The Ruby Suns "There Are Birds" - MCP: this is the other one I think I'm doing for tomorrow RZLY: listening RZLY: i dig MCP: what is your impression? RZLY: airy and drony are words that come to mind RZLY: but that's 'cause all words i think of to describe music end in "y" RZLY: reminds me of broadcast MCP: if this song is [...]

OK,OK, I've been away.. it's summer, no rain (please, rain a little bit, the house has dried out so much the damn front door sticks), just right for a few sunny sounds in the car or on the boom box (you do still say 'boom box', don't you?). So here are a few early runners and riders attracting my attention: Mrs. Captain bought me a fine reggae album by the Otara -based combo Three Houses Down, called 'Dreadtown'. Now some of yer actual professional music journalists will tell you this album is a [...]
Maasai Mara – The Ruby Suns For many of you, your first encounter with New Zealand band, The Ruby Suns, was when far off foreigners, The Shins , chose them as special guests for their tour of Australia. So much for our close relationship with NZ. But now they're coming for their very own show (this Friday at Spectrum ) and I'm getting pretty excited (for various reasons). Their music fits somewhere in the 'twisted indie-pop' category, alongside the likes of Animal Collective . Their debut album is excellent and they have another [...]

With a free flowing feeling, and a pandora's box of sounds, The Ruby Suns song "Tane Mahuta," comes across as if could be the soundtrack to that three hour break in the middle of the work day that most of us wish we had. "Tane Mahuta" is the first released song from The Ruby Sun's forthcoming release Sea Lion , out on Sub Pop in March. Sea Lion.mp3 http://www.subpop.com/ http://www.myspace.com/ryanmcp hunandtherubysuns
It's been a while since we've rounded up the latest MP3s that Sub Pop has posted. Enjoy. • Iron and Wine - "Innocent Bones" from The Shepherd's Dog • Kinski - "Plan, Steal, Drive" from Down Below It's Chaos •...
![[MP3] The Ruby Suns: "Tane Mahuta"](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/876218_lg.jpg)
Sometimes record labels just don't get it. The "it" that I'm talking about is in regards to the MP3s they select for promoting their CDs. Sub Pop in particular doesn't ever seem to get this right, choosing throwaway tracks that really don't ever do justice to the albums they represent. Maybe they want to save the best for those that purchase the CD, but in this recently-democratized internet world we live in you're likely damned if you do [take part in the free distribution of copyrighted material] or damned if you don't. Take, for [...]
The Gutter Twins - "Idle Hands" (Dulli + Lanegan = Amazing) Black Mountain - "Tyrants" (Pink Rebel Sabbath Club) Grand Archives - "Torn Blue Foam Couch" (ex-Band of Horses!!!!!) Monade - "Regard" (featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab) The Helio Sequence - "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" (great song but not even the best on their new CD) Say Hi - "Northwestern Girls" , "Toil and Trouble" (MySpace top 8 includes [...]

Ack... can't stop listening to: "Chromes On It" (p'fork mp3) by Telepathe (pronounced "telepathy") Because of this fact, I clicking around and found something else to post by Telepathe. While they are presently on Drowned In Sound Recordings , Telepathe put a little something out on The Social Registry the other year. This is what I found: "The March" (mp3) Their new album... Dance Mother (produced by David Sitek ) is coming out sometime this year. RCRDLBL page is [...]
A band to check out this year would by the Ruby Seas, signed to Sub Pop in the U.S. and Memphis Industries in the UK. The band was formed by California native Ryan McPhun, along with a slew New Zealand friends that he met in 2004. Ryan has played with bands like The Tokey Tones, The Reduction Agents, and The Brunettes. Ruby Seas has a new album coming out in March called "Sea Lion" and if their track "Tane Mahuta" is any indication that album should be quite impressive. Should appeal to fans of Panda Bear, the more melodic [...]

My heart jumps at triple speed these days, since 2008 will bring new releases from several of my absolute favourites! The ones I tell about here, are just the ones I'm super excited about today, but there will be so so so many great things released this year. I'll start with New Zealand's The Ruby Suns , a band that really made me see the light in 2006. Their self-titled debut album was everything I would like a perfect album to [...]
The Ruby Suns are full of sunshine and safari animals; previously known as "Ryan McPhun and The Ruby Suns" after relocating from California, United States to Auckland, New Zealand where McPhun (also a former touring member of The Brunettes) has brought over some conventional psychedelic rays of beautiful lo-fi pop to our sleepy southern winter. Inspired by the simplicity of New Zealand and its nature, McPhun found himself well suited to his surroundings with the shared love of music from ostentatious productions by Curt Boettcher and Brian Wilson-esque harmonies to modern DIY indie noise pop of The Apples In [...]
For no apparent reason, other than its probably a little cheaper, the recipe for Mars bars has been changed to include animal products. Other big brands from the same company -including Snickers, Galaxy, Twix, Bounty, Milky Way, Maltesers and Minstrels - are also affected. From this month, chocolate manufacturer Masterfoods has started using rennet - an enzyme taken from the stomachs of newborn calves - to make whey for its products. Any bar with a 'best before' date after October 1st this year is now no longer classed as vegetarian. So well done Masterfoods killing [...]

Auckland, New Zealand I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for a aesthetics, whether it be an album cover or a press photo. As a consumer, I'm easily swayed to listen to something just because of the way it looks... In the case with The Ruby Suns , the above photo is fun, and it gets me interested in checking out their music. Fortunately for the band, their music is as delightful as their demeanor. [...]

The Ruby Suns - Trepidation Part 2 More here . And here . And myspace .

Hey! Pat Spurgeon from Rogue Wave got a new kidney last weekend! I received an email from his mom Jane, saying simply that Pat had been the recipient of a kidney on January 13th and that he was recovering at home. Since so many of you wonderful and generous people donated $$ to his medical care fund a few months ago , I thought I'd pass along the good news. We wish you a speedy recovery, Pat, and hope you'll be back to your formidable drumming ways soon. [...]

Claude Cahun - What Do You Want From Me? (1928) Are you reading this? I've been sitting here thinking of you for a while now. I've written several drafts that I concluded you wouldn't have liked. I'm not sure you realize how strange it is to sit here and rearrange pixels with hopes of reaching you through your retinas. Maybe you do, but I don't know you well enough to tell. It would be nice to hear from you and to learn a few of your [...]

I'll admit it, despite being a consummate indie music nerd, I find myself catching a lot of great new music well after it has released or leaked. It may not be new to you; it's new to me, and I'm a generous person... I honestly cannot remember how or when I heard about the Baltimore band Arbouretum . I somehow recently ended up with an advance copy of their newest album, Rites of Uncovering, which will officially release January 23 on Thrill Jockey. I'm really digging it; it [...]

" Reminiscent of The Zombies and The Shins' artful trips......Astonishingly good harmonies – not even Brian Wilson's comeback shows matched this perfect pitch. - MOJO Wildly positive reviews from Mojo , The Independent , and Uncut grabbed the attention of Rough Trade and the now-defunct V2, and now The Ruby Suns ' eponymous debut, originally released as Maasai Mara under the full name "Ryan McPhun and The Ruby Suns" will see a 2007 release in the US soon. And it's all so well-deserved: [...]