
Three Mile Pilot – “One Step Ladder”
