‘slippercrumble’ live @ santos party house, 12/15/08, filmed by captain

and so without further ado, ladies & gentlemen, back we go to giraffes frontman aaron lazar’s solo project, RUMANIAN BUCK! we saw them on 2/28 @ the annex, sandwiched between RIBS and the netherlands for RB’s long-anticipated CD RELEASE!

the RB shows seriously get better every time. aaron & crew have worked hard to bring the DIY feel of the original tracks to the stage (without their instruments exploding/imploding). this time nothing could be better than the cap & i dancing in the front row with jens and damien giraffe. you HAVE to dance to this shit! you just do! seriously though — it was a BLAST. they own it.

andddd… now you can DOWNLOAD THE EP! and you really, really should. mp3s of all tracks and a pdf of liner notes & lyrics — where else can you see a bottle of xanax listed as an instrument? aaron, you so crazy.

the live version of RUMANIAN BUCK featuresssss..
aaron lazar (the giraffes) — vox & guitar
danny barria (the big sleep) — guitar
mishka shubaly (beat the devil & ribs) — bass
mitchell king (beat the devil & ribs) — drums
jessie blockton (the vitamen) — keys

BUT for a look back on how the project began, you should read an article that i’ll post here for your convenience.. ;D thanks, eric sanchez! whoever you are.. -looks around-

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here’s an album review of the rumanian buck EP as published in LIC art & music mag, ins&outs magazine, vol. II issue 03:

D.I.Y. never sounded as good as this! Singer/artist Aaron Lazar (The man behind the mic in Brooklyn’s own The Giraffes, and the art in Tzgani Design) brings us his newest gift to those out there looking for something interesting in this world full of repetition: Rumanian Buck. In a city where almost any sound has been recycled and repeated over and over again, then once more for good measure, Lazar has again proven he always has more to offer. Starting off by messing around with the program GarageBand on his laptop while on the road with The Giraffes, Lazar has built up his homemade sound into something layered with style and soul, yet still sounding more beat up than clean cut. He notes that the sound is somewhat similar to that of Tom Waits, who is known for using unconventional sounds and methods of recording that are considered by many, according to Lazar, to be “wrong and ghetto.” Lazar was exposed to Waits’ method while both were working with The Book of Knots on their second album, Traineater, back in 2006. While noting the similarities, Lazar says jokingly, “The only reason he’s doing it wrong is because he wants to, not that he has to.” Recorded in his own home with no fancy studio-style setup, Lazar has all he needs.

The heart of Rumanian Buck is really the drums – a percussion sound working off an Eastern European Gypsy style that was originally played on his girlfriend’s exercise ball as a bass drum and a CD case as a snare. According to Lazar, “The drums come first, then the vocals, then anything else… I live in a noisy neighborhood, so sometimes I’ll get random shit that comes through [while recording], too.” He adds to his raw sound by using some old guitars – one being an acoustic with a broken neck, and another a brandless electric given to him by his grandmother when he was 16. Lazar also uses a lot of rhythmic clapping along with any other wild sounds he sees as fitting, including keys, plates and even quarters. While describing how he works up a song, Lazar explains, “I almost never have a plan, I just like playing around with things… It’s actually a lot of fun.” Though some of the songs may not have the happiest subject matter, throughout the entire album you can really hear that Lazar is truly enjoying himself.

Starting off with “Slippercrumble,” one of the heaviest songs on the album, Lazar throws you right into the Rumanian Buck feel. With a simple but heavy guitar riff, a beat that sounds like playing drumsticks on a table, lots of clapping and distorted vocals, this song is an instant favorite. The following track, “It’s Me,” is one of the catchiest songs – between the opening riff, intro lyrics, and the style of the chorus (which varies each time and sounds sung in one breath!), it’s guaranteed to be stuck in your head. Another standout track is “Crack in My Tooth,” which, after the rush of the first couple of tracks, mellows down with Lazar’s voice undistorted and singing slowly, backed with just a few acoustic notes and a low beating sound.

The second to last track is “Tineretze.” The intro is somewhat hypnotic with its sliding guitars, and later with Lazar dubbing himself in humming in the background. As one of the sadder tracks, seeming to reflect on some of the more recent difficult times experienced with The Giraffes, this song is actually far from depressing. Opening with the lyrics, “Remember when you were told, you’d save rock ‘n roll, now you’re getting too old, you’re moving slow, nobody says that you’re clever no more,” it can seem like this song is about to bring you down. But by the end, the song has more of an uplifting sound, which is revealing of the kind of person Aaron Lazar is – an artist, musician, and individual who keeps looking ahead to something, no matter how hard this world has been for him.

Seemingly short at seven tracks (but running near forty minutes), Rumanian Buck stands against the most polished and primed albums out there with its genuine character and soul you can hear in every note, every clap, and every random sound playing through your speakers.

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yeah, yeah! i’d like to finish off by saying SEE THEM, SOON. aaron dreamed up such a genuinely different, gritty, dancey, gypsy, experimental mix-up of sound that translates AMAZINGLY live. when the drums and the rest of the instruments kick in and it’s all right in front of you, it really overtakes you. and it’s SO fucking fun.. so you know what to do.

now for more PROPAGANDA!

NEXT UP is saturday, march 7th @ union pool with — who else — THE GIRAFFES!!

playing a show & premiering their video for ‘prime motivator’ directed by b.a. miale! also with i’m in you & moon rabbits. should be delicious and bloody and beer-y. as usual. CAN’T WAIT!

according to el giraffos themselves: “By the time she [b.a. miale] was done with us, we had sailed the murky waters of the Kings Plaza Marina; decimated a pinata in a frozen, rusty-nail festooned alley; been soaked with fake (and perhaps some real) blood and vomit; and put the ‘sloppy’ in some truly sloppy joes. All this, and we weren’t even around for the stop action sequence featuring He-Man villains and a set made entirely of meat from Key Food, with us four Giraffes as stop-action figures.”

for 8$ you’ll get: “The VIDEO DEBUT, and THE GIRAFFES LIVE (pure beef!) at 10.30 pm, I’M IN YOU (putting the ‘mental’ in instrumental) at 9.30 pm, MOON RABBITS (Brooklyn’s premiere potty-mouths) at 8.30 pm. Plus, DJ Jackie Roman on the double decks from heck. And a patio filled with young, wide-eyed, fresh-faced new arrivals, eager to learn all about New York.”

or VD. whichever. (will the std jokes ever end? NO! … maybe.)

BE THERE!

HAAVVV OFF!!! rock,
da leopard

side note. my dad is now listening to CHUMBAWAMBA. it’s happening. OH YEAH. AND.. i have a hundred other things to mention, BUT i just want to say that i listened to THESE songs over and over and over while at work today:

gONNA gET gOT (bklyn) — my bullshit pontiac remix (ggg & MSI mashup)
[the cap got me fuckin HOOKED on ggg!!! bastard.. i love it]
goNNA gET gOT — the girl ain’t ready
rumanian buck (bklyn) — slippercrumble
rumanian buck — the flood
hops (queens) — sometimes
[just spoke to this guy for the first time today -- love his shit!]
illimanjaro (queens) — not invited
[these guys are also from my 'hood of astoria, queens! check them out!!!]
pass kontrol (bklyn) — love is a dog from hell
demander (bklyn) — books
gutter & spine (queens) — d’orca
little embers (queens) — phraseology

nice bklyn & queens balance, eh? there’s fucking AMAZING things going on in my li’l big ol’ boro right now.. seriously! iheartqueens.

i almost forgot about this album (how could i?!??!).. GOLDFINGER! “hello destiny” is out april 22nd!!! they have a new song on their myspace and from what i can hear right now “one more time” isn’t bad at all.. but i wanna hear some bouncy ska! and horns! .. hahaha their second track on myspace came on (“answers”) and i literally just said “ohhh shit” out loud. there’s that driving ska geetar in the background and that slinky rhythm, oh yeah!!! gimme some of THAT! .. ahem. in any case, i CANNOT wait to see these guys in concert — i really hope they come to NYC!

aside from that – since i don’t have a lot of time at the moment – i just wanted to bring up three bands i’ve been looking into in my search for more fun local music. i’ve been looking into local venues (even in queens venues like LIC’s the creek and the cave or dominie’s hoek, since everyone always goes to manhattan and brooklyn..) and, well, out of the bands i was looking into yesterday, the majority (a.k.a. all but three) were REALLY soft and folky and sometimes just strange, with half spoken-word “vocals” and just overall this cracky MINIMALISM i really can’t get into.. so what to do?

the bands i end up digging are a rarity – they have to be UNIQUE, they have to stand out.. and, apparently, they seem to involve horns or saxophones, some unexpected kind of beats/influences or sound combinations, or just a general display of ENERGY (!!!!!!!!!!!) that is unfortunately seeming to be lacking from so many bands.. hey, i know, a lot of people can dig that sort of thing – that works, and whatever floats your boat is fine with me – but i think growing up with freddie mercury and the theatrics of queen and going to see ridiculously high energy live shows by the likes of the giraffes, electric six, night kills the day, etc. have spoiled me. or at least attuned me to what REALLY awesome music is REALLY like ;D

in short.. i stumbled upon the new york howl (punk/soul), gato loco (latin/classical/screamo.. what??), and pass kontrol. i’ll be back to look at the NY howl and gato loco (hopefully we’ll get out to a show of theirs soon), but for now, PASS KONTROL from bushwick, brooklyn.

they’re a little trippy, a little spacey, a little electronic.. sometimes a little too instrumental for me.. but for some reason, i REALLY like their track, “love is a dog in hell.” really. distortion all over the vocals, driving beat, oh yeah. LISTEN TO IT! honestly, i wish they had more tracks like this.. it’s kind of just one of those weird instances when a completely random song catches your attention.

other songs? “back in berlin” is totally funky but the repeated spoken word thing is kind of too modernistic for me.. *shrug* “accent number four is cockney.” haha. i think that’s what they’re saying..?! now i like it. not really. i just like the word “cockney.” ahem.

“the kberg nasty”: maybe it’s just because i have a headache right now, but sometimes i can’t get into semi-strange instrumental electronic music – although i really dig that nasty, deep beat that comes in from time to time.. and yeah, it seems sprawling instrumental music just can’t keep my attention (“budapest”.. although it picks up a little more than halfway through).. or maybe, as i mentioned earlier.. maybe i’ve just been spoiled by the rollickinginsaneoutofcontrolmassiveejaculationofenergy that is THE GIRAFFES, for instance.. yeah. maybe that’s it ;D

IN ANY CASE.. pass kontrol has a show tomorrow night at goodbye blue monday (the cap and i had a failed excursion out there one rainy night.. one day we’ll make it there!), and then at pete’s candy store in brooklyn on april 3rd and at space space in ridgewood (390 seneca avenue) on may 3rd. some of their songs are a bit short and very instrumental (“the fall of new hope city” is another one) – i’m kind of curious as to what they would play live. well.. perhaps we shall see.

that’s it for me, for now! hopefully we’ll have some good stuff comin’ up for you this weekend.. and in a side note, i think “answers” is my new favorite song. ;D

ROCK STEADY..

- audrey