the books formed in 2000 in nyc when nick zammuto met paul de jong through a common neighbor (they lived in the same apartment building).  soon after, they had dinner at paul’s apartment and listened to some samples.  they soon realized they were both obsessed with sound and formed their sound-collage folktronica focused band.

they began traveling and recording sounds (they have a library of over 25,000) together in nyc, la, boston, and a north carolina hostel.  paul is a classically trained cellist and focuses on recording film dialogue; nick, on the other hand, collects sound from obscure lp’s, homemade cassettes from thrift shops and “stream-of consciousness ramblings” from family members.

“art of this uniqueness stems from the unusual samples they use and how they use them.  they don't just repeat snippets of sound or vocals so they function as hooks, as, say, most hip-hop acts do.  instead, whole sections of speech are allowed to unfurl, with all their natural pauses and repetitions, conjuring atmospheres which either clash pleasingly with the delicate collage of instruments in the background, or comfortably bed down with them.”

in 2002, they released their debut lp, thought for food.  despite thought for food's unique sound, “the record, on one level, is not hard to pin down,” said pitchfork’s mark richard-san.  “the musical elements are so simple and commonplace that describing them is not a problem.  what's difficult is conveying how these few everyday pieces are placed together so artfully to create something this striking and unique.”

within a year, the moved to north carolina and released their second lp.  a year after that, they moved to massachusetts (nick studied chemistry and visual arts at williams college) where they wrote and recorded their third lp in an old victorian home.  in 2004, the french ministry of culture commissioned the books to compose music for an elevator in their building.  you can buy the composition on a mini cd called music for a french elevator and other short format oddities by the books.

until this point, the books only played one live gig together, and in 2006 they headed out for a three month north american tour.  according to nick, “it didn't even occur to us that it was possible to take it on the road.  once we started getting royalties from our cd sales, we realized there's just no way to make a living unless you go on the road.”

after that, they took a few years off to be with their family and work on a few solo projects.

on july 20, 2010, the band released their fourth lp, the way out where they sampled from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes.  nick described the album as, “you’re getting verrrry sleepy.”

click here to listen to the way out in its entirety.  click here for their blog.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if books have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.

books are eternal.

if you agree, please spread the word (about the band and this site).

jason

don't worry if you missed the paul's creek profile from last week: here it is.

temporary residence


temporary residence