hooves on the turf

Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong

The Books played at New York Society of Ethical Culture as part of the Wordless Music Series. The set was similar to the one at Webster Hall (read my review), with the noteworthy exception of a new song. In “8 Frames,” the 8-beat or 4-beat loops in the video that accompanies it serve as the rhythm.

“That Right Ain’t Shit”

(More photos and videos after the jump)

“Take Time”

All the videos that have been projected during their performances have amounted to a significant collection of work, and these are no less than the music they give background to. The play of words for “Meditation,” for example, has a typographically fit aesthetic of white words on black. It features sentences rearranged from the letters in the word “meditation.” Its classic screens read “I am Ned Tito” and “Do It in Meat.” The elablorate illustration of alphabets for the song “All A’s,” previously unreleased, is by itself a notable work as well. Of sad and strange clips, juxtaposed in the same style bits are arranged in their songs, there is no shortage. But there is plenty of fun too: from Japanese kids involved in funny morning excercises to home video footage of younger Nick and Paul. The home videos play to the sound of “Classic Penguin,” written by Nick’s younger brother Mike. “He couldn’t make it today,” Nick said, since Mike usually appears to play bass for the song, “I think he has a test or something.” In person, however, hanging out by the merch table, was the several-month-old son for whom Nick wrote the alphabet song.

The collection of videos is now finally available on a DVD ($15), topped with bonus videos and previously unreleased songs. Nick was also at the merch table selling them and said that putting these together has been a lot of work. I had to ask if they’d been working on new songs too, and he said that they are always working on new songs.

Ethical Culture’s Concert Hall is an interesting venue, most noted for performances of Chamber music. Real Quiet, a trio of percussion, cello and piano, opened with an interesting set. The hall seemed a little too airy for the familiar sound of The Books, however. As if it somehow thinned their otherwise warm sound a little bit, especially in comparison to Webster Hall. It would’ve also been nice to see a more elaborate Books performance with a larger group of musicians, oh but aren’t we greedy. However, the two manage, as always, to pull off an outstanding set.

Update:

• One more video: The Books – “Smells Like Contentâ€? at Wordless