Oct 4 2008 8:00PM @ Wonder Ballroom - Portland, Oregon» Wonder Ballroom show detail
» Event @ Last.fm
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
