Music in this post:
Ruby Jubilee — Ruby Jubilee [spotify, cdbaby]
I’ve never listened to anything like Ruby Jubilee’s self-titled debut collaboration. The joint project from composer Tareq Abuissa and producer S.H2O is intricately composed, lushly produced, and so intentional about each artistic choice. Sitting somewhere between hallucinogenic musical and diary dreamscape, it’s truly difficult to choose a genre to describe it.
Fleshing out the project are musicians Phil McNeal on drums, Jacob Sunshine on electric guitar, Diana Flanagan on vocals, Maximillion Zooi on bass clarinet, Corey Dansereau on trumpet, and Andy Clausen on trombone. The album was recorded by Oliver Ignatius at Holy Fang Studios in Brooklyn, NY.
I knew I had to break the writing dry spell with a conversation about this album, so I recently caught up with Tareq and Spencer (S.H2O) about the songwriting and production process for the album. The duo live and work in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and I video chatted them from San Francisco. The following is an edited and condensed version of that conversation. Interview after the jump!
Tareq Abuissa and S.H2O
Influences:
Marvin Gaye — I Want You [spotify]
The Beach Boys — Surf’s Up [spotify]
Animal Collective – Sung Tongs [spotify]
Grizzly Bear – Yellow House [spotify]
St. Vincent – Actor [spotify]
Listening to:
Janelle Monáe — Dirty Computer [spotify]
Oliver Ignatius — “Citys a Hell” [bandcamp]
Robert Glasper Experiment — ArtScience [spotify]
Chris Dave and the Drumhedz — Chris Dave and the Drumhedz [spotify]
Anna Wise — The Feminine: Act II [bandcamp]
in all genres, but especially world, rap, alt rock, electronica, and classical.
– Hot fuego