VIDEO: “The Classy Penguin”

With a cut-and-paste musical aesthetic, The Books, a.k.a. Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong, didnʼt invent the audio collage, but they have perfected the idea of incorporating found sound into their music. Not interested in repeating snippets of sound or vocals as in hip hop, The Books use whole sections of speech, where natural pauses and repetitions create an atmosphere all their own. As Zammuto explains, The Books record “little pieces and use the computer to organize those bits.” The result is kind of less-is-more future-folk, cliché-free and miraculously organic. Stylus magazine comments, “The sample-heavy music of The Books provides post-modernists ample thought for food, casual listeners something to giggle at, and those in between something to marvel over.” The Books are just beginning to explore the balance between lyrics, found sounds, and traditional song structure. “Home studios have ushered in a new kind of folk music.” he says Zammuto. “Not to bastardize that word more than it already is, but it allows pretty much anybody to create music within small circles, within the context of their friends or families, and within their own homes. Itʼs a new way of working that allows us to live really close to the ground financially, and circumvent the whole pro-studio atmosphere and corporate aspect of music.”

The Books have always been an entity that defied category, or any definable aesthetic, which did little to box them into any critical holding pen. As XLR8R once put it, “It sounds like everything from Asiatic Appalachian folk to a soundtrack for a future where robots made of empty tomato cans, dam radios, and duct tape rule the world.”

On the heels of three critically acclaimed releases and worldwide tours, The Books went on hiatus to focus on family, deconstruction, reconstruction, film scoring, organic gardening, babies, and reassessment. Zammuto focused on family life and welcomed the birth of his second child, in late 2008, built a home studio, refined his “Sound Sculptures” (Most notable being his “Spoonbox”), gardening, and experimenting with new methods of making music. de Jong spent time adding to the band’s vast found sound archive, working on his solo work, canning, collaborating with Zammuto on a film score, and devoting more time to his family.

The hiatus proved to be a much needed break for the band and recently de Jong and Zammuto dusted off “the books” and sifted through archival material with a new record in mind. Plans are materializing for a 2010 release and promises to be the bandʼs most ambitious release to date.

Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong met in 2000 through a friend when they were living in the same New York City apartment building. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, they soon learned they had a shared love of acoustic music and found sound. They experimented and plunked away until, with some urging by Tom Steinle of Tomlab Records, they recorded what would become their debut album, Thought for Food, in 2002. The Books recorded and released The Lemon of Pink in the fall of 2003 and a year later began recording in an old Victorian home in North Adams, Massachusetts. With the release of Lost and Safe in April 2005, The Books departed from the “folktronica” sound they pioneered in their first two efforts, incorporating a new set of instrumental sounds, including vintage clavinet, as well as homemade electro-acoustic sound sculptures made from filing cabinets. Yes, filing cabinets.

“It is unique and addictive” - THE GUARDIAN UK

“They’ve taken moments of contemplation– when one understands something on an emotional level but can’t quite articulate his thoughts– and dressed it up in a melodic frame. immediately accessible despite absences of obvious reference points — (their) records felt like gifts, demanding little from the listener but paying
out handsomely.” - PITCHFORK
.
THE BOOKS

11/19 Waltham, MA Rose Art Museum
11/21 Bellingham, WA Mainstage
11/23 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
11/24 Seattle, WA Triple Door (2 sets, early and late)
11/25 Vancouver, BC The Clutch
11/26 Calgary, AB Broken City
11/27 San Francisco, CA Noe Valley Ministry
11/28 San Francisco, CA Noe Valley Ministry
11/29 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
11/30 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
12/01 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center

THE BOOKS LINKS:
MySpace
Artist Page

SKATE RAMP, MECHANICAL BULL, PHOTO BOOTH, LIVE T-SHIRT AND BANDANA SCREENPRINTING AND MORE!

WHO: Now in its fourth year, Fun Fun Fun Fest has made a significant impact on the country’s winter calendar, successfully combining the vast worlds of indie, punk, rap, electronica and comedy while showcasing some of the city’s most unique local businesses. It is the most relaxed, laid back and (yet) progressive festival in the marketplace today, a true urban event in the middle of downtown Austin.

WHAT: In addition to Fun Fun Fun Fest’s outstanding musical line-up, the festival will also host an array of activities to keep fans busy between sets. Fans can check out the festival’s mechanical bull, skate ramp, live screen-printing, photo booth, Flip cam interviews, API poster show, band merchandise and food and fashion from some of Austin’s favorite local businesses.

Fun Fun Fun Fest has partnered up with Under Pressure to give festival attendees what they deserve: an opportunity to design their own FFF T-shirt, hoodie, bandana, tank top, or anything else they can come up with. Under Pressure will also be selling a limited addition FFF poster print. The API poster show will highlight various accomplished poster artists from across the United States, who will present posters on Fun Fun Fun Fest artists and others.

Fun Fun Fun Fest’s skate ramp will be rolled out by Find N Grind Skate Shop, one of Central Texas’ finest skate shops and crews. This year, they will host a post-apocalyptic skate session with a custom “coffin extension” on the ramp, facing the black stage in honor of the great one, Glenn Danzig.

Food and fashion will abound, as some of Austin’s favorite local businesses set up shop on festival grounds, including: Frank, Woodland, Spanish Village, Ruby’s BBQ, Snowie, Parlour Pizza, Mambo Berry, Tiff’s Treats, Boomerang’s Pies, Zen, Austin Cornucopia, Prototype, Bird’s Barbershop, Toy Joy, Big Rig Vintage and Shyana Gifts (glass pipes). Austin non-profit organizations the SIMS Foundation and Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) will also be on hand at FFF to raise awareness of their causes benefiting local musicians.

*Early bird, student discount and VIP ticket packages for FFF 2009 have all sold out. Because of the limited capacity of the park, music fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets early to ensure entry. Tickets can be found at local Austin record stores and at www.funfunfunfest.com/store. For more information on the festival, visit www.funfunfunfest.com

WHEN: November 7-8 / 12:00-9:00 p.m.

WHERE: Waterloo Park / 403 E. 15th St. / Austin, TX / 78701

FUN FUN FUN FEST COMPLETE SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY, NOV. 7

Orange Stage:

Ratatat 8:30-9:45
Les Savy Fav 7:35-8:25
Yeasayer 6:45-7:30
DEATH 6-6:40
No Age 5:10-5:55
Red Sparrowes 4:20-5:05
Shonen Knife 3:30-4:15
Times New Viking 2:40-3:25
Crystal Antlers 1:45-2:15
Royal Bangs 1:10-1:40
The Laughing 12:35-1:05

Black Stage:

The Jesus Lizard 8:35-9:45
Face To Face 7:45-8:30
F***** Up 6:55-7:40
7 Seconds 6:05-6:50
Melt Banana 5:15-6
The Sword 4:25-5:10
Russian Circles 3:35-4:20
Nightmarchers 2:50-3:30
Young Widows 2:15-2:45
All Leather 1:40-2:10
Coliseum 1:05-1:35
Rat King 12:30-1

Blue Stage:

The Pharcyde 8:50-9:45
The Cool Kids 7:30-8:40
Neon Indian 6:35-7:20
SSION 5:35-6:20
MC Chris 4:35-5:20
VEGA 3:35-4:20
Foot Patrol 2:35-3:20
Sugar & Gold 1:50-2:20
LAX 1:05-1:35
Beta Player 12:20-12:50

Yellow Stage:

Destroyer 8:45-9:45
Shearwater 7:45-8:30
Todd Barry 6:45-7:30
Nick Thune 6:15-6:45
Dead Confederate 5:15-6
James Husband 4:15-5
Hannibal Burress 3:15-4
Altercation comedy hour 2:15-3:15
Onion Famewhore contest winner 2-2:15
Low Line Caller 1:15-1:45
Moonlight Towers 12:30-1

SUNDAY, NOV. 8

Orange Stage:

Of Montreal 8:30-9:45
Crystal Castles 7:30-8:25
Mission of Burma 6:35-7:25
Lucero 5:40-6:30
Broadcast 4:45-5:35
WHY? 3:50-4:45
Atlas Sound 3-3:45
F*** Buttons 2:15-2:55
This Will Destroy You 1:40-2:10
Black And White Years 1:05-1:35
Growing 12:30-1

Black Stage:

Danzig 8:30-9:45
Gorilla Biscuits 7:40-8:25
D.R.I. 6:55-7:35
Torche 6:15-6:55
Riverboat Gamblers 5:35-6:10
Coalesce 4:50-5:30
Street Dogs 4:10-4:45
Youth Brigade 3:30-4:05
Mika Miko 2:55-3:25
Underground Railroad To Candyland 2:20-2:50
Off With Their Heads 1:45-2:15
Reign Supreme 1:10-1:40
Pack of Wolves 12:35-1:05
The Roller 12-12:30

Blue Stage:

Kid Sister 9-9:45
GZA/Genius 8-8:50
Buraka Som Sistema 7:05-7:50
HEALTH 6:05-6:50
DJ Nu-mark 5-5:55
Car Stereo Wars 4-4:50
Alaska In Winter 3:05-3:50
Astronautalis 2:25-2:55
The DJ Melee 1:30-2:20
Peligrosa DJs 12:15-1:30

Yellow Stage:

Whitest Kids U’Know 8:45-9:45
Brian Posehn 8-8:45
Josh Fadem 7:30-8
Chelsea Peretti 7:10-7:30
King Khan and BBQ 6:15-7
The Strange Boys 5:20-6
Brendan Walsh 4:40-5:05
Harlem 4-4:30
The comedy metal of METALLAGHER 3-3:40
Cedric Burnside & Lightning Malcolm 2-2:40
Bankrupt and the Borrowers 1-1:45
New Movement Comedy Troupe 12:30-1

MP3: “Cold Hands”

Life, you will have observed, is not a series of epic epiphanies and seismic milestones, but a succession of quiet weeks and months, interrupted at rare intervals - if you’re lucky - by fleeting moments of significance or grace: a new crush, a break-up, the discovery of a particularly good book or song or film, an intense conversation with a friend that you know you won’t forget. Some of the best pop bands of the past several decades have made it their mission to evoke, in their words and in their music, the understated beauty of everyday living. Think of the Go-Betweens, who found boundless romantic possibility in going for a walk or spending the night in; or Belle and Sebastian’s hushed remembrances of little failures and lessons learned, and sympathetic portraits of young misfits struggling to make sense of the world.

Pants Yell!, despite their misleadingly emphatic (and eternally mysterious) name, belong to this crucial lineage. Together since 2003, when they formed at a Boston art school, the trio is the vehicle for singer-guitarist Andrew Churchman’s modestly proportioned but perfectly realized songs. Abetted by co-founding bassist Sterling Bryant and drummer Casey Keenan (who joined in 2007), his two- and three-minute marvels draw power from restraint and poetry from plainspoken observation - in short, they are greater than the sum of their parts. Not for nothing did he name the band’s last album Alison Statton, in honor of the former Young Marble Giants/Weekend singer, who understood better than most that a whisper, dispensed properly, is always more affecting than a scream.

Alison Statton, the third Pants Yell! album, brought the band unprecedented critical and popular success internationally. And now they’ve come to rest at their spiritual home, Slumberland Records, with its remarkable follow-up, Received Pronunciation. In nine songs and 26 minutes, and without ever deploying a distortion pedal, they make a greater emotional impact than an album twice as long and at double the volume. Which isn’t to say the album lacks for visceral sonic thrills - hear “Someone Loves You” build to an ecstatic climax that perfectly justifies the song’s title, or the elegant guitar solo that launches “Cold Hands” skyward. This is pop that doesn’t need to raise its voice or shake its fist; it wins you with its mind and its heart.

PANTS YELL!

11/11 - Bronxville, NY - Sarah Lawrence College
11/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Pi Lam at University of Pennsylvania
11/13 - Washington, DC - Black Cat (SLR 20th Anniversary show) *
11/14 - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House (SLR 20th Anniversary show) #
11/15 - Bethlehem, PA - Secret Art Space
11/16 - Cambridge, MA - Zuzu
11/20 - Portland, ME - Space Gallery
12/05 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls

* = w/ Crystal Stilts, Brown Recluse, Frankie Rose and The Outs, The Ropers, Nord Express, Lorelei
# = w/ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Crystal Stilts, Brown Recluse, Frankie Rose and The Outs, The Ropers, Nord Express, Lorelei

Pants Yell!
Received Pronunciation
(Slumberland)
Street Date: Nov. 10, 2009

1. Frank and Sandy
2. Rue de la Paix
3. Cold Hands
4. Got To Stop
5. Spider
6. Someone Loves You
7. Marble Staircase
8. Not Wrong
9. To Take

PANTS YELL! LINKS:
MySpace
Press Materials

Including shows with Passion Pit, Shaky Hands

Daytrotter Session

MP3: “Don’t Haunt This Place”

About The Rural Alberta Advantage

The Rural Alberta Advantage was born out of singer/songwriter Nils Edenloff’s exodus from the province that inspired the band’s name and many of the songs from their enthralling debut album, Hometowns.

Edenloff grappled with homesickness after his move from Edmonton, Alberta to Toronto, Ontario in 2003. To cope with his loneliness and isolation in the ‘big city’, the shy songwriter penned a series of odes to his former home, celebrating the country’s wild rose, the purple skies and the “dethbridge in Lethbridge.”
On the urging of his fellow ex-pat musician friends, Edenloff took his songs to a struggling weekly Open Mic night in early 2005 to perform them for an audience. In a matter of weeks, he was handed the job (paid in beer and 2-for-1 pasta specials) of hosting the night alongside drummer Paul Banwatt. The two quickly formed a musical bond, with Edenloff’s plaintive folk songs backed by Banwatt’s raucous, razor-sharp percussion. As the Open Mic night faltered, the two found themselves playing hours’ worth of songs per night, and developed a solid “set list” for their weekly routine.

The twosome’s arrangement became permanent as a series of other local musicians joined and left the project (by now dubbed “The Rural Alberta Advantage”, courtesy of a provincial slogan co-opted by Edenloff’s brother). The pub that had been home to their Open Mic night closed down (their final night featured a classic barroom brawl involving overzealous motorcycle gang members/would-be karaoke stars), but the Rural Alberta Advantage continued to perform, now playing shows in and around Toronto. A demo was recorded in late 2005, featuring Edenloff, Banwatt, Amy Cole, Ken Farrell and Anissa Hart (Ohbijou). By the completion of the demo, the RAA settled into its current, three-piece formation, with Cole becoming a permanent member of the band.

In 2006, the Rural Alberta Advantage recorded a five-song, self-titled EP. Shortly thereafter, the group was invited to play a show with local indie rock superstars Henri Faberge and The Adorables at their weekly residency at Kensington Market hotspot The Embassy. As official an initiation into the indie-rock community in Toronto as there could be, The RAA played the show to great acclaim from the Adorables’ faithful. Thanks to their exciting live performances and gritty, honest songs, a loyal following for the RAA began to grow. The band continued to play in Toronto and throughout eastern Canada, steadily increasing their fanbase with a performance on MTV Canada and a slot at the Pop Montreal festival in 2007.

As well as playing live, the band spent much of 2007 in the studio, recording their debut full-length record, Hometowns. Originally scheduled to be the inaugural release of a new record label formed by a local producer, the band found themselves label-less when the producer decided to abandon his plan. The RAA began selling copies of Hometowns themselves at shows in early 2008, without an official release.

Hometowns began catching the ears of bloggers across the country on pure word-of-mouth. Herohill.com proclaimed the RAA “the best unsigned band in Canada”, and I Heart Music.net deemed Hometowns “a near-perfect album”. The band’s reputation for stellar live shows garnered them a sellout crowd at the 2008 North By Northeast festival, and the band played similarly successful showcases at the 2008 iterations of the Halifax Pop Explosion and Pop Montreal.

The band’s big break came in November 2008, when major digital music retailer eMusic.com selected the Rural Alberta Advantage, from a fan recommendation, as an eMusic Selects artist. This honour gave the band publicity and exposure to over 400,000 music fans and subscribers worldwide. Repeating, and surpassing, the successes of past Selects artists Crystal Stilts and High Places, the RAA sold thousands of copies of their record in mere weeks, an astounding feat for an unsigned act. Hometowns became the highest-selling Selects album in history and a critical darling overnight, appearing on dozens of “Best of 2008″ lists in newspapers, blogs, and radio podcasts across North America and Europe.

The inspiring DIY success story of the Rural Alberta Advantage has continued to gain momentum and attract fans and followers, with a breakthrough performance at eMusic’s showcase at the 2009 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, getting the seal of approval from Pitchfork (”This band could be huge”) and a nod as a “buzz band” from the Associated Press. More glowing press reviews and sold-out club dates in major cities throughout the United States have followed, and the trio of kids from Canada now find themselves signed to US indie giant Saddle Creek. Hometowns was released properly for the first time on Saddle Creek in Summer 2009, and more tour dates throughout the USA and Canada are planned.

THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE

11/11 Hamilton, ONT Casbah
11/12 Ottawa, ONT Zaphods
11/14 Kingston, ONT Grad Club
11/15 Peterborough, ONT Red Dog
11/18 Montreal, QC Club Lambi
11/19 Montreal, QC Cabaret Juste Pour Rire / M For Montreal
11/20 Toronto, ONT Lee’s Palace
11/21 London, ONT Call The Office
12/08 Covington, KY Mad Hatter +
12/09 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway +
12/10 Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory +
12/11 Austin, TX The Parish
12/12 Dallas, TX The Cavern +
12/14 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room +
12/15 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Theater +
12/16 San Francisco, CA Bottom of The Hill +
12/18 Portland, OR Backspace
12/19 Seattle, WA Vera Project
01/07 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s
01/08 New York, NY Terminal 5 &
01/09 New York, NY Mercury Lounge

+ = w/ Shaky Hands
& = w/ Passion Pit

The Rural Alberta Advantage
Hometowns
(Saddle Creek)
Street date: July 07, 2009

1. The Ballad of The RAA
2. Rush Apart
3. The Dethbridge in Lethbridge
4. Don’t Haunt this Place
5. The Deadroads
6. Drain the Blood
7. Luciana
8. Frank, AB
9. The Air
10. Sleep All Day
11. Four Night Rider
12. Edmonton
13. In the Summertime

THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE LINKS:
MySpace
Band Page
Saddle Creek