Friday, February 16, 2007

Piecing it together


Born Ruffians are poised to become one of Canada's hottest bands, if they aren't already. 2006 saw the Midland, Ontario three-piece on a summer trek through the United Kingdom and returning home to tour North America with Hot Chip. Born Ruffians also passed the fall by with shows alongside Tokyo Police Club and Beirut. And they've hit the ground running in 2007: ending January with three shows in New York City, two of them opening for sold-out Swedish export, Peter, Bjorn and John.

Born Ruffians' self-titled EP was released last October and despite being just shy of 16-minutes long, it contains some of the year's most engaging rock music. The band's music is chaotic, even schizophrenic in parts. Fortunately for the listener, Born Ruffians are able to control the chaos and the results are catchy, exciting bursts of inventive rock music. Working at the same time are singer/guitarist Luke LaLonde's howling vocals that range from yelps and barks to falsetto which make the band's sound distinct.

Only time will tell if Born Ruffians can follow up their stellar debut or if the bar has been set too high. I can't recommend these guys enough. If you are in Ontario, you can check them out in March - they're in Ottawa at Zaphod's on March 23 with locals Fucked Corpse .

-Andrew (the one in Ottawa)

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