Schubas
3159 N Southport Ave
773.525.2508
This event has passed.
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The Ruby Suns
- When
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Wednesday Mar 31, 2010 (9pm)
- Where
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- Price
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$10
- Links
“The post-SXSW chill-wave debates that played out between the New York Times and Village Voice were arguably more interesting than the somnambulistic jamz under their critique; and while the Ruby Suns' Fight Softly does fit comfortably under chill-wave's lazy-summer daiquiri umbrella, mastermind Ryan McPhun kindly avoids the snooze button with a mess of synths, digital beats, and processed guitars. Hints of Sea Lion's Brian Wilsonian, Afropop-inflected ear candy occasionally shine through, but McPhun is after something slipperier these days: seemingly the busiest come-down music imaginable. With a bedrock of soulful coos and blissed-out synth washes, he sounds like an '80s sophisti-pop crooner for the post-AnCo crowd. Somehow, it works.”
Stephen Gossett, Flavorpill
Schubas says:
Phones ring and field recordings follow: footsteps in a friend's backyard, getting drunk at a bar in Chicago, screaming kids at an indoor pool, and Kenyan rug makers singing. All of these sounds churn within tidal tape manipulations. Relating to a small, solitary sea bird on the opening track of Sea Lion, Ryan McPhun sings, "The great Pacific can connect you with your relatives."
McPhun was born and raised in the seaside town of Ventura, CA. Eventually his hunger for travel and new experiences led him to his newfound home away from home. New Zealand has offered Ryan its mountainous South Island, rugged beaches and the North Island's enchanted forests, to which Ryan replies with sounds he has borrowed and fashioned from machine, Manuka trees and many a musical instrument. Although New Zealand is somewhat isolated in the southern most part of the Pacific Ocean, Ryan has remained true to his buccaneer instinct.
