Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2006)
BY STEVEN SAWADA Cracking the Books Enlightening the Masses The Books, P:ano 9:30, Wednesday, 4/19 WOW Hall, $12 students adv/ $14 public adv/ $15 dos T UITION ONLY $889 Guaranteed for Spring Sessions only. Day Classes starting May 1st 11am-4pm Mon-Thur Weekend Classes - Begin April 22. 11am-4pm Sat & Sun Flair Workshop - April 25 (All levels) Creative Cocktail Workshop - April 24 J OB P LACEMENT RATE OF BETTER THAN 85% No other school is an actual functioning bar with the opportunity for live hands on training We’re right downtown for pre & post show gatherings 1010 Oak Street 485-4695 Our family centered midwives Continue to provide women’s health & pregnancy care in Springfield Births attended exclusively at Sacred Heart Medical Center • Many contraception methods available. • Annual Gynecological Exams & Hormone Replacement Therapy. • Childbirth preparation classes open to the public. Michele K. Bouche, C.N.M. • Angie Zacharek, C.N.M. 1632 J Street, Springfield • 746-8897 Visit our website: mckenziemidwifery.com Call for a courtesy “Get Acquainted” Visit THURSDAY: Weekly Karaoke - Get your Groove On 4/20: E-Spot Party FRIDAY: 4/14: DJ Dan-OMite 4/21: Gaia Tribe 4/28: DJ Dan-OMite SATURDAY: 4/15: Lounge Casual w/ Annie & Zo 4/22: Party Like a Genius Trivia Show w/The Reward System 4/29: Vinyl Pimps & DJ Poe TUESDAY: Jam w/ Jason Cowsill - 9pm B RING Y OUR I NSTRUMENTS WEDNESDAY: Audio Schizophrenic • 10pm LOCAL ARTISTS CONTACT JAXX NOW! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< McKenzie Midwifery & Women’s Services, P.C. “A place where we all get along.” <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< towards found sound, seek out the Internet radio broadcast that de Jong and Zamutto did last year for www.dublab.com, which is now available through Dublab as a podcast. The hour-long broadcast features favorite songs and melodies (both from other artists and The Books catalog) as well as snippets from The Books’ library of found sound and field recordings. What begins with a zealous preacher trying to sell God morphs haphazardly but somehow logically into Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman,” the idiosyncratic scatting of Shooby Taylor, “Take Time” from The Lemon of Pink, “Contempt” from Thought for Food and a slew of obscure found sound and old timey and international folk music. All of it in some way contributes to an understanding of the intention behind the band’s original albums. Their live shows now include pre-record- ed video accompaniment created by The Books themselves. This new visual element compiles numerous snippets of found video culled from thrift stores and field recordings, much in the same way the duo collects their sound samples. The overall performance, visual and aural, should entertain as well as challenge. If it were simple, and I were lazy, it’d be nothing more than folktronica. ew <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< I t’s unfair to pigeonhole The Books with any of the newly-christened genre names that seem to bubble up in hip- ster-friendly music publications on a week- ly basis. Folktronica, the term most often used to elucidate The Books’ sound, really only grazes the surface and belies the com- plexity behind their music. Wikipedia cites bands like Boards of Canada, Four Tet and Mum (bands with sometimes similar but mostly divergent sounds) as examples of folktronica musicians. But unfortunately, it manages to get even more convoluted than that. According to Wikipedia, folktronica somehow bleeds into similar styles like “laptop folk” (which I’ve never heard of, but I’m sure has probably been used incessantly on Pitchforkmedia.com), “beardtronica” (which I believe was con- trived by a smart-ass Wikipedian to soley confuse), and “nu-folk” (which also has been used on Pitchfork and supposedly comprises the likes of Devendra Banhart!!!). From the sarcasm, I hope you can sense, folktronica, The Books really are not. Their music and their technique are much too intricate and subtle. Now, what they are… First, The Books are a duo composed of Nick Zamutto and Paul de Jong, two found sound archivists/musicians with a shared passion for awkward moments caught on tape, the pure tonality of the human voice and the obscure scat singer Shooby Taylor. As a team they combine original cello, gui- tar and altered vocal work with samples of pre-recorded human conversation, pre- speech and idioglossia-like vocalization, advertisements and dialogue from film. With these found sound samples sometimes taking center stage in a song, as they are repeated, stretched, stuttered and altered in numerous other ways, they sometimes dic- tate rhythm and subsequently extend a song beyond traditional structure. Recontexualized rather than mutilated, these samples take on lives of their own, reaching for new messages and sound apart from their original environment. But through their original instrumentation, The Books still operate within some familiar framework of melody. Over the course of three albums (Thought for Food, The Lemon of Pink and Lost and Safe), they have gained a significant cult following. For rare insight into their attitudes APRIL 13, 2006 29
