The Brothers Backword playing live in Nyc at the Blender Theatre (11/26/08).
Video by sayyyanythingx.
"TV Loves You Back" review [Pitchfork]
Restiform Bodies:
TV Loves You Back
[Anticon; 2008]
Rating: 7.1
California is a big state. And hip-hop aficionados, with their firm sense of place, tie Oakland to a unique style of rap that bears little resemblance to its famous counterpart in Los Angeles. The brightest lights of the Bay Area, E-40 and Too $hort, never fully bought into the dark, trigger-happy sensationalism of the Death Row artists: Guns simply weren't part of their vision of, or path to, the good life. Emphasizing the joy of letting loose, the hyphy movement that sprang up a few years ago only cemented the scene's drama-free outlook.
But Oakland's Restiform Bodies are agitators. And what better place for this hall of modest fame-- the indie-rap supergroup of Passage, Bomaar Monk, and Telephone Jim Jesus-- than Anticon? Their debut on the label, TV Loves You Back, presents a furious, righteous, and not entirely subtle dissatisfaction with capitalism. Thanks to the recent tumult in the world's markets, the album, like the DNC platform, has an added punch of timeliness. To be fair, mindless consumerism is more the target here than, say, overly leveraged banks. In short, the rappers mount their attack on low culture, not high finance.
"Consumer Culture Wave" suggests a fight-the-Man mission with its title. Luckily, the song is better than that, too gloriously strange and oblique to be pressed into the service of jam-band leftism. (Love and gender seem to be the real subject, anyway.) Better to revel in the fluorescent textures and spastic rhythms, an accurate evocation of life in the attention-deficient multimedia slipstream, than to grope for political provocations in the lyrics. After all, it would have sufficed to attack QVC in only one song, you'd think. Docking too many points here isn't fair, anyway: Laid out on the page, even the best songs forfeit their essence. But when you spit nonsense with the apocalyptic ferocity of El-P, in many ways the hyperpolitical white rapper's template, that nonsense may as well be scripture.
Ever eager to disquiet, the Bodies even stoke the listener's anxieties about machines (on the sludgy, horror-string-laced "Pick It Up, Drop It") and modern medicine ("Ameriscan"). If there's a paranoid style in American hip-hop, this may be its purest expression. Nodding to the post-Thanksgiving virus that turns the lanes of Wal-Mart into the Ben-Hur chariot race, "Black Friday" bounces between drum'n'bass speed and trip-hop languor to manic-depressively link consumerism and domestic life. That the Bodies lean on everything from the New Romantics to crunk to post-rock to ghettotech to paint this cultural self-portrait only amplifies the strangeness-- and accuracy-- of TV Loves You Back.
"Movies are for entertainment," Louis B. Mayer famously stated. "If you want to send a message, send a telegram." The role of art isn't quite that narrow, of course, but the legendary producer knew that audiences didn't want to be lectured. And sadly that's what a lot of independent rap does. The Restiform Bodies avoid this. As Passage put it: "All the information on TV Loves You Back is stuff I'm trying to make peace with as a person, and that I think we all have to make peace with as a society." That sums up why the record is not only digestible, but outright luscious. We're not watching a presentation or reading a complaint. We're not being condemned for watching "The Hills". We're living, for a YouTube minute, inside three minds warped and wracked by our national addiction to the screen. It's equal parts unsightly and arresting in the way that most pathologies are.
- Roque Strew, December 10, 2008
Source: Pitchfork
"TV Loves You Back" review [The Blogglebum Cage]
December 01, 2008
Top Ten of the Year 2008
Restiform Bodies - TV Loves You Back CD (Anticon)
If hip-hop is redundant in 2008, doesn’t that make post-rap beyond redundant? Honestly, there are dozens of reasons to hate TV Loves You Back: the over-convoluted rhyming; the “ironic” '80s pop sounds; the token splashes of smarty-pants electronica; the lapses into dumb-as-fuck puerility; the unforgivable misogyny; the constant harping on about the evils of mass-media consumerism; the "zany" photo shoots...
And yet I keep coming back to it. How could something so hard to like be so hard not to love? More than likely, it's just a beautiful mystery but if I had to hypothesize a couple of scientific explanations, I'd go with: (a) complicity and (b) realization.
Complicity, then. The fact that TV Loves You Back constitutes an unrelenting 45-minute attack on the corrosive influence of TV and consumer culture could - and to some extent does - make it bit of a wearing listen. The thing that makes it bearable is that it's a story told from the outside moving in. Structured as a true concept album, it starts with third-person hectoring and moves inexorably towards first-person despair. The impression one is left with is that Restiform Bodies genuinely love TV - it's themselves they can't stand. I couldn't disagree more with the PopMatters review of this album - there's no distance here; no judgement. There's complicity.
Then, realization. Restiform Bodies have been waaayyy off the radar for years, so they've had plenty of time to craft a tight set of songs. And holy crap have they ever succeeded! The lyrics are incredibly dense with horrifically vivid imagery, the tunes are insanely catchy and the songs are all ingenious multi-part constructions. Nothing is meaningless here and nothing is left to chance. "Opulent Soul" is the Song of the Year and "Interactive Halloween Bear" isn't far behind.
In fact, this might have been in the running for Album of the Year if it wasn't for all that stuff that I just can't forgive - not least the icky (ironic?) misogyny of "A Pimp-Like God". If these guys could stop thinking with their dicks, they'd probably take over the world.
—Samuel Macklin
Source: The Blogglebum Cage
Brothers Backword live show - video + pics
The Brothers Backword (Passage + Back Ted N-Ted + Mike Buss) performing live Special Education:
Video by Jenny.
Photos by Mae Michael.
Video by Jenny.
Photos by Mae Michael.
"TV Loves You Back" review [OkayPlayer]
Restiform Bodies
TV Loves You Back
(Anticon : 2008)
73
Posted on 12/01/2008
Restiform Bodies is vocalist David Bryant, percussionist Matt Valerio and synth man George Chadwick. I know, I know. You’re thinking wait a minute; a restiform body is a lateral and larger subdivision of the inferior cerebellar peduncle located on the dorsolateral aspect of the medulla oblongata and composed of a variety of fibers, including, but not limited to, olivo-, reticulo-, cuneo-, trigmeno- and dorsal spinocerebellar! And you’re right. But, despite the interests of the biologists and brain surgeons among us, it just makes more sense for me to discuss the musical group’s recent release, TV Loves You Back, rather than offer an exciting and informative dissertation on human physiology.
To gain an appreciation of the album’s aesthetic, just imagine Trent Reznor, fresh off his umpteenth viewing of Fight Club, doing a synth-laden hip hop album detailing society’s preoccupation with consumption, sex and self-destruction. Tracks like “A Pimp-like God” and “Foul,” where Bryant rhymes, “my dick stay dizzy like a busy bayonet,” advance the band’s theory that these things often go hand in hand. Tracks like “Bobby Trendy Addendum” and “Consumer Culture Wave,” beckon audiences to, “fuck like you mean it,” in hopes that the mere act of intercourse will guide us farther away from searching for satisfaction by purchasing shit and bring us more in touch with our humanity. Nevermind that the act of intercourse is oftentimes itself reduced to nothing more than an act of economic opportunism.
Aside from what seems to be Restiform Bodies’ belief that we can screw our way to utopia, there’s a latent contradiction here. Like it or not, they’re part of the society they disparage. In an effort to fully express their disdain, necessity required that they study the object of their scorn thereby making them consumers too. But it seems that, as long as you’re willing to take home the strobelite honey you met in the club and pleasure her with reckless abandon, you’re okay in their book.
- Adam Roussell
Source: OkayPlayer
"Interactive Halloween Bear" Lazer Sword remix
Planning to enter the Restiform Bodies remix contest? You have some big shoes to fill, now that this reworking from the Lazer Sword boys has just arrived. Suffice to say, this electronic-heavy version of "Interactive Halloween Bear," from RBs' recently released TV Loves You Back, is suited for only the darkest and dirtiest of venues, where the quaking bassline could potentially knock your drink onto the floor. And whoever came up with that track title is an undisputed genius.
Rate 9.6/10
Source: XLR8R
» Download the Interactive Halloween Bear remix here.
Passage & Bomarr "Moods & Symptoms" re-release
Originally released in 2000. Only 30 copies of this super-limited CDR re-release will be available, direct from Passage & Bomarr. Features one of the first vocal appearances by Telephone Jim Jesus, and features a guest spot from ADeeM. Get this while you still can, or risk paying high amounts on eBay for it.
$20 including shipping in the US, $20 plus shipping outside the US.
» Order Moods & Symptoms here.
"TV Loves You Back" review [Mean Street Magazine]
SEPTEMBER 2008
VOL 19.03
RESTIFORM BODIES
TV Loves You Back
(Anticon)
With all due respect to Kool Keith and Cannibal Ox, Restiform Bodies are one of the weirdest, oddball hip-hop groups on the map. Consider song titles like “A Pimp-Like God” and disturbing lines like “My dick gets busy like a busy bayonet” on “Foul” from the group’s new album, TV Loves You Back, and you start to get a picture of the outfit’s experimental, nothing’s-sacred approach. Icy noises and acid-tinged synths — think Diplo on mescaline and given Brian Eno’s laptop — all dovetail with the complicated, ultra-dense rhyme schemes and super-rapid-fire delivery. All we can conclude is that Restiform Bodies is spitting on ghettotech and its offspring and coming up with their own dark, abstract vision of blistering post-crunk.
Grade: B+
MATTHEW TAPIA
Source: Mean Street Magazine
"Bobby Trendy Addendum" Alias remix
Bobby Trendy Addendum from the new RB's album TV Loves You Back remixed by the one and only Alias:
» Download it here.
» Download it here.
RE$TIFORM BOD1ES REM1X CONTE$T
Contest ends Jan 1,2009
We'll be picking our 2 favorites for inclusion on an upcoming remix LP.
Please send submissions in MP3 format
Submit entries to rbremix@gmail.com
PASSAGE "Pass Money Multi" EP
PASSAGE's new EP untitled Pass Money Multi is now available in digital format at Circle Into Square.
Tracklisting:
Here's what PASSAGE has to say about his new EP:
Tracklisting:
- Megashotz
- Pass Money
- Got It Hood
- Pretty Much
- My Word
- Shouldaz
- Boz Scaggs Drum Machine
- Down 4 Whatever
- Drizzle
- Grim Rascal
- Britespot
Here's what PASSAGE has to say about his new EP:
So real quick party corpses, I want to let you know about this collection of tracks I've been putting together. Pass Money Multi is eleven raw chunks of tracks in the making. If you like it's an EP, a premature follow up to the Restiform Bodies record the fellas and I dropped about a month ago. Or another way to look at it is a mix tape of one artist which is really what it's all about. Since nothing that happens happens slow and our "label" can't be bothered with us, I figured why fucking wait, so I've been bouncing back and forth across Oakland with Matthew Valerio's borrowed 13" powerbook, cooking these little cuts in order to put this music to work for us, nahmean. It is in this spirit that I encourage you to purchase this download of raw shit, unglossed, un tattooed/pierced, un-hairsprayed, un wardrobed un-bullshit for the new un-bullshit era which we are about to enter. And I thank you. Also I really did make a track on this mix with Boz Scaggs' Linn Drum drum machine. Plus there's four new vocal tracks on this piece. All you have to do is (hopefully) use the buy it button on my profile which should be up after 11/7. If not just message me. Peace and big ups to Bomarr for the lap top and cover art. Pa$$
» Listen to Shouldaz and Boz Scaggs Drum Machine here.
"Pick It Up, Drop It" Genghis Tron remix
Remix of Pick It Up, Drop It from the new RB's album TV Loves You Back by producer Genghis Tron:
» Download here.
» Download here.
"TV Loves You Back" review [RemixMag]
CD Review: Restiform Bodies, TV Loves You Back (Anticon.)
Oct 22, 2008 1:53 PM
Pushing beyond hip-hop conceptions
Apparently no one told Passage, Telephone Jim Jesus and Bomarr how hip-hop is supposed to sound. Reuniting for a second LP, they mash up bits of crunk bass and hyphy snares with new-wave synths and rugged guitars, and they make it sound good. With "Black Friday" jumping to double-time jungle, and "Pick It Up, Drop It" working piercing synthesized strings, the uneasy beats induce tension but prove to be ideal bases for lyrical critiques of the opulent American culture. The outsider approach proves hip-hop lacks limits, while the pointed lyrics hit as hard as the beats.—Noah Levine [4 out of 5 stars]
Source: RemixMag
Restiform Bodies tee shirts for sale
The new RB's tee shirt is now available online for $20. Here are the sizes and the quantities left:
- XS (Girls): 6
- S: 5
- L: 0
- M: 2
- XL: 4
» Order HERE
- XS (Girls): 6
- S: 5
- L: 0
- M: 2
- XL: 4
"TV Loves You Back" review [Les Chroniques Automatiques]
(Translate)
Source: Les Chroniques Automatiques
Ants, assassinating other ants.
C'est apparemment l'année des gros retours, après de bien longues absences. On ne va pas tous les citer, même si ceux de Portishead ou Leila viennent directement en tête. Pour le coup, il y a, sur 2008, tellement de bons disques émanant de groupes "confirmés" que l'on n'a presque plus le temps de se pencher sur les nouvelles pousses, celles qui débarquent en catimini pour nous refiler un premier essai éclatant, façon découverte-totale-featuring-grosse-mandale. Les Restiform Bodies avaient balancé il y a 7 ans un album complètement allumé reflétant encore la quintessence du son Anticon, avec ce Hiphop electro expérimental oscillant entre le débile jouissif et l'hermétisme compact. Pourtant l'album ne fut pas, au départ, officiellement affilié à la fourmi noire. Reste que ce Re$tiform Bod1es avait permis au groupe de poser leurs bagages sur le label, laissant le projet collectif de coté pour aligner de très bons albums en solo, celui de Passage (voix du groupe) en tête, ou le dernier Telephone Jim Jesus (sur lequel Bomarr, le troisième larron, est pas mal présent).
Annoncé en grande pompe sur le site du label il y a quelques temps, entre des sorties de plus en plus éloignées du son originel de la maison, ce Tv Loves You Back semblait bien parti pour nous refoutre une bonne tranche de bordel Anticonien, d'une façon bien plus frontale que le dernier Sole, qui avait décidé d'embrasser (ave brio) une veine plus acoustique...
Couleurs criardes, dessins de gamins partout dans le livret, ce dernier ayant le mérite de nous proposer tous les textes du disque. Ce qui est une excellente initiative, au vu de la complexité de certains lyrics, qui seraient presque à ranger aux coté de ceux de Subtle and co.
Il fau être clair, ce Tv Loves You Back est une galette clairement inclassable, et cela dans toutes les facettes qu'elle met en avant : Outre les textes parfois abscons déclamés par Passage, c'est bien la voix de ce dernier qui pourra surprendre. Groupe à lui tout seul, le Californien change de flow comme de chaussette, alternant sur trois phases majeures, au sein même d'un morceau : d'une voix ronde et grave, le Mc va très souvent passer à un flow incisif et aride, scandant ses lyrics avec véhémence. Mais il est très courant que Passage se mette à chanter d'une voix claire, et pas désagréable (contrairement à 98% des Mc s'essayant à l'exercice), donnant un coté Pop à des morceaux souvent complètement flingués. Mais si cette livraison est inclassable, c'est aussi grâce aux instrues fignolées par Telephone Jim Jesus et Bomarr. On passe du coq à l'âne sans prévenir, on balance un morceau super accessible pour le défoncer par une Mpc hystérique quelques secondes après et l'on alterne passages debilo-jouissifs et atmosphères sombres et cradingues.
Le premier titre du disque ne pourrait pas mieux introduire et représenter ce qui va suivre sur ce Tv Loves You Back. Dans la grande tradition du morceau foutraque qui semble compiler plusieurs bouts d'instrues, Black Friday, se pose en modèle du genre. "Hey sympa, il envoie bien ce teaser !" "Non mais c'est la première piste du disque là " "Ah...euh... t'es sur ?".
La première partie du morceau est très hip-hop de stade, avec un beat lourd, un Passage qui lance des Yo / Yeah bouffés par des échos et le passage chanté est presque pimp. Saturations, parasites, la ligne rythmique se nécrose, et part dans un trip presque Autechrien, sorte de breakbeat explosé, mutant, entité incontrôlable. Passage est toujours aussi content, il rappe sans discontinuer sur une instrue qui fait "scrrriiiiittchhhfiiiizzprrouuulipfouuublupblupkataklakkataklak" le tout défoncé par un pied bien sourd. On étouffe, mais c'est cool car une nappe sombre et inquiétante finie le boulot, transportant le morceau dans une electro de cimetière placé sur l'anneau de Saturne. Le tout en trois minutes. Schizophrénie musicale, cela intéressera les médecins.
Que l'on rassure les estomacs sensibles, les montagnes russes du disque ne seront généralement pas aussi accidentées. Les morceaux, bien barrés, restent généralement construits, et préfèrent développer une idée folle sur une piste plutôt que 5 en deux minutes. Restiform Bodies se permet même d'aligner des petits tubes tout le long du Lp. Des tubes drogués, mutants, foireux et complètement flingués, mais des tubes quand même. Foul prend presque le contre-pied de son voisin psychotique du dessus, en partant sur une base presque limpide : Grosses nappes de synthés bien grasses, beats ronds, éclatants comme un enfilade de bulles de savon, et Passage qui alternent phrasés secs imparables avec quelques excavations plus réfléchies. On croirait presque à de la ghetto-tech passée à la moulinette. Mais c'est les refrains qui propulsent le titre sur MTV alien. Le mec se met à chanter en regardant la lune, soutenu par des claviers conviés à faire une bronca des grands jours, mi-hip, mi-pop, le tout saupoudré d'un semblant de New-wave. Ca passe parfaitement, à mettre dans sa voiture, la fenêtre ouverte et les lunettes de soleil sur le front, juste avant de se faire interner dans son hôpital favori. (A choisir en fonction des plateau repas.) La dernière partie chantée est superbe, cristalline, concluant parfaitement le tout. Pour schématiser, on a un peu l'impression d'entendre Depeche Mode se faire chahuter par un Mc en train de se noyer dans sa baignoire.
Même Tarif pour A Pimp Like God, qui aligne une entrée débile, presque niaise ( "A pimp like goooooood needs all his gold on his mouuuuuth / A pimp like god ain't equipped to settle dooooooown" ), avant de fracasser le tout sur une instrue sourde, poisseuse, aux basses bien rebondies, et de repasser sur un refrain bien saturé. Ca n'arrête pas de changer, le métronome s'emballe pour se stopper net quelques secondes après, et Passage est affolant, alignant des phrases juste inconcevables avec un aplomb énorme : "I'm the frostiest funkiest feather haired customer / Slick as a freudian slip, crisp as a cucumber / As handsome as a carriage on my pay as you go / You know i'm fronting but i'm obligated legally to let you know". Merci pour les métaphores, on les garde dans un coin.
Dans une veine plus sérieuse, mais tout aussi explosée par les aspérités, Panic Shopper balance du lourd. L'entame du morceau fait même assez penser à du Sole ancienne période : Flow grave et haché, teintes sombres et rythmes en retrait, toujours près à nous gicler à la gueule. Mais le tout prend vite son envol quand un synthé très analordien vient se greffer au tout, donnant un ton melancolico-mortuaire à des textes encore plus indéfinissables, à base de "It's not a well preserved pre historic bird / It's a 747 Behaeded nursing seven sorched feathers / ... / A pirate on the carpet licks the legs of the Cadaver / A pirate on the carpet licks the legs of the Cadaver / Cadaver abra ca dabra cadaver cadaver cadaver ! / Abra ca dabra cadaver" Moui t'es gentil, prends bien tes médicaments. Et ce n'est pas la suite du titre qui nous ramènera sur des terres plus saines, vu que Passage va littéralement s'envoler sur une montée fantomatique, lâchant ses lyrics à la vitesse de la lumière, arguant la foule comme un illuminé au milieu de Central park.
Bobby Trendy Addendum fera lui presque penser à du dDamage, explosant dans tous les coins, écrasant des semblants de samples sous des effets crasseux et saturés. On perçoit des notes de claviers accueillantes au milieu du marasme, donnant un semblant de mélodie sur lequel on pourra se raccrocher quelques instants, aidé par un Passage qui se décide à pousser la chansonnette un petit coup, avant de repasser en mode cintré du micro. La deuxième partie sera plus traditionnelle, avec un beat clairement plus identifiable et quelques handclaps cramés. Rassurant, ça permet enfin de put ses hands dans les air, même après avoir perdu tout son liquide rachidien.
Plus direct et moins bousillé (toute proportion gardées), Restiform Bodies donnerait presque sa vision du Hip-hop calibré tube avec Pick It Up Drop It, au tempo ralenti et vrilles de claviers. On se fera plaisir quand le rythme s'accélérera méchamment replaçant le titre dans des espaces un peu Ghetto-tech évoquées plus haut.
Mais on sentait la chose perler sur certains refrains (voir couplets) du disque, Passage aime chanter, donner de l'air à des pistes parfois asphyxiantes niveau lyrics déclamés en tgv (les textes d'un morceau tiennent parfois sur une page et demi, en double colonne ).
Il devient donc presque naturel de croiser sur ce Tv Loves You Back quelques morceaux où le flow passe au second plan, pour laisser le Mc susurrer au micro des litanies bizarres, à l'instar d'un certain DoseOne. Si Opulent Soul jonglera constamment avec un Hip-hop âpre et des phases chantées étonnantes, comme si Passage se dandinait sur le comptoir d'un bar une bouteille à la main, deux autres titres s'engouffreront dans une brèche périlleuse mais foutrement bien négociée :
Le bien barré Consmer Culture Wave verra Passage ralentir son débit au maximum pour se la jouer hip-hop chanté sur une instrue pétant les plombs, entre synthés bien gras et accélérations de rythme claquant comme un fouet. On sent que le truc veut s'emballer, veut sauter dans les coins, sans pour autant prendre réellement l'initiative.
C'est vraiment Ameriscan qui poussera le vice au maximum, en laissant Passage miauler sur un lit de synthés, martelés par un beat industriel très étouffé, placé à quelques kilomètres de là . Surprise, c'est super beau, on pensera presque à un ersatz de Thom Yorke reconverti en Mc qui s'essayerait à la New Wave droguée. On aura bien un versant Hip-hop bien convulsif sur trente secondes, mais c'est vraiment ces passages lunaires, en apesanteurs, dénués de toute envie d'expérimentation, qui prendront nos tripes pour en faire de la confiture. La montée finale file la frousse, et conclue l'un des meilleurs morceaux de la galette, alors qu'il s'en détacherait presque complètement sur la première écoute. On était presque convaincu d'assister à une tentative maladroite du groupe pour se la jouer Why ?, et l'on se retrouve devant une superbe conclusion, presque inattendue après un album aussi barge et accidenté.
Ce Tv Loves You Back est une tres bonne surprise. Pour ses qualités évidement, et ses compositions complètement barrées, inclassables et versatiles, avec une marque electro extrêmement présente, et un Passage complètement dingue, impressionnant quand on le compare au premier disque du groupe, et qui se posant désormais comme l'un des meilleurs dingo du label de San Francisco. Mais ce disque fait aussi plaisir car il prouve qu'Anticon peut encore nous sortir le Hip-hop qui reste, dans l'inconscient collectif, sa marque de fabrique, sa matière première. Attention, le label a sorti d'excellent disques ses derniers temps (Le Odd Nosdam, le Sole, le Why ?, le Thee More Shallows) mais cela faisait pas mal de temps qu'il n'y avait pas eu, au final, de véritables disques Hiphop Anticon. Comme si après avoir tourné en rond, le label ne voulait plus se risquer de tomber dans une redite, voulant pousser à l'ouverture exagérée, en laissant les fondations aux vestiaires.
Alors évidement, ceux qui ne pouvaient pas blairer cette marque de fabrique ne pourront toujours pas encadrer ce nouveau disque des Restiform Bodies. Quand à ceux qui ont justement peur d'une redite, qu'ils se rassurent, ce Tv Loves You Back prouve que l'on peut étonner, dérouter, faire du neuf avec une recette déjà bien utilisée, sans pour autant regarder une seconde en arrière.
Ceux qui ressentaient un manque de Hiphop barré au vu des dernières sorties des labels tel que Anticon, Mush ou autres seront aux anges. Il ferait presque même de l'ombre au tout dernier Subtle, pour ceux qui ont été déçu de voir le groupe définitivement foncer dans une Pop bizarre.
Bref, ce disque fait énormément plaisir, il est bien jouissif, bien barré et reflète le meilleur de ce que peut encore fournir le label dans sa facette Hiphop. On ne lui ne demandait pas plus.
Dat'
15/10/2008
Source: Les Chroniques Automatiques
Restiform Bodies review [Left Hip]
Restiform Bodies are the newest of Oakland’s infamous label Anitcon (home to Why? Dose One, Subtle, Themselves + more…) and it all began in New Hampshire. “I started free styling and deejaying to a wall in my room and then bought a sampler and disc recorder and that’s how it all started.” Says Passage, one of the 3 members of Restiform Bodies, whom I have had a chance to dialogue with… “We all grew up together… met around grade 9… got into trouble, took drugs, drank a lot in basements, ignored high school etc. Then we got really into hip hop.”
Currently the group is touring with label-mates Why? In time to promote their new album “TV Loves You Back” and they are stopping all along the west coast of Canada and the US and will be playing at Richard’s on Richards tonight (October 2) for their Vancouver BC show. The 3 began their music pursuit in 2000, “We jacked a swimming pool full of obvious loops, half free styled a demo and found a mega nerd neurology term from a medical text book, folded tape inlays and drove 16 hours to Cincinnati for Scribble jam… We hooked the anticon guys up with tapes and jacked like a gaggle of teenage girls.” It wasn’t until recently that Anticon put out said Restiform Bodies album. “Once we figured out what email was, and that the people we were listening to were a molecule away from the people Bomarr traded tapes with online, the Atak underground hip hop empire, all roads pointed toward anticon.”
After leaving the east coast in 2000 to explore the scene on the west coast, the 3 became nicely situated in the Oakland music scene. “Oakland is all about small venues… dual functioning gallery/venue spaces… Oakland based music, bands etc… I don’t know what to mention that isn’t pretty under-whelming with the exception of a handful of cool electronic acts like Eats Tapes, Bleachy Bleach, MNDR. Across the bridge there’s some more awesome shit going on, our favorite of course being Lazer Sword… Anon Day is another SF artist on our hit list.”
Restiform Bodies take an original spin on old school hip hop vocal dubs and heavily electronic beats that will really heat up a room. They are a tad obscure but have a very tasteful way of representing underground hip hop culture and making it more of a bastion than a trend. When listening to ‘TV Loves You Back’ it’s hard to assume who influences their sound, “In high school we listened to a lot of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Aphex Twin, Crass, Depeche Mode, Sub Humans, Brian Eno, Amon Tobin and tons of old acid house and electro.” Now they peer over to liking/ admiring Hot Chip, Lil Wayne, The Cool Kids, Magnetic Fields, LCD Soundsystem, and Jay Reatard. “That’s the stuff we love and respect, stuff we’d give up limbs to open for, remix… you know.”
Machines make it possible, since the grunt work (other than a slew of lyrics) is carefully compiling new sounds from ‘Ableton Live’ music software that allows you to multi-task instruments/ synths live to loop and sample.) After filing through gear and selling off cheapie samplers and drum machines for rent money it left them fixated with some real treasures. “Personally, I’ve settled on two really powerful Wavetable synthesizers, one being the Waldorf Microwave XT and an Access Virus TI… Right now we’re using a drum sampler program called Battery 3 made by Native Instruments in our live set, for a lot of the drums and percussion triggering that Bomarr’s doing.”
For these tour dates only 2 members of Restiform Bodies will be performing (Passage and Bomarr). “Telephone Jim Jesus the third member of the group was not available to play these shows with us, so his parts are canned on audio tracks. We DJ those parts, synced via fire wire and MPC with one of the synths I mentioned which helps to automate some of the impossible for two people elements of the songs.” Although it’s a duo act the show is supposedly really amazing and it sounds like the 3 really know their gear inside and out to be able to multitask the wiring of music alongside hybrid vocals. “…everybody should come see it (the live show)… it’s exactly what it needs to be for us right now. We wanted to represent the new record almost in full and as closely as possible.”
There has been a lot of enhancement from their first set of demos to their Self Titled album to the current album, ‘TV Loves You Back.’ “…it’s all generative sounds, no samples. The songs more song-like, though they still have dramatic changes in weird places, but they have choruses! Or at least my version of choruses. The lyrics are better, which honestly doesn’t take much considering how ridiculous I feel they used to be. It’s all together more grown up and danceable I hope.”
The 3 have toured their music nationally and internationally and there can be some pretty seriously crazy things that happen. “I flew without a passport post 9/11 through two countries in flip flops (don’t even) with a trash bag… smelling like a refugee. I mean I was on a plane… I didn’t flap my arms, but I made a terrible reputation for us in Scandinavia. I regret that part of it, but the overall experience was a turning point in my life. Plus we saw Iggy and The Stooges. That was just amazing.”
The 3 have sure put the time, work, gear and heart into their music and it prevails. It can be considered many things but overall it should be considered extremely good. “It’s rap music with a distinct electronic/industrial/ dance influence, or weirdo hip hop… this is just what we know how to do best. I’m a better emcee than I am a singer. Though I’m a better singer than I am a waiter, so hopefully shit works out.” [...]
Kristen Cudmore
Source: Left Hip
"Pick It Up, Drop It" J Lesser remix
Fourth remixed track from Restiform Bodies "TV Loves You Back": "Pick It Up, Drop It" by the well known J Lesser
» Download it here.
Courtesy of Bomarr
» Download it here.
Courtesy of Bomarr
"TV Loves You Back" review [Pasta Primavera]
Restiform Bodies
by laurent the laurent
on October 22, 2008
Restiform Bodies, a three piece indie hip hop act from Oakland comprised of Passage, Telephone Jim Jesus, and Bomarr, have recently put out their long awaited sophomore album on anticon. entitled TV Loves You Back. This album throws analog synth, tape loops, samples, indie rock, and hip hop into a toxic blender and spits out bright neon mind splatter. Sometimes sounding like El-P, sometimes sounding like Depeche Mode, it’s taken me a while for me to get my head around what’s going on on TV Loves You Back. I don’t think I have still. Without a doubt I enjoy it, or I would have turned it off long ago, and it still seems to be spinning throughout my current rotation. Why don’t you give it a pulse, chop, or puree and let me know what you think.
Source: Pasta Primavera
Restiform Bodies show review [betterPropaganda]
Restiform Bodies: Live at Bottom of the Hill
[...] Restiform Bodies: I was stoked to catch this after two of their tracks landed on our site (one original and a killer Tobacco remix). Their strength is throwing the standards of hip hop all out of balance, speeding shit up and slowing it down, pushing Dave Bryant into verses twice as long as the standard 16 bars, then throwing it back to beat-maker Matt Valerio for an extended break featuring two or three tweaks in a row. Blissfully, you don't ever really get what you expect. There's a lot in the delivery of this project that reminds me of Aesop Rock's dense, hyper-ordained style, maybe if that style was wearing baggy clothes and sunglasses because it didn't want to be recognized in public. One: the beats have their own erratic and shifting charm that Restiform Bodies could easily hold its eight as an instrumental outfit (this was especially apparent in the portions of the show where the beats and glitches went long-form). Two: Dave's lyrics alternate between biting condemnation of consumer culture and coy self-depreciation; he delivers everything with a smirk, and that smirk wears a smirk of its own. (Go on, picture it.) Since everything's packed tightly, some of the particular details dropped out during their set – Dave's at his best when he gets into a long midtempo swing, usually in the refrains that close down most tracks ("fuck like you mean it, Lori / fuck you mean it, Barry / fuck like you got a reputation e'erybody..."). But his voice always layers on the beat like another instrument, and even when we couldn't pick out the words, the music still moves like a twitchy sprinting beast. All in all a damn satisfying show from an electrorap outfit that's about to burst – not too crowded, not too tense, pulsing with all the right sorts of energy.
Source: betterPropaganda
"TV Loves You Back" review [URB magazine]
10/15/08
Restiform Bodies :: TV Loves You Back
Anticon
RATE: 3.5/5
Reviewed on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Amorn Bholsangngam
Restiform Bodies certainly sounds like the Anticon group that it is. The familiar flow of twisted words that serve as social commentary and progressive yet minimalist MPC-created beats are prevalent on all tracks on their sophomore LP, TV Loves You Back. The sonic resemblance they bear to their Anticon peers comes as no surprise, considering two of its members (vocalist/MC Passage and instrumentalist/programmer Telephone Jim Jesus) have released solo records for the Bay Area indie hip hop label. However, the trio, which is rounded out by programmer Bomarr, has managed to carve out its own identity within the roster of likeminded art-hop musicians that they've found themselves a part of. Restiform Bodies may be one of the most consistently listenable artists on the label, due in large part to their willingness to craft hooks and counterbalance with their grittiness with a well-defined melody, a welcome departure from the dissonance and discordant sounds that many Anticon artists prefer. Passage demonstrates his versatility as a vocalist throughout the record, rhyming as confidently and compellingly as he croons. The musical backdrop created by Telephone Jim Jesus and Bomarr is expectedly dark and ominous yet surprisingly playful; their electro-flavored beats and post-punk-inspired synth lines sound like the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic dance party. TV Loves You Back is the closest to pop that Anticon may ever come, a refreshing change of pace for listeners weary of the heavy, serious musical soliloquies that the label specializes in.
Source: URB Magazine
Bomarr "iPhone Beats" EP
Now that these shows with the WHY? band are done, I'm selling my "iPhone Beats" CD EP online direct through me.
It's 20 minutes, 10 songs, and made entirely on the iPhone. I think I'm going to only make a limited number of these. It was fun to do. Limited, as far as what you can do, but fun. -Bomarr
"TV Loves You Back" review [Access Hip Hop]
Restiform Bodies' long awaited follow-up and official Anticon debut! Lead vocalist Passage (who has the strangest deliveries next to Dose One) also on production alongside mad beat scientists Telephone Jim Jesus and The Bomarr Monk. The once thought to be defunct group re-unites for TV Loves You Back and their take on distaste for American consumerism. Oddly 80's-like hip hop mixed with speedy new techniques including live instrumentation over the heavily electronic trio's trademark space pop. This all might sound weird for non-listeners but it truly is an acquired taste that longtime fans have been waiting for!
Source: Access Hip Hop
Restiform Bodies show review [LA Weekly]
Anticon's reunited Restiform Bodies play the Echo tonight
by LA Weekly
October 10, 2008 12:57 PM
Though its constituent parts have continued to bless us with their solo forays into left-field beats, textures and raps, it's been over four years since Oakland's Restiform Bodies crew has played L.A. intact. The reunited trio — percussionist Bomarr, expert-in-ethereal Telephone Jim Jesus, and songbird/rapper Passage — appears at the Echo tonight in support of its just-released third album and Anticon Records debut, TV Loves You Back. Restiform was, in fact, the first outside act signed to the Anticon cooperative back in 2001 (for more on the label's history, check out this week's feature, "The Year That Anticon Became A Label"), but the group went on hiatus, instead releasing a series of increasingly strong solo efforts (see TJJ's Anywhere Out Of The Everything, Passage's The Forcefield Kids, and Bomarr's Freedom From Fightened Air). The new record is a squirming pile of their various obsessions that plays as a sometimes frightening, sometimes gorgeous po-mo mashup of new wave, dirty south and ambient styles. Check out Passage's Cronenberg-like lyrical hallucinations in person tonight [...]
—Chris Martins
Source: LA Weekly
"TV Loves You Back" review [Bokson]
10/09/08
(Translate)
Restiform Bodies, point de ralliement entre influences hip hop, pop, et new wave, colle on ne peut plus à la marque de fabrique Anticon. Ni plus ni moins considérés comme des démos aujourd’hui, deux albums obscurs mais remarqués ont vu le jour en ce début de vingt et unième siècle, sans pourtant qu’ils ne soient tamponnés de cette fourmi noire, gage de qualité de l’époque que le groupe d’Oakland défendait pourtant haut et fort. Ainsi, depuis leur dernière sortie officielle en 2001, sept ans sont passés, pendant lesquels Telephone Jim Jesus, Bomarr et Passage, les trois bodies, y sont allés de leurs projets solo. De quoi enfoncer le clou et s’ouvrir en grand les portes du label d’Oakland pour enfin lancer sérieusement leur carrière collective avec «TV Loves You Back», un nouvel album réparant l’injustice d’être resté trop longtemps dans l’ombre des Sole, Dose One & Co…
D’autant que ce nouvel opus ne manquera pas de satisfaire les nostalgiques des premières années Anticon (l’excellent et ultra efficace «Panic Shopper»), quand la clique californienne ne cherchait pas à renouveler en vain un hip hop marginal essoufflé, et qu’elle ne divaguait pas ainsi vers des sonorités moins familières. Ici, Restiform Bodies rappelle plutôt à une poignée d’artistes, en telle quête de personnalité qu’ils s’y perdent parfois, qu’il vaut mieux rester à ce qu’on sait faire de mieux. Et le faire bien. Ainsi, incontestablement, c’est sur un hip pop de grande classe, et aux basses piquées à la ghettotech, que les trois se sont focalisés, en soignant une production qui souligne clairement toute la maturité gagnée ces dernières années.
Et les exemples sont nombreux tout au long de «TV Loves You Back». «Black Friday» renoue avec ce hip hop aiguisé, sombre et dense, quelque peu torturé et électrique, sur lequel Passage alterne flow et chant, que ce soit sur des envolées drum n’bass ou des couplets à l’atmosphère plus plombée. RB ouvre ainsi un bal aussi maîtrisé qu’inspiré, qui ne cessera de faire bonne impression, que ce soit sur «Foul» et sa RnB alternative, sur l’electro gothique «A Pimp-Like God», ou sur «Bobby Trendy Addendum» qu’El-P n’aurait pas renié si lui aussi osait de telles consonances eighties sur ses refrains. Mais Passage, loin d’avoir tout dit, va plus loin encore, surprend, comme lorsqu’il s’écarte radicalement de son registre sur «Opulent Soul» en prenant des aises de crooner digital inédites chez lui.
Pour ce premier pas tardif dans le grand bain, Restiform Bodies passe donc haut la main l’examen de passage avec un «TV Loves You Back» cohérent. La musique, comme le propos accusant le confort moderne d’être responsable du chaos actuel, parviennent systématiquement à s’équilibrer, et rattraper les petits défauts de l’autre. Du coup, on regoûte aux plaisirs du passé tout en écoutant un disque s’inscrivant résolument dans son époque. Incontournable sauf si, pour vous, il n’y a pas de hip hop au-delà de Snoop Dogg et 50 Cent…
Matthieu
06/10/2008
Source: Bokson
Tonight: Restiform Bodies @ Bottom Of The Hill (SF)
Oct 7 2008 8:30PM @ Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California w/ Lazer Sword & Bleachy Bleach Bleach
» Bottom Of The Hill show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
» Bottom Of The Hill show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
Restiform Bodies "Consumer Culture Wave" video
Here's a video done by Neil Ewing aka greencarpetedstairs for the track Consumer Culture Wave from the new RB's album TV Loves You Back.
Source: Bomarr
Source: Bomarr
Tonight: Restiform Bodies @ Wonder Ballroom (Portland)
Oct 4 2008 8:00PM @ Wonder Ballroom - Portland, Oregon» Wonder Ballroom show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
Tonight: Restiform Bodies @ The Vera Project (Seattle)
Oct 3 2008 7:30A @ The Vera Project - Seattle, Washington» The Vera Project show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
"TV Loves You Back" review [PerfomerMag]
Restiform Bodies
TV Loves You Back
Engineered and mixed by Eli Crews at New, Improved Recording in Oakland, CA | Recorded by Restiform Bodies and Nathan Fritz at home and at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA | Mastered by Mike Wells at Mike Wells Mastering | Produced by Restiform Bodies
The first minute-and-a-half of Restiform Bodies’ most recent LP, TV Loves You Back, sounds on par with the last decade of hip-hop albums; slow bass thumps, background crowd cheers and ominous keyboard strokes bring to mind a brooding lyricist entering a boxing ring, raring for a verbal sparring match. A steady groove and vocals eerily similar to rap pioneer Q-Tip suggest an oft-traveled path ahead.
Cue to 1:27 on “Black Friday” and all familiarity comes to a screeching halt with a whiplash of rewinding, vinyl-scratching fury. Synth and effect wrangler Telephone Jim Jesus amps up the tempo tenfold, throwing the audience into a whirlpool of fanfare horn blowing and multi-textured beats.
It’s no mistake, either. In an age when the iPhone and Facebook can Twitter-sync each and every movement of the techno-savvy, the Oakland-based trio takes note with a refreshing sense of self-awareness and a keen eye for detail. The electro-stomping “A Pimp-like God” drops cellular bleeps and bloops in between air-raid siren synths, a fusion of contemporary technologic trend and funky dance floor fervor that bucks harder than a 12 gauge.
The group’s cultural commentary is smart, offering much more than the tired agenda of rap’s usual ego-bolstering rhymes – though the obligatory self-aggrandizing lyrics are still present, clever metaphors and allusions make the three MCs “more absorbent than the leading brand” – taking aim at easily targeted culture icons (Joan and Melissa Rivers), high-fashion designer handbags (Fendi and Prada) and spin-off semi-celebs in songs like “Bobby Trendy Addendum.”
It’s a welcome kick in the face to the 21st century’s consumer generation – a joke the listener is in on from the start. As much as today’s youths love their HDTV simulcast, musicians like Restiform Bodies are needed to remind us that the feeling isn’t mutual. (Anticon Records)
-Mike Isaac
Source: PerfomerMag
New Restiform Bodies tee shirt
Here's a look to a brand new RB's tee shirt, artwork by Rob Corradetti if I'm not mistaking. It is available on tour, not yet online. More info soon.
Thanks to otem rellik for the pics.
Thanks to otem rellik for the pics.
"TV Loves You Back" review [East Bay Express]
Restiform Bodies
TV Loves You Back
By Mark Keresman
October 1, 2008
With subgenre appellations multiplying like bacteria, it's hard to keep up. (I had to clue a pal who never goes to dance clubs that "techno" was indeed not "techno-pop," i.e. those '80 UK new-wave synthesizer bands.)
Oakland lads Restiform Bodies are hip-hop but nowhere near gangsta style. Aside from the urban strut and grooves of Public Enemy and Run-DMC, their influences include the darker side of early-'80s synth-pop (Gary Numan, the original/pre-Top 40 Human League) and glitter-era Marc Bolan (could be coincidence, but Bodies' Dave Bryant's singing voice sounds much like T-Rex singer Bolan's). Restiform Bodies often juggle genres within a single song — their rat-a-tat raps seamlessly segue into ominous, sleek, melodious passages with coolly mournful vocals, spiced up with very brief bursts of noise. Their subject matter (as hinted by this disc's title) includes the buy-more-you-soulless-drones ethos and how it infects all aspects of people's lives ("Consumer Culture Wave"), technology paranoia ("Pick It Up, Drop It"), and just plain paranoia (A hundred sharpshooters in his ribcage/shooting sharp pain in as many directions; I don't wanna know/but you're gonna tell me anyway, "Ameriscan").
Like Public Enemy at their best, Restiform Bodies engage you with the beats and audacious flair then make you look long and hard into funhouse-warped, revealing mirrors. (Anticon)
Source: East Bay Express
"TV Loves You Back" review [Exclaim!]
Restiform Bodies
TV Loves You Back
By Vish Khanna
With their glitch-y, ambient noise-infused beats backing equally distorted vocal flows, Oakland’s Restiform Bodies present the perfectly imperfect soundtrack to an information overloaded yet, ironically, attention deficit addled culture. On certain tracks, Passage, Telephone Jim Jesus and Bomarr conjure Sage Francis fronting Animal Collective, and their sharp rhymes and exhilarating soundscapes mix punk rage with playful sonic experimentation. Take “Foul,” which captures the manic energy of digital toys running amok while Passage drops illness between dizzying, ever-changing choruses anchored by emo melodies. A bit of Tortoise infiltrates the irreverence of “A Pimp-Like God” and the group’s obsession with blind capitalism on TV Loves You Back climaxes with the dark double-dose of the comically tinged “Panic Shopper” and the creepy voyeurism of “Consumer Culture Wave,” which examines the commodification of sex. Restiform Bodies generate a peculiar heat, mimicking the flickering glow from televisions that strikes culture vulture eyeballs and bitingly calling Western society on our complacency. (Anticon)
Source: Exclaim!
"A Pimp-Like God" Anon Day remix
New and third TV Loves You Back remix, this time it's up to Anon Day with A Pimp-Like God.» Download it here.
TV LOVES YOU BACK IS IN STORE TODAY!
» ORDER IT HERE.
Tonight: Restiform Bodies show @ Hi-Dive (Denver)
MON, SEP 29THRadio 1190 presents
WHY? w/ Restiform Bodies + pictureplane
at Hi-Dive
Doors at 7:00 PM
Show at 8:00 PM
16+ w/ Valid ID $12.00
» Hi-Dive show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
"TV Loves You Back" review [Soundcheck Magazine]
Restiform Bodies
TV Loves You Back
Anticon
If there’s a such thing as prog-rap, Restiform Bodies could be hip-hop’s Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Assembling break-neck beats that are constantly nudging each other in and out of audibility like a schizophrenic disc jockey, Bodies’ TV Loves You Back follows in the path of beat trailblazers like El-P: every track is like a mini-album, metamorphosing between musical ideas, sometimes without warning or reason. Even as the walls that separate rap from the rest of the musical world slowly decay, Bodies are truly progressive: they sometimes veer out of rap completely and into the bedrooms of Sonic Youth fuzz-rock and Daft Punk electronica. “Pick It Up, Drop It” trades Martian synth lines with Psycho-style screaming violins, while the sex-frenzy lyrics of “Consumer Culture Wave” float above an erotic, percussive flurry of beeps and pops. Each song on TV Loves You Back is a carefully-concocted trip, and listening to the album in its entirety is delightful substance abuse.
-Andy Pareti
Source: Soundcheck Magazine
"TV Loves You Back" pre-order
"TV Loves You Back" can now be pre-ordered at the anticon. store for $13, CD & LP available.» Pre-order TV Loves You Back here.
"TV Loves You Back" 30-second MP3 excerpts
In less than 6 days the new Restiform Bodies's album "TV Loves You Back" will be available, right now you can listen to 30 seconds of each track, just press play! Source: Midheaven
Bomarr "iPhone Beats"
Bomarr's new self-released EP is untitled "iPhone beats, it's a tour CD-R. More info on the availability soon.» Listen to an extract from "iPhone Beats" here.
"Foul" Wallpaper remix
New TV Loves You Back remix, Foul remixed by Wallpaper.» Listen to it hrere.
More TLYB remixes are in the works says Bomarr.
Sneakmove Minicomp 3
The third installment of Sneakmove's limited-edition Minicomp 7inch series features supershort songs by ten great acts curated by Bomarr will be available very soon.
Features new tracks from Broken Spindles (Joel of the Faint), Tunng (Thrill Jockey), Lord Grunge (Grand Buffet) , Copy (Audio Dregs), Principles of Geometry (Tiger Sushi) and more.
Check out the track listing below
Also available: Sneakmove Minicomp 1 and Sneakmove Minicomp 2.
Side One
1) Shayne Keator - Forgetting Forgotten
2) Back Ted N-Ted - I'm Sorry Amy
3) Principles of Geometry - Napoleon
4) Coppé - Alien Mermaid
5) Broken Spindles - Wake Up
Side Two
1) Tunng - Spoons
2) Otis Fodder - Propaganda B
3) Copy - Let's Don't Be Scared
4) Lord Grunge - Dude, Where's My Car?
5) Superargo - Girl Don't Make A Blind Man Beg
Pre-order your copy HERE
Super limited
Source: Bomarr
"Panic Shopper" Tobacco remix
Those freak-hoppers in Restiform Bodies are gearing up for the release of their anticon. debut, TV Loves You Back, and instead of waiting until after the album's September 30 street date to start pushing the remixes, the trio enlisted Black Moth Super Rainbow boss Tobacco to get on the mixing board asap. Naturally, the latter added lots of wobbly, warped synth lines to the hip-hop flavored number. Throw in some off-kilter beat programming and rhymes spat in double-time, and a true weirdo-hop track has officially been born. Photo by Mathew Scott.
Rate: 9/10
Source: XLR8R
"Pick It Up, Drop It" live video
Passage and Bomarr performing live "Pick It Up, Drop It" from their upcoming album "TV Loves You Back".
Restiform Bodies - Pick It Up Drop It Rehearsal
Source: Bomarr
Source: Bomarr
"Restiform Bodies Are Back" [Fangbear]
Restiform Bodies Are Back
I can’t think of a more appropriate way to usher in the return of Fangbear, than by celebrating the return of one of our favorite groups. After years of waiting for Oakland, by way of New Hampshire’s Restiform Bodies to put out a new record, I was beginning to lose hope. Not to say that these fellas haven’t been busy. Dave, Matt and George (aka Passage, Bomarr and Telephone Jim Jesus, respectively) have all had proper solo releases since their self-titled LP, back in 2000 2001 (thanks bomarr - ages ago nonetheless). In September, they will release their Anticon debut record, TV Loves You Back. If their first single is any indication of the new, battle-hardened, grown-up RB’s, we are in for some wonky, electro, ghetto-tech, rap greatness. I’m pumped.
Posted on: August 21st, 2008
Source: Fangbear
Telephone Jim Jesus' september shows
Only 2 dates at the moment:
• 08/9/08 - 9:00P @ Terrace w/ Bizzart, Walter Gross, Unconventional Science, K-The-I??? - Pasadena, California
Event @ Last.fm
• 13/9/08 - 11:00P @ Camp N’ Sons (Chillits) - Willits, California
» Chillits festival
Event @ Last.fm
Flyer by Walter Gross.
• 08/9/08 - 9:00P @ Terrace w/ Bizzart, Walter Gross, Unconventional Science, K-The-I??? - Pasadena, California
Event @ Last.fm
• 13/9/08 - 11:00P @ Camp N’ Sons (Chillits) - Willits, California
» Chillits festival
Event @ Last.fm
“Bobby Trendy Addendum” review + Passage interview [Paper Thin Walls]
RESTIFORM BODIES - “Bobby Trendy Addendum”
from TV Loves You Back (Anticon)
Hip-Hop // Out Now
Remember flamboyant, antagonistic fashion designer/interior decorator Bobby Trendy from The Anna Nicole Smith Show? Restiform Bodies—the Anticon second-stringer supergroup of Passage, Now, Bomaar Monk and Telephone Jim Jesus—are reuniting and are resurrecting him, too, on “Bobby Trendy Addendum.” But they could just as easily be raking any number of other bitchy celebs or quasi-celebs over the coals here. In other words, if Bobby Trendy didn’t exist, they might’ve just as easily invented him. The ear-teasing Noah’s Arcade-on-fire electro-noise crunch of “Bobby Trendy Addendum” is pure pop-cult concept, overwhelming Information Age bombast as constructed reality. The song sounds like living today feels: too much, too fast, too loud, too bright, nothing making any definite sense—but like watching Anna Nicole, it’s guilty-pleasure, button-slamming fun, you know? It’s excitement in excess. Bars are jammed together, independent of one another, so that Passage’s narrative comes off like a provocative string of ideas and exclamation points more than anything else. “Apple of my mother’s eye, even if they convict,” he spits—bitterly and blithely and carelessly, all at once—before all logic gets gone and you just grab onto whatever scraps of language you can in the advert-jingle flood of splintered images: “Most oblivious, neurotic,” “smash my maths,” “juicy, delicious,” “appetites lashed to the hood of the Bentley,” “charm a snake, weave a basket,” some buckshot-blasted bullshit about Joan and Melissa Rivers. Overthink at your peril. Just hold tight to your swivel chairs, enjoy the ride, and regard the experience as the musical equivalent of the Internet/nightly news/ celebrity-factoid shuffle we're all pretty much caught up in.
Restiform Bodies’ David “Passage” Bryant on “Bobby Trendy Addendum”
Is the title character a strawman for American pop-culture avarice?
I didn’t intend to paint him personally as an icon of greed, avarice or anything exactly—certainly not anything negative, if that’s what you mean by “strawman.” I wanted to beam a signal off peripheral, absurd characters on the D-list, hoping it might bounce off them and hit us in the retinas. I was saying I feel like Joan Rivers on the red carpet, digesting entertainment and shitting out celebrity caricatures. You’re supposed to want to be them, but you hate them or you don’t give a fuck, but you want to be something you’re not, or can’t have. Bobby Trendy and Joan and Melissa Rivers seemed like perfect personalities to channel that through. I think it plays as funny satire.
Can you envision a future in which expensive automobiles are no longer presented as chart-rap status symbols. Like due to sky-high gas prices, everyone's rhyming about tricked-out Vespas?
Sure, absolutely. Jay-Z has the Euro taking over for the dollar, why not the Vespas? The Cool Kids give bike culture a nod with “Black Mags,” which is almost as huge as “Throw Some D’s,” at this point and cooler all around in my book. That’s where I have to hope it’s all going. Nas is calling out Fox News on Stephen Colbert. I think everybody can look forward to big change for our culture. I am not into causes and such—no pictures of Mao for this dude—but a Hummer in a video is the same as Pyrex measuring cups in your inlay. It’s insult-to-injury. Our record seems a lot like an indictment in some spots—which could be construed as insult-to-injury, too—but I hope it’s not received as rubbing the problem in. All the information on TV Loves You Back is stuff I’m trying to make peace with as a person, and that I think we all have to make peace with as a society. And you know artists have to be feeling a little ridiculous with all the car shit by now. Big old Caddy and shelling out all that dough to fill it? That's starting to hurt; no matter who you are, it’s just dumb. Bikes, Vespas, all that is smaller, more agile and creative, that’s the shit I want to see.
Do you watch much television?
Yes, I watch a lot of TV. I try not to, but when I want to shut my mind off or get inspired by the media, TV is my go-to device. I watch Comedy Central a lot and E! I love The Office and 30 Rock, but don't get to see them much. My guiltiest pleasure might be Intervention, though. I was all about Shooting Sizemore, but I guess that got too fucked up to be on TV or something because it disappeared. Good TV exists, but bad TV is usually better. - RAYMOND CUMMINGS
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Rate: 8.5
Source: Paper Thin Walls
« archives (2001/2008)
