Ruby Vroom was one of the great debut albums of the '90s. It was an invigorating, refreshing blend of relentlessly funky beats and downtown beatnik hipster and jazz sensibilities that came around when grunge was the order of the day. Despite the hip-hop/funk heroics of the rhythm section (Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass and Yuval Gabay on drums), M. Doughty's funky white-boy pose came less from hip-hop than the rhythms and cadences of the performance poetry scene. He can be introspective and yearning, as in "True Dreams of Wichita" or "Janine," and has a feel for cinematic description, but more often delivers with the sly wink of a real smart ass. Also, his performance-poetry background means his phrasing and timing are impeccable. Doughty's guitar playing is quite spare, but careful listening will reveal more buried in the mix. The secret weapon of the band, and what really sets them apart is the keyboard/sampler playing of Mark de Gli Antoni. He not only set the bar for sampler players in the pop world, but in the decade since Ruby Vroom was released, no one has even come close to his mixture of inventiveness and musicality. Everything from creaking doors, buses, and sampled trombone solos to Raymond Scott and Tori Amos (!) provide elements and atmosphere, not to mention the genius pairing of Howlin' Wolf and the Andrews Sisters on "Down to This." He can also lay in jazzy piano chords and musically punctuates Doughty's musings with wonderful, unplaceable sounds. Production is clean and crisp, with rich, deep bass and taut drum sounds, while de Gli Antoni's samples often make the band seem much larger than it really is (the band had no problem duplicating the sound live, by the way). There isn't a bad song on here; it's their best album top to bottom, and it still sounds fresh ten years down the road. Excellent.
Driving is one of my favourite things to do. I put up up there as the fourth element fo the triumvirate of Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll.There are a lot of songs that are great driving songs... depending upon the time of day and my state of mind, but the song that always makes me think of a long road trip where I have been up all night, just me and the road, is Screenwriter's Blues by Soul Cough...
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Signal got lost to the satelliteGot lost in theRideup to thePlungedown; Man sends the ray of the electric lightSends the impulseThrough the airDown to home And you can standOn the armsOf the williamsburg bridgeCryingHey man, well this is babylonAnd you can fire out on a busTo the outside worldDown to louisianaYou can take her with you Ive seen theRains of the real worldCome forward on the plai...
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Wow… I don't even know where to begin for this one. A best friend & brother of the highest order is my "*Tallpo*":http://mog.com/Tallpo. We've been friends since meeting through a mutual friend our sophomore year in college. They dated for a while & when things went south for them - he & I still kept in fairly close contact, visiting each other while the ex fell further & further off our rad.
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I was driving around looking at apartments in West Hollywood today and this song came on about the same time that my eyes met a GIGANTIC advertisement on a wall for Rush Hour 3. And it hit me that all of the talented, creative, UNEMPLOYED screenwriters in this town must die a little inside every time a pre-packaged, formulaic movie like that makes millions. And they always make millions. I don'...
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"Janine" by Soul Coughing is, for my money, as good a love song as there is. You'll probably disagree. I won't care because I'm a self-centered ass. I love Soul Coughing quite a bit, have fond memories of being snuck in to see them when I was far too young to have been there, and always come back to this as the track of theirs that I enjoy the most as a song, as opposed to just being incredibly...
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Driving is one of my favourite things to do. I put up up there as the fourth element fo the triumvirate of Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll.There are a lot of songs that are great driving songs... depending upon the time of day and my state of mind, but the song that always makes me think of a long road trip where I have been up all night, just me and the road, is Screenwriter's Blues by Soul Cough...
More >
this holiday season sucks. i'm really bitter about my ex moving in with someone new. it makes me question everything up to and including life. haha! not really, but sometimes. i was sad at first, naturally. i blamed myself for everything. now...i'm just bitter.
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago |
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| 2 Sugar Free Jazz |
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| 3 Casiotone Nation |
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| 4 Blueeyed Devil |
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| 5 Bus to Beelzebub |
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| 6 True Dreams of Wichita |
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| 7 Screenwriter's Blues |
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| 8 Moonsammy |
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| 9 Supra Genius |
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| 10 City of Motors |
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| 11 Uh, Zoom Zip |
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| 12 Down to This |
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| 13 Mr. Bitterness |
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| 14 Janine |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Ruby Vroom")
