Listen: Toebow - "Kitchen"

photo by Moriah Ziman

 

While my discovery of Brooklyn's Toebow was largely in part from being born out of the remnants of Bennington College formed experimental psych folk collective BOBBY, it didn't take very long for Toebow to win me over as very much their own thing as genre-eluding songcraft was pretty much all Toebow shares with their former member's band. Originally christening themselves as "cartoon rock", Toebow's evolution has been an exciting treat - and one that their recorded output only tells half the story. Initially seeing them for the first time at the record release show for their debut Spirit Mane EP and attending as many of their shows as I could since, I quickly realized the disconnect between their live and recorded out - as many crowd favorites have still yet to see the light of day even with the release of their debut full length Themes back in 2019. But as the quintet ready another album and the subsequent release of longtime favorite "Kitchen", Toebow's recorded output gets closer to resembling their absolutely dynamic live sets. 

Considering how frequently Toebow give access to their instrumentals, it's not hard to see that that's the facet that they're most proud of. And it's understandable why. From the skittering start-stop drum entrance and the ping-pong guitar lines, Toebow certainly know how to put their best foot forward. From the moment you hit play, "Kitchen" is a beguilingly lush textural tapestry. Toebow's lyricism is always delightfully vague - serving the purpose of the song but otherwise revealing no more of its secrets and that's very much the case here. Each instrument - from its two guitars, drums, synths, bass, and five-part vocal harmonies are effortlessly blended to create this absolutely resplendent kaleidoscope of sound.

Pitstop: BobbyFogg

 Though I was originally introduced to them mostly by pure happenstance, Bobby, the musical collective birthed at Bennington College in Vermont, has embedded itself into a significant portion of my musical DNA. Though they only released one album, their self-titled record on Partisan, so many of its members have grown on to create absolutely incredible projects: from Amelia Randall Meath (Mountain Man, Sylvan Esso, The As) and Molly Sarle, to Maia Freidman (Uni Ika Ai, Dirty Projectors) to Martin Zimmerman (Toebow). So color me surprised when after nearly a decade hiatus Bobby rose once more. Kind of. While Bobby's mythology was always that of the seven members articulating their music in the spirit of this sort of otherworldly figure, the new project is a spiritual successor to Bobby - titled BobbyFogg and continued by Bobby founding member Tom Greenberg.

As any of the members of Toebow can surely attest to, "Potluck" by Bobby was one of my favorite unreleased tunes - one that was available as a part of The Wild Honey Pie's Honey I'm Home Sessions. I've lost count of not only the number of times I have played it when it came out in 2012 but since then. Imagine my delight when I discovered that the first actual release of BobbyFogg was "Potluck". A mixed version by the engineer of Bobby's self-titled D James Goodwin, "Potluck" acts as bridge between the two stages of the project. "Potluck", featuring former members Friedman, Zimmerman, and Paolo Menuez, is an absolutely scintillating melange of acoustic guitar, synths, and percussion. One of the band's strengths has always lied in its ability to weave acoustic and electronic textures together and "Potluck" is a further testament to that. 

Though largely serving as Greenberg's own project at this point, "Half Tulip" credits Bobby alum Julian Labatt as a co-writer for the bass part - so the spirit of collaboration is still very well alive despite a pivot to BobbyFogg as a solo endeavor. And there's no shortage of layers in Greenberg's composition - retaining that same blend of organic and digitized sounds, while building his layers with impeccable precision. Released around the same time as "Potluck", there's no telling when Greenberg wrote and recorded this song but there is a stylistic shift - Greenberg doesn't appear to be trying to recreate the magic of Bobby but there's something there for fans of the band. One of the things that distinguishes BobbyFogg from Bobby is immediately evident - the lyrics. In "Half Tulip", they're at the forefront, often cutting through the din of Greenberg's expansive textures, in "Potluck", they're a part of the tapestry - with Friedman and Menuez's vocals treated as vibrant colors that are sparingly used. 

 

 Considering how long it's taken Greenberg to resurrect the project, there's no telling when we'll hear more but here's hoping more is on the horizon from BobbyFogg soon.

Listen: Bobby - "Gummy Luck"/"Potluck" (Honey I'm Home Session)

This holiday weekend two things happened: First of all, I got really into experimental folk collective Bobby after remembering they existed. Secondly, I discovered while they've yet to put out any new music since last year's debut record BOBBY that earlier this year they did stop by The Wild Honey Pie and played some new songs for them. Score!

In "Gummy Luck" and "Potluck" we get two sprawling psychedelic jams that are catchy beyond belief. Different instruments shift in an out of focus and vocals handled in a sort of hit-and-run capacity. Arcing across like lightning before disappearing with no real evidence they were there.

Overall the two song session does its job of making me all kinds of excited for a new record as I'm  having a hard time turning "Potluck" off. It's sure to be a favorite on the new record.

BOBBY - BOBBY (2011)

Slap the label psychedelic or experimental onto a band and I’ll admit I get incredibly suspicious. It doesn’t matter how many times such suspicions are refuted; it’s a sort of knee jerk reaction from hearing a lot of crap. So the first couple times I’ve seen Vermont music collective BOBBY referred as such turned me off to them. And then I chanced upon a 7 minute live video of the band performing “It’s Dead Outside” on NPR, shrugged my shoulders, and watched the whole thing. Then I grabbed the album. The thing that really appeals to me about BOBBY is that it’s remarkably listenable. The way the band handles their rather gargantuan cast of players and almost equally large track lengths is nothing short of astounding. Minimalistic sprawling soundscapes and dreamy otherworldly vocals are the formula they stick to and yet each song remains fresh and vivid with exciting musical sounds. Perhaps it’s because their experimentation doesn’t have that everything-and-the-kitchen-sink or random-things-that-sound-cool vibe, instead their decisions come off as balance of intelligently methodical and richly organic. There’s no excess on BOBBY, each track coming to complete development in the time it is allotted. At no time does a song appear to be dragging or do you wish it had gone on longer; each track reaches its full potential and then gives way to another well-crafted creation. It’s an album that plays like a dream: the tone consistent throughout linking each song where its sounds and lyrics may not. So for all those who might be scared off by labels like I am occasionally, another definition might be necessary. BOBBY creates masterful pieces that artfully weave together elements of folk with synthesizers and other electronics while also maintaining a sort of sparse, untouched melodic truth. If you haven’t listened to it yet, give their self-titled debut a listen, it is no doubt bound to be an enriching experience. 

Get a taste for BOBBY with the same video that introduced me to them featuring "It's Dead Outside":