Uncle Jacobs is Back

dfjacobs — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:00:10 +0000

"How would you like to spend the next several nights wondering if your crazy, out-of-work, bum uncle will shave your head while you sleep? See you in the car."

So remember how your dad (Edward the Godfather of cool music) promised I would take you to the zoo every few weeks while he’s away; it turns out I did not remember. So after receiving an angry call from him complaining about your boredom, I sped my brake-less Prius over to your house like OJ. Yes, my Prius may or may not be the dangerous model, but that’s the fun of getting in the car with me, neither of us knows how it’ll turn out. Maybe we’ll disagree at first until you ultimately fall in love with me like John Candy and the Macaulay Culkster in Uncle Buck. Or we could all die momentously in a car crash because of my faulty Prius, and then your father will have to start procreating from scratch. Or I could just crash the car because I’m not a very good driver. Who knows!

In the interest of full disclosure, the reason for my absence from the Show is a vicious bout of Senioritis, which seems to affect even the most enjoyable aspects of my life. Regardless of my flakey excuse, never fear, I have not lost my ability to acquire the coolest music on the streets. That said, my ability to compose coherent and comically genius writing to accompany that chillsauce music may have suffered. For that reason, I’m going keep my writing to a minimum and just leave you with some music that has been shaking the Prius recently. I am not gonna throw up a track from Plastic Beach, but if you don’t have it, put some sweatpants on, go to the club and shoot yourself in the leg Plaxico-style. Then, go buy it immediately.

For all of our sakes, I’ll limit myself to a sentence (or two) about each fantastic track. First comes “Sole Brother,” the first single from Born Ruffians upcoming Say It, due out on May 31st. The second track is the Office theme song mashed with everyone’s favorite Riker’s Island prisoner, ‘nuff said. Finally I leave you with Trinity College rapper, Sam Adams (aka “Wiz”). As much as it pains me to promote a Bostonian, this guy is the next big thing (Go buy his new EP Boston’s Boy). And with that, I bid you all adieu, but I’m gonna be back a few times a week to check up on you, I promise.

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Sole Brother – Born Ruffians (YSI)

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Driving Me Crazy – Sam Adams (YSI)

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Office Musik – Clockwork (YSI)

Uncle Fumerus Has Technical Difficulties

Born to Ruff-ian

dfjacobs — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:01:05 +0000

I want to start by saying I love the Animal Show. Maybe I need to reiterate that: I truly am both an avid reader and a huge fan. And although that is a clear harbinger of criticism, I hope I’ll be allowed to continue. One of the very few faults of this fantastic beacon of the blogosphere is their unbridled Vampire Weekend devotion, yet total disregard for Born Ruffians. And while the Vamp Weeky deserve a great deal of adulation, Born Ruffians too deserve their fair share.

Hailing from Midland, Ontario, the group is made up of lead hollerer and guitarist Luke LaLonde, with Mitch Derosier on bass and Steven Hamelin on drums. The trio met in high school back in hockey country and have been playing together ever since. They released their first EP back in 2006, Born Ruffians, and, while it ran for just 16 minutes, they quickly and impressively punched everyone who heard it in the face. The first track “This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life”, is an upbeat and honest chronicle of many adolescents’ lives, slamming into its opening with a healthy dose of hollering (as per usual with Born Ruffians) before leading into tender and heartfelt lyrics like “I need a girlfriend I’m lonely/ Someone to love me and fuck me/ I need to get laid immediately/ but also one to fulfill my needs.” In this instance Born Ruffians demonstrate both their honesty and borderline vulgarity. While they don’t even attempt to reach the impressive baudy heights of, say, that voice of a generation Cam’ron, I’m not sure those lyrics are exactly PG. I would go through the other five songs but, frankly, this article is already longer than I intended.

In 2008, they released their first LP, Red, Yellow & Blue (also the name of the first track). With the Born Ruffians EP, they had to quickly make their mark; Red, Yellow & Blue is a more controlled chaos. They are similar to Vampire Weekend minus Africa and the Upper West Side. Both feature impressive falsettos at the helm and hooting and hollering galore. Remember how cool Veepy Weepy was until every wannabe and top 40 listener knew who they were? Well, that’s Born Ruffians! All the cool and fun minus the mainstream! Think how cool you will be again!

I just realized how excessive and annoying those exclamation points are. I apologize, and I will cease.

Back to Red, Yellow & Blue: I will for the most part let the record speak for itself, which it does effectively in its fun, upbeat and simple melodies. I do however feel inclined to mention one technique that Born Ruffians use to keep their songs interesting: halfway through their songs, they tend to completely change the style. The first half of “Little Garçon” is Luke LaLonde softly professing his love with his co-troubadors backing him up with some beautiful humming. But at about 2:06 the song begins to pick up the pace and change temperament completely. Another example of this signature mid-song change is on “Kurt Vonnegut.” The song starts loud and strong with the usual hollering, yet at about 2:29 the song begins its true genesis: the rest of the track is a round between the three, with instruments gradually dropping off until all is left is simply a beating bass drum and vocals. The second part is a truly striking Romeo-esque call to a Juliet up in her bedroom attempting to woo her down for a healthy dose of teenage lovemaking (see above).

Born Ruffians are currently in the early stages of writing and recording their next album. They have not yet set a date, but they suggest sometime either at the end of ’09 or early ’10. So in conclusion, not just for me, but for you, start blaring Born Ruffians and ride atop the beautiful wave of your very own trend (well mine, but I’ll lend it to you). I’ll start you off with one classic from Born Ruffians, and two great jams off of Red, Yellow & Blue and let you discover the rest with the multiple listens that I promise will ensue.

The Animal Show » Born Ruffians

Uncle Jacobs is Back

Born to Ruff-ian