the Books – A Cold Freezin’ Night from Paul de Jong / Nick Zammuto on Vimeo.
The Books do sound sampling cut-up like no one else, so visuals sliced up via the same mad genius come as little surprise. Heavily indebted to the work of pioneers like Emergency Broadcast Network, their videos still have the kind of sharp wit and child-like (or child-featuring) cleverness we love.
What you can’t see in the video above is just how thrilling The Book’s live show is. I got to catch this number at Boulder, Colorado’s Communikey Festival, and it brought the house down. Incredibly, their band of musicians, through some sort of android-like musical dexterity, execute their music’s intricate, asymmetric rhythms with complete precision. The video itself is just played back, but the music makes up for that.
And through all of it, the real stars here are the kids, which I think makes the results timeless. I’ll let you take it in for yourself. And yes, The Books have a new album coming. Stay tuned.