these are some of my books
if you have yet to experience this band, please hurry up and do so. i would classify their music as collage/electro-acoustic/pop. my favorite albums are "thought for food" and "lemon of pink". this stuff is so creative, so genius. they regularly tour only as far as the twin cities, and the shows usually happen on a weeknight, so i can never get away to see them. stupid teaching, stupid deerrunningacrosstheroad, stupid metryingtobemoreresponsible.
they performed a live set with bass, guitar, and cello. the bass (and leader, it appeared) and guitarist switched back and forth a bit. they triggered video for each of their pieces, combining a plethora of random video clips peripherally with dated instructional videos. the beats were synchronized with the film, to which the musicians played along. lots of quick left turns and clever nuance (a hallmark of The Books) in the audio matched the swift scene changes in the video. lyrics were often included, but subtly - not beating you over the head with it. the multi-stimuli evening was fascinating, and got me thinking...
i've listened to The Books (or as the cellist quipped "since tonight is halloween we have changed our name to The Boo) for several years, and really get off on the way their music makes my mind race. certain words mean certain things, others mean nothing, and some grow increasingly or less important to my brain. i have my own mental images that go with the music (as do we all) but i'm not sure that they are consistently the same set of pictures. when i listen to their music, i am in varied environments - walking to school (energized, stressed, cold, late), walking from school (pooped, stressed again, hungry), sitting in a chair at home (comfy, stressed, eating or drinking, beating my kids), in my office (standing, stressed, not emailing people), etc. my personal experiences are different each time, yet possibly triggered to follow the same general stream of thought as elicited by the music.
so - do i need these guys giving me video to watch while they do their thing? i've got my own ideas, but should i (out of respect) check out theirs? those ideas seem as random as mine. their video editing skills get my kudos, but am i supposed to directly relate everything out of that projector to everything going in my ears? do they want me to? are they switching the music to go with different video as some big joke to see if anyone gets it and i just don't know it? maybe i'm putting too much value in the overall consumption of art? plus - isn't it a bitch lugging around that projector?
these guys were great (and handled their technical difficulties smoothly) and i would highly recommend one of their shows. it's up to you if you want to watch...
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