The Ruby Suns @ First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia

New Zealand duo The Ruby Suns have proved that the third time really is a charm. I had the pleasure of first seeing them perform this past Spring at the Barbary in Philadelphia following the release of Sea Lion. That night the venue, which self-proclaims it’s got the best sound system in the city, experienced many technical difficulties during The Ruby Suns’ set, causing the then trio a great deal of frustration.

I later caught the Ruby Suns opening Day 2 of Sub Pop’s 20th birthday party/music festival where the now duo also facially expressed their discontent with certain aspects of their performance. Everything sounded superb and the audience was totally into the performance, but Ryan McPhun and Amee Robinson would cringe occasionally. betraying a goof that went unheard by the crowd.

This past Sunday at the First Unitarian Church in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, the Ruby Suns played an outstanding set in between Pony Tail and Tilly and the Wall that McPhun, Robinson and the crowd were more than delighted with.

Ryan McPhun

The pair’s reverb-rich set featured exotic beats both synthetic and created by the Ruby Suns. Ambient and airy melodies remained grounded thanks to Robinson’s hot and pulsing bass lines. Despite the heat in the air conditioning-less basement of the Church, the audience, all smashed up against each other, danced frantically to the Ruby Suns’ funky sounds taking cues from McPhun’s non-stop energy as he obliterated his free standing floor tom.

A long standing joke in the concert world, someone in the crowd shouted “FREE BIRD!” during a brief pause as Robinson and McPhun prepared to play their last song. The request, perhaps a new phenomenon to the Down Under duo, caused McPhun to pause in bewilderment before saying, “Are you saying Free Bird? …We haven’t got any guitars.” He and Robinson then proceeded to finish out their refreshingly guitar-less set with nothing but infectious smiles on their faces.

Amee Robinson

You can catch the Ruby Suns on tour with Tilly and the Wall for another week. In November they head overseas with another PopWreckoning favorite, The Dodos.

Tour Dates:
Jul 31 – Paradise Rock Club / Boston #
Aug 01 – Mohawk Place / Buffalo #
Aug 02 – Mod Club / Toronto #
Aug 03 – Hartwood Acres / Pittsburgh #
Aug 05 – The Magic Stick / Detroit #
Aug 06 – The Abbey Pub / Chicago #
Aug 07 – Sokol Auditorium / Omaha, Nebraska #
Aug 09 – Daytrotter Session / Rock Island, Il.
Nov 14 – Point Ephemere / Paris *
Nov 17 – Nachtleben / Frankfurt *
Nov 18 – Headcrash / Hamburg *
Nov 19 – Voxhall / Aarhus *
Nov 20 – Loppen / Copenhagen *
Nov 21 – Knaack / Berlin *
Nov 22 – kropolis / Prague *
Nov 23 – 59-1 / Munich *
Nov 24 – Chelsea / Vienna *
Nov 25 – Stalker / Padova *
Nov 26 – Casa 139 / Milan *
Dec 04 – King’s Arms / Auckland
Dec 05 – Spectrum / Sydney
Dec 06 – Northcote Social Club / Melbourne (w/ Pikelet and AIH djs)
Dec 29 – Rhythm & Vines Festival / Gisborne

# w/ Tilly and the Wall
* w/ The Dodos

The Ruby Suns: website | myspace | Sea Lion review | live review | Sub Pop 20
Sub Pop Records: website

Sub Pop 20 @ Marymoor Park, Seattle — Day 2

SUNDAY, JULY 13th

Day 2 at Redmond, Wa.’s Marymoor Park was just as hot and sunny as the first, with only white fluffy clouds passing overhead instead of menacing rain clouds that are said to always hover over the city of Seattle. After 20 years in the major northwest city, Sub Pop knows a thing or two about Seattle weather and couldn’t have picked a more gorgeous weekend to host their birthday party.

The Ruby Sun, Photo: Brian Tamborello

Paranoid at arriving late again, I showed up at Marymoor Park with an hour and a half to burn before the second day of Sub Pop 20 got underway. I was in good company, so the time easily passed before newly duo’d The Ruby Suns hit the stage at noon. The recent loss of now former band mate Imogen Taylor had little effect on Ryan McPhun and Amee Robinson as they each tackled an array of instruments throughout their experimental set. McPhun and Robinson, both of whom play guitar, keys, percussion and sing, created sweeping melodies along with afro beats and pulsing bass lines that had the audience dancing under the hot sun.

Despite their place as the day’s opener, The Ruby Suns pulled in lots of support as their set wore on. The early birds in the crowd made their way up to the stage to admire McPhun and Robinson’s stellar set and they stayed put for the 20 minutes in between sets to ensure a good place for Grand Archives. The afternoon pressed forward as more Sub Pop fans arrived to the sweet sounds of Grand Archives’ super airy melodies and ridiculously upbeat tunes.

Grand Archives, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

After powering through their first song, guitarist/keyboardist Ron Lewis announced, “I just got a 97% on Rock Band, so I think this is gonna be a good show.” And a good show it was! The Grand Archives’ sounds matched their surroundings: sunny; vibrant; energetic; and just massively fun. In addition to staples of their debut, self-titled album like “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” the guys played 2 brand new songs just as jaunty and carefree as you’ve come to expect from the surprisingly bubbly rockers.

The energy and intensity with which Grand Archives played was matched by successor Blitzen Trapper. The indie folk rockers were laid-back playing some mellow tunes reminiscent of Tom Petty or Neil Young but also shocked the audience with some harder songs. Blitzen Trapper had a great energy that pumped the crowd up for one of my favorite acts of the 2-day birthday bonanza, Kinski, a Seattle native.

Kinski, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

The primarily instrumental experimental, space-rock quartet puts together a dynamic set that both rocks hard with killer riffs and mellows out with ambient melodies. On the occasion that Kinski front man Chris Martin lends his voice to a song, he never once draws focus from the sweeping and intense guitars or sudden bursts of sound. They ended their powerful set with my favorite Kinski song “Semaphore” (download), from 2003′s Airs Above Your Station. With a huge crowd packed in front of the stage, Martin and crew nailed the song proving themselves to be a powerhouse of indie rock.

Following Kinksi was British dance, art rockers Foals. The five-piece brought an energy and intensity to the stage that no act before them that weekend could match, exhibited by guitar Jimmy Smith‘s ability to rally through the the band’s 40 minute set after having gotten sick on stage around minute 20. His warped riffs coupled with the intense energy of drummer Jack Bevan‘s high-powered beats created a non-stop dance party in front of the crowded main stage.

Foals, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Foals vocalist/guitarist Yannis Philippakis remained very subdued throughout the set, engaging in the stereotypically British demeanor. Despite his calm on stage, Philippakis ripped through power chords on his guitar and banged away on a floor tom, at one pointing using the microphone as a makeshift drumstick after an actual drumstick flew out of his hands and into the crowd. Watching Foals perform reminded me of Tokyo Police Club, whose wild energy they match but whose attention span they trump.

No Age, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Les Thugs followed energetically and enthusiastically with a loud, fast, post-punk set rife with ripping and driving riffs and pounding beats. L.A. duo No Age was up next. Their performance left much to be desired, despite a Nirvana cover in tribute to Sub Pop and Seattle. While the instrumentation was on par, drummer Dean Spunt‘s vocals were pretty torturous. To be completely honest, I left Sub Pop 20 about halfway through No Age’s set. A friend had traveled all the way to Seattle with me and we wanted to soak up as much of Seattle as we could before leaving the next afternoon.

The remainder of the day saw performances by Red Red Meat, Comets on Fire, Beachwood Sparks, Green River and Wolf Parade. As for Red Red Meat and Comets on Fire, I was told that their sets were “solidly unremarkable” by a source who stayed through the latter’s set. I am bummed out about missing headliner Wolf Parade’s set, which I can only speculate was amazing, but that’s nothing short of my own fault.

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Despite my sneaking out early on Sunday, I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Sub Pop for putting on such a special and amazing event. To those of you lucky enough to attend, I hope you had as wonderful a time as I did. If you weren’t there, make it your business to get to Seattle in another 20 years — it’s an amazing place — and hopefully I’ll see you at Sub Pop 40.

Happy 20th Birthday, Sub Pop!

Sub Pop Records: website | myspace | SP20 photos

The Ruby Suns – The Barbary, Philadelphia Pa.

Recent Sub Pop New Zealand acquisition The Ruby Suns brought their brand of ambient indie pop to Philadelphia’s The Barbary, playing with The Private Sea and opening for Le Loup, last week as part of the promotional tour for their newest album Sea Lion. The Barbary is an intimate venue and was filled by the time The Ruby Suns took the stage not long after 7PM awash in red spotlights.

The show opened with a long echo as frontman Ryan McPhun held his guitar and stood in front of the drum kit, while band mates Amee Robinson and Imogen Taylor played the flute and xylophone creating a dreamy melody which clashed with the menacingly red spotlights shining on the trio. McPhun set up rhythmic beats with trippy outerspace-like effects coming from the keyboards [wo]manned by Taylor. For having to play both drums and guitar, McPhun seemed to transition fairly easily between the two and he played both with expertise.

A few songs into the set, the band was visibly annoyed with what they heard coming through the speakers and monitors as The Barbary’s sound guy wasn’t doing his job well. The Ruby Suns delved into a heavier sound which felt more right with the red lights but ended up being a sloppily played tune as the three remained visibly irked by the sound problems over which they had no control. McPhun apologized if he was singing too softly, but was getting shocked each time he brought his lips to the microphone, so he needed to stay back a bit.

The next song saw the band get back on track with their playing and they turned out a tight and well-played melodic number as none of the band members overextended themselves trying to play too many instruments at once. The track that was again sloppy; McPhun’s constant changing from guitar to drums and the girls’ changes between several different instruments, seemed to frazzle them even further as the sound guy’s skills failed to improve. McPhun apologized for the “couple of techanicals” and the last two songs of the set managed to come together and provide hard and loud beats that reverberated throughout The Barbary over soft melodic keyboards underneath.

The Ruby Suns’ melodic pop is fun and easylistening, but the band seems to be in too many places at once, trying to cover all the sounds in the live show that they include in the record, which is not such an easy feat with only three members. The venue’s sound problems exacerbated the situation, so I feel it may have just been an off day for The Ruby Suns and not indicative of their usual live performance.

Check out The Ruby Suns, on tour now with Le Loup, with Throw Me The Statue in April and with Foals in May. Dates below:

Tour Dates:
24 Mar – Union Hall//Brooklyn NY
25 Mar – T T The Bears//Cambridge MA
27 Mar – Waldron Arts Center//Bloomington IN
28 Mar – Schubas//Chicago IL
29 Mar – 1st Ave, 7th St Entry//Minneapolis MN
01 Apr – Chop Suey//Seattle WA
04 Apr – Bottom of the Hill//San Francisco CA
05 Apr – The Echo//Los Angeles CA (early show)
06 Apr – The Casbah//San Diego CA
07 Apr – Modified//Phoenix AZ
09 Apr – Lola’s//Ft. Worth TX
11 Apr – The Yauhaus//Charlotte NC
14 Apr – The Drunken Unicorn//Atlanta GA
15 Apr – Bottletree Cafe//Birmingham AL
16 Apr – The Mink//Houston TX
18 Apr – Mohawk//Austin TX
19 Apr – Lola’s//Ft. Worth TX
30 Apr – Alvin’s//Detroit MI
01 May – Showplace Theatre//Buffalo NY
02 May – Lee’s Palace//Toronto ONT
03 May – Cabaret Music Hall//Montreal QUE
05 May – Higher Ground Lounge//Burlington VT
06 May – Middle East Downstairs//Boston MA
07 May – Maxwell’s//Hoboken NJ
08 May – Union Hall//Brooklyn NY
19 July – Pitchfork Festival - Chicago IL

The Ruby Suns: website | myspace

[where: 951 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125]

The Ruby Suns: Sea Lion

With a worldly sound that mixes flawlessly with the sunshine pop sound of the California beach bands, The Ruby Suns‘ new album, Sea Lion, shines brighter than their previous self-titled cut.

Some believe this is due to in part to Ryan McPhun’s exodus to New Zealand in an attempt to explore and collect uncharted sounds, in order to escape the California scene in which he had found himself pigeonholed within. Citing a long list of influences, that consist of “Pop music, noise, psychedelia, flamenco, South Pacific, southern Africa, home recording, hiking, traveling, animals, beaches, vegetarian food, especially falafel,” they no doubt stand alone in their sound.

Sea Lion remains more of an adventure than an album. It was intended to feature the ear snacks that McPhun acquired throughout his world travels, yet among the steel-string ukulele, djembe drums and pots and pans, lies distortion and reverb combining the best of both world styles. Honestly, while I could see The Ruby Suns playing The Roxy in Hollywood, I can also picture them headlining an evening at the Hawaiian Polynesian Center. Kudos to them for their versatility.

As for the album’s tracks, which as a whole are all of good quality, two songs seem to outshine the others. Regardless of of the bad pun that comes with it, “Kenya Dig It” turns out to be Sea Lion‘s standout track. It ducks and moves like a kid playing dodge ball, with phrases that remind me in part of The Flaming Lips. They further their cause on “There are Birds,” a song laced with catchy vocals and excellent hand clapping percussion. This duo of songs by themselves push Sea Lion to being deemed worthy of purchase.

You can currently catch The Ruby Suns on tour in the States. Their dates have been confirmed through April. Furthermore, you can grab their album, Sea Lion, in stores starting March 4th via Sub Pop Records. You can also check them out through the following links:

The Ruby Suns Website
The Ruby Suns Myspace
Sub Pop Records