I played hooky from work last Monday so I could see the Ruby Suns play at Bottom of the Hill. Considering the fact that just about every mix CD I've made in the past year features at least one of their songs, missing this show was not an option. I will admit that I was initially a little disappointed by the new direction in which they seem to be headed on their latest release, Fight Softly, but I think my ears were simply tainted by a residual fondness for their last album, Sea Lion. I do miss the so-called "world music" vibe that they managed to pull off without a hint of cliche, but after witnessing their new line-up in action, I'm disinclined to write off their change in sound as a creative misstep, the way some other reviewers and critics have. Less commercially viable, I suppose, which is a bit ironic, considering the leanings of this new album towards a chilled-out/tripped-out Animal Collective-ish-ness that has become a rather commercially successful sound as of late. But I certainly wouldn't dismiss this as a mistake, as I've never been of the opinion that a band ought to stick with a particular sound just because it worked for them in the past.
In any case, the show itself was fantastic, and I didn't even have to be drunk to feel like dancing, despite the unpleasant crush that's customary at any sold-out BOTH show. The evening concluded around the time the sun was coming up, after the band had been given the truly San Francisco experience of sitting around drinking cheap beer in a friend's apartment, eating leftover pasta and playing with an endless ball of string while someone iPod DJ-ed in the living room. All told, almost as fun as this new single of theirs, which everyone should listen to, all the time, because it's delightful.
