Mike's World

THE NEW KELVIN -by Mike Ruffo

I’ve recently been introduced to the band that redefines cool. So much so that The Budos Band, out of Staten Island, is now the standard by which the coolness of all other bands will be measured. I call it the Budos scale and it works exactly the opposite of the Kelvin scale.

The Budos Band’s first release “The Budos Band I” took me off guard. The purely instrumental band lays down a solid afro-beat and lets the horns, flute, guitar, bass, and various other instruments dance around like pagans around a fire. I was enthralled. When I came out of my trance, I thanked the music gods for such a creation and scurried off with this anomaly of musical genius. I was certain there would never be another CD quite this cool. That is until I heard the Budos Band had come out with a second CD.

Cleverly titled “The Budos Band II”; the band put all the energy they saved trying to come up with a catchy title straight into the music. Again, using a fusion of afro-beat, funk, and soul, the Budos Band breaks coolness down to its fundamental elements leaving a sound so icy cold it’s hot. I’ve not taken the time to embark on the futile effort of deciding which of the CD’s is better. I simply put them both on and let them play, over and over again, until the music mixes with my life and I can’t distinguish between it and my own thoughts. I encourage anyone and everyone who has ever wanted to have a soundtrack created for their life to get these CD’s.

There is a new Kelvin scale and absolute zero is now absolutely cool. That is to say, at absolute zero on the Kelvin scale, all matter ceases to move. At absolutely cool on the Budos scale, I defy you not to move your ass.

Mike Ruffo is a freelance writer from Seattle, WA If you have questions or comments, feel free to email him.

Budos Band II CD (The Budos Band)

DEATH CAB -by Mike Ruffo

The latest Death Cab For Cutie CD is wrought with emotion, as one would expect from the work of songwriter Ben Gibbard. His intelligent lyrics and thoughtful prose are as gripping and provoking as any of his work to date. But this album is a dichotomy in itself – this is a dark album with a bright message. "Plans" - the latest release from the Washington band - is filled with the themes of death and sorrow. Not to say this is a depressing album, but that it faces the reality of these themes head on and helps us to appreciate it for what they are: inevitable. In one of the most heartfelt songs on the album “What Sarah Said”, Death Cab plainly states what anyone who has been through it knows: that “love is watching someone die”.

Even the lover who is left behind in “Someday You Will Be Loved” is comforted in the knowledge that their true love will come and make any failed romance seem like “a series of blurs like they never occurred”. In fact, there is a strong sense that love can transcend the separation of death. In the bands first single on a major label “Soul Meets Body” Ben states “if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too”. And the name of the fifth song alone says it all with “I will follow you into the dark”.

For fans of Death Cab for Cutie this latest album feels like it was always there and falls right into the growing library of thought provoking, heartfelt, intricate music they have come to expect from the young band with old soul.

Mike Ruffo is a freelance writer from Seattle, WA If you have questions or comments, feel free to email him.

Death Cab For Cutie - Plans