Wednesday brought The Ruby Suns and Toro y Moi to The Black Cat Backstage.

My only previous experience with the Backstage having been a screamo mess which I peeked in on while at The Black Cat for non-concert purposes (but definitely for pinball purposes), I was interested to see how the whole thing would go… I was pretty impressed.

I neglected to check out Toro y Moi (whose real name is Chaz and who almost smiled once during his set) before the show, largely because I was too busy continuing to be obsessed with the Fight Softly record that The Ruby Suns are out supporting. Having not heard a thing of his before, I enjoyed most of it. I have an inexplicable soft spot for solo musicians who loop instruments and, particularly, vocals for self-harmonizing and Chaz fits the bill more than nicely. (We were too far away for me to gawk nerdily at his gear setup, so I remain curious what he was using to pull it all off.) I was impressed with the breadth of genres he spanned. He stuck mostly in the synthy, head-bobby, steady rhythm pop neighborhood but ventured into hip-hop and casually into techno and then, to close hit set the odd choice of a strummy-strummy electric guitar song that most of the audience tuned out. Aside: A kind gentleman felt it necessary to, at one point–I believe the term is ‘back it up,’ right onto my exposed toes and then into my receptive arms. It was very cute.

A breather at set break and a bourbon prefaced The Ruby Suns, who pretty much thrilled the hell out of me.

Most of the set came off of Fight Softly, with which I have been mostly enthralled since it hit my speakers a few weeks ago. I recall specifically that we were treated to Mingus and Pike, Cranberry, Haunted House, Dusty Fruit, Two Humans and, my personal favorite from the record, Closet Astrologer. Though it was Mingus and Pike that I sung to myself for my entire trip home. I questioned how the band would translate from the studio to the stage. Broken Social Scene makes sounds like The Ruby Suns do but with 410 more musicians. It works. It works nicely. The highly-layered, drum-centric songs went off largely without a hitch. The ping-ponging stereo samples at the start of Dusty Fruit pinged and ponged across the crowded room. The ascending oohs and aahs that form the backbone of Two Humans oohed and aahed in the same style that’s had me practicing my falsetto since I first heard the song. The Ruby Suns are a band who put on a thoroughly enjoyable show. Everything from the highly complex album is there. Every voice, every I-got-a-saw-and-hit-it-with-a-wisk sound. They sit on the edge of overdoing it. But just on the edge. That’s part of their magic.

In a related fashion, I am absolutely loving that all the kids whose parents played them Graceland through their entire youth are now making music. It’s my favorite non-Jazz album of all time. And I get to hear its influence all over music these days. These guys definitely grew up on this album and Mr. Simon comes out in spades. It’s the choirs of backup singers; it’s the giant, bassy drums; it’s the hand claps, the use of vocals as more than a way to spit out some words; it’s the genre-in-a-blender mentality that is present in so much great music.

The Ruby Suns haven’t created a Graceland-quality album, but that’s a pretty damn tall order. Do they make really good music and put on a kickass show? You bet. Head to see them and pick up the LP. It sounds fantastic.

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Artist: The Ruby Suns
Album: Fight Softly
Song: Cranberry.mp3

Post by Ryan (Not Bryan) Sims