Born Ruffians and Paper Bag Records are pleased to announce the video debut of “What To Say”, the lead single from Say It, out June 1 on Paper Bag Records.
The Toronto based band with international acclaim has switched it up a bit for the new disk, added a keyboardist and writing even more formulaic pop ditties.
Press release:
Born Ruffians are no strangers to entertaining and innovative videos. However, the band has upped the ante with “What To Say.” The groundbreaking clip is a collaboration between director Jared Raab and artist/computer programmer Rob Bairos. The video was culled from footage recorded entirely off of a vintage oscilloscope. Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, telecommunications and industry but this is the first time one has been used to create an original music video. The primary use of the instrument is for viewing voltages and is made up of a single point of light, moving quickly across a screen in order to draw images – that means the entire Born Ruffians video for “What to Say” displays vector images made from only one continuous line. The footage was shot once on video, edited, converted for use on the oscilloscope and then shot again directly off the vintage machine. Though other people have reprogrammed oscilloscopes to display images in the past, this “video to scope” process is the first of its kind.
“There was a great deal of trial an error involved in finding what worked and what didn’t,” explains Raab. “We were constantly experimenting to try to make the best use of the scope’s eccentricities.”
The scope you see in the video was actually built in the ’40s and the imagery and atmosphere created in the video is the result of a collaboration between this machine and a computer system built 70 years later.
In addition to the video and album, Paper Bag Records will release the “What to Say” single digitally on May 4th . The single includes the a-side title track along with a previously unreleased b-side “Plinky Plonky”. To celebrate both the release of the single and the album, the band has scheduled a North American tour. The trek kicks-off May 28th in Toronto at Horseshoe Tavern and wraps up June 25th in Peterborough at Red Dog. Full details (LP/single track list, tour dates) below.
CLICK HERE to pre-order Say It on CD.
Say It – North American Tour Dates
May 28: Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
June 03: Los Angeles, CA – Echo (All Ages)
June 04: San Francisco, CA, – Rickshaw Stop (All Ages)
June 06: Portland, OR- Holocene (21+)
June 07: Seattle, WA – The Vera Project (All Ages)
June 08: Victoria, BC – Alix Goolden Hall
June 09: Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret
June 11: Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room
June 12: Calgary, AB – Republik,
June 13: Saskatoon, SK – Amigo’s
June 14: Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Centre
June 15: Minneapolis, MN – Turf Club (21+)
June 16: Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (18+)
June 17: Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern (All Ages)
June 18: Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House
June 19: New York, NY – Santos Partyhouse
June 20: Allston, MA, USA – Great Scott (18+)
June 23: Montreal, QC – Il Motore
June 24: Ottawa, ON – Mavericks
June 25: Peterborough, ON – Red Dog
“What To Say”
Single – May 4, 2010
Track list:
1. What To Say
2. Plinky Plonky
Say It
CD – June 1, 2010
Track list:
1. Oh Man
2. Retard Canard
3. Sole Brother
4. What To Say
5. The Ballad Of Moose Bruce
6. Higher & Higher
7. Come Back
8. Nova-Leigh
9. Blood, The Sun & Water
10. At Home Now
