Seattle Subsonic

The Ruby Suns, Toro Y Moi, U.S.F. Will Play Together Later This Week

April 6th, 2010

There’s actually a concert this weekend that I’m more excited about, but this one happens on Thursday, so it comes first. 10 dolla at Chop Suey.

I kind of ignored the first Sub Pop record (Sea Lion) from the Ruby Suns a few years back. It just seemed too sprightly and cartoonish to me. Too much over-the-top world-beat from a white guy (which was the intention, actually). I tend to be skeptical of such musical indulgences so, naturally, I took a pass. As the universe would have it, I’m unable to ignore Fight Softly, the third overall LP from the electro-trop-entranced globetrotter/daydreamer Ryan McPhun. Plus, dude’s from New Zealand, a land held special in my heart for personal reasons.

Fight Softly is a different record than Sea Lion, though, focusing more on elastic synths, positively persistent percussion, a sky-creeping swirl of digital headspins and McPhun’s R&B-style falsetto. I know those descriptors may not distinguish the two records in the minds of some of you, but he’s essentially taken his organic formula and spun it synthetic (it reminds me of a busier, more ambitious Family or a caffeinated, wider-eyed Person Pitch). I don’t know what the live show will entail, exactly, but I expect obtuse projected visuals, a card table full of indecipherable gear and sublime beats built for either boogie or headtrip. And drumsticks, lots of drumsticks.

Listen:

How Kids Fail / Cinco / Cranberry / Dusty Fruit

I’m also pretty stoked to check out local duo U.S.F. (née Universal Studios Florida; they had to, uh, abbreviate their name). I don’t possess any recordings but have been visiting their myspace from time to time to clear my brain with their CGI’d tropicalia and Animal Collective-inspired electronic wanderings. South Carolina’s Toro Y Moi is on the bill and follows a similar path as the other two. Chillwave, glo-fi, hipstergogic (a corruption of ‘hypnagogic’) are some of the phrases being bandied about by music fools with blogs (the nerve!) to describe this fluid, laid back style of aural illumination and amateur beach-hypnotism. I gotta say, I’m pretty into it.
.