Jim Ruiz

I just saw Jim Ruiz last night at the Entry in Minneapolis. They played mostly stuff from their forthcoming album. (Tentatively titled "The John Crozier Sessions" after the producer, formerly a member of the band, and a sometimes member of the Hang Ups.)
One of the new songs was called "My New Wave Past", which went into the
"c'mon c'mon c'mon" part of "Angels"! When the rhythm section kicked
into the Angels bit, I couldn't believe my ears. ("Is it? Nah--couldn't be!") And THEN,Jim went into a diatribe (over the music) about the Jazz Butcher and MaxEider, continuing with a list of other eighties bands, and concluding
with the statement "Even Lloyd Cole made me happy." ...Really cool.

As for one list member's assumption that LJRG is a kitchy lounge novelty act, it is simply not true. There are jazzy elements, yes, but there is nothing tongue-in-cheek about them. Jim openly scoffs at the whole
"lounge" genre, and would much rather be lumped in with Aztec Camera
than Combustible Edison. They're really worth checking out. Received on Thu Sep 4 10:17:34 1997