Ribbons

04.09 RIBBONS @ THE RESERVOIR

Jenny Logan leads Brooklyn-via-California duo Ribbons with a reedy voice that suggests Jonathan Richman as much as Alec Ounsworth. But her guitar lines form the concentric circles of a Television tune, while drummer Sam Roudman offers these gigantic double-bass fills, an ostensible metal guy having fun kicking his way outside of an indie-rock paper bag. A slight but compelling spin on a sound that's had its revivals and lapses, Ribbons stands on its own terms just fine. Durham's Teh Vodak opens. - Indyweek Show Preview

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/ribbons-concert/20030944-37382096.html (free songs to download)

There is a light about the songs that Jenny Logan and Sam Roudman make as the Brooklyn-based band Ribbons. It's a soft light, as if the glow could be made less from power generators, turbines or windmills, but more as if it could be made upon the touch of a heavy, coated arm laying itself across your slumped shoulders and pulling you closer. As soon as the arm falls down across those sloped bones, butting against the back of the neck and curving slightly around it, like a staple, that's when there's a sudden surge in wattage and it sends some kind of shiver that escapes through the pores and hair follicles. It's a light of subtle tones, streaking out like loud penlights popping off in the dark night - one here and one there, both gone and then back with reinforcements. It's as if those penlights aren't run on batteries and bulbs though, but wick and fire - tiny candlelights, easily manipulated and able to produce more of a richer, feltier orangey yellow color. Logan and Roudman set down this generally consistent feeling of foreboding, or a tepid world closing in for a shove or a jab, leaning in to breath eerily upon the back of your head, messing up your combing temporarily, giving the sensation that the microwave exhaust were blowing out against you. It's as if there's a feeling out, like no one's going to make the first move until seeing those whites of those eyes or until thoroughly provoked to protect. There is so much calm in the stressfulness that lurks in the words that Logan writes, coming to the faces of all the frightening pictures that she finds herself running through collage style, one after another, creating a wall of darkened, brooding sound that doesn't go away when someone closes their eyes tightly. It's inside Ribbons music where we feel comfortable to find ourselves new ways of survival, maybe taking some of Logan's suggestions, like this one in the beautiful and haunting (well, they all are like that) song, "Love Is Mysterious." She sings, "We'll survive/Cause we know how to hide," and it's clear that there is an aversion to some of the drama that is the spine of the dramatic effect that Logan packs into the band's sometimes depressing, but brutally honest and relatable songs - relatable in the way that we all sometimes think, while crossing a bridge, what it would actually be like to fall off of it, or what it would be like to just drive your car into a hulking boulder or building. There are characters who leave each other to die - or not die, is more likely - and at that point there needs to be some new kind of acceptance, some digestion of the lights and the things seen by those lights in the midst of such dark times. What we see and what we hear there is are a host and hostess who will sever all of their ties if they need to. They will do all of the things that they must do to make it to the next mysterious and scary situation, also likely to involve a couple of people just not understanding one another, making the relationship harder than it needs to be and finding protection in the arms of those candled arms, laid upon their sloping shoulders. - Daytrotter

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/11/yes_in_my_backy_30.php

Brooklyn's Ribbons have the stripped-down fever-shivers and uneasy fidget of classic post-punk--think Joy Division, Orange Juice, Durutti Column, etc. But these two Cali transplants can also play the shit out of their instruments. Vocalist/guitarist Jenny Logan wages a tenuous war between textural, reverby strumwaves and ferocious fretting; drummer Sam Roudman supplies skeletal grooves that occasional burst into frenetic fireworks; Logan's shivery vibrato skates on top. New track "Total Loss" balances a tender, woozy piece of Kate Bushian melancholy with Roudman's percolating drums, creating a tension that is at once dreamy and confrontational. Check out "Total Loss" and a handful of other new Ribbons tracks at their recent Dayrotter session.

- Village Voice Music Blog

Three songs in, I was at a loss for words. Ribbons reminded me of … something. Something on the tip of my tongue. And then their February write-up as Seattle radio station KEXP’s song of the day said it for me: Joy Division. (Why I couldn’t come up with freaking Joy Division, I don’t know. Blame the heat.) Singer-guitarist-bassist Jenny Logan’s wavery, hollow voice sits like a weight atop drummer Sam Roudman’s elaborate rhythms. The two videos on the Brooklyn duo’s MySpace page suggest the sort of live show where it’s difficult to believe there are just two people onstage; Roudman’s drums seem to play the part of two or three instruments, and Logan switches deftly between single-note guitar melodies and jangly chords that give the songs an angular, post-punk feel — as does the tension between Logan’s narrow, chanty vocals and Roudman’s sprawling percussion, which pushes at the edges of each song, pulling her varied guitar lines in its wake. Get your grabby little paws on the band’s 2008 album Surprise Attacks when they come to town. Ribbons play at 8 pm Friday, July 31, at Black Forest. 21+. — Molly Templeton
- Eugene Weekly

Jenny Logan and Sam Roudman, a duo of New Yorkers, are the melodically thrashy group Ribbons. Signed early last year solely on the basis of their propulsive demo tapes and the strong buzz behind their highly energetic live show, Ribbons are rock and roll in the vein of Joy Division. Logan’s voice is a monotone bullet, atonal at times, but still managing to barrel above the light layer of fuzz and Roudman’s electic rhythms. With a background in metal, there’s no wonder that Roudman’s drums often break off in to artistic variations of double-bass before jumping back to the more angular breaks of bands like Josef K. On songs like “Plain,” Roudman’s drums nearly steal the show, a barrage of percussion creating a thundering backdrop for Logan’s almost Ian Curtis-like delivery. The two distinct sounds, pounding drums and flattened harmonics, mix beautifully though, creating a rock and roll sound that still, well, rocks, but doesn’t sacrifice intelligent composition or lyrical prowess in the process. - KEXP

Top-selling albums for the week ending October 8th, 2008 at Other Music, New York.

1. TV on the Radio
Dear Science - DGC/Interscope

2. High Places
High Places - Thrill Jockey

3. Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls - In the Red

4. Dungen
4 - Kemado

5. The Ribbons
Surprise Attacks - Electric Lights Music

6. Yo La Tengo
They Shoot, We Score - Egon

7. Group Inerane
Guitars From Agadez: Music of Niger [Live]

8. Calexico
Carried to Dust - Quarterstick

9. Santogold and Diplo
Top Ranking - Mad Decent

10. Blue Ash
No More No Less - Collector's Choice - Rolling Stone Issue 1064 (10/30/08)

Ribbons are from the borough of Brooklyn. In recent years, that hasn't been a cause for much celebration from this asshole, but they do up the 'Heath Band' factor a bit. Said Heath helps the band out and (I believe) hooked the kids up with the production team of Josh Loar and Anna Ehl to engineer Surprise Attacks. Good ears plus good band and good recording normally make for good records. The planets seem to have aligned to make this the case once more.

I have very little (read: none) affection for the bumper crop of new-school deconstructionist combos that have sprung up in the White Stripes' snail trail. Do the math: Matt and Kim are truly excrable, as are Mates Of State, and Black Keys need a bass player. White Stripes get minor props for allowing a woman with Down's Syndrome to get behind the kit, but none of these combos lend any credence to the idea that less is more. Ribbons continue the the recessive trend by plying their trade in the form of the trendy guitar/drums duo, but have the good taste to arrange their songs properly so as not to stink up the joint.

As it revolves around job duties on the good ship Ribbons, Sam Roudman handles the traps while Jenny Logan slings strings and sings. I hear a lot of Siouxsie in the vocals and a general Joy Division vibe all-around on Surprise Attacks. The female vocals are a nice change of pace, and do well in keeping silly Ian Curtis vocals out of the fray. Thanks to the pagan gods for that! The higher register is infinitely more pleasant, and more practically saves them from being eaten up by Roudman and his relentless pummelling of the drum kit. Pummel is by no means an understatement. I'm not sure what that drum kit did to Sam, but rest assured that it's paying the price.

While he beats the ever living hell out of that kit all over Surprise Attacks, the drums are never obtrusive. Logan does a great job of filling up the extra space with alternately atmospheric and jagged guitar and actual singing. She gets points for neither screeching and howling nor going all American Idol on the mike. It would be nice if other **ahem** vocalists (of either gender) would jump on that bandwagon.

Surprise Attacks is hooky without being poppy and interesting without being pretentious. That's a remarkable eventuality in this day and age, especially in a band coming from NYC. There are MP3s here and you can download the record from Amazon, Napster and I would venture I-tunes. I got a hard copy of Surprise Attacks through Team Ribbons and I can only assume you can buy it at shows. Luckily for your ear and eye holes, they play this Friday (8/22) at Hank's Saloon and Monday (8/25) at ex-galapagos. Both shows are in Brooklyn. Check the link below for more info.

xo
R


www.myspace.com/ribbonsnyc

See original Review at:
http://jadedscenesternyc.blogspot.com/2008/08/ribbons-surprise-attacks.html
- Jaded Scenester