By Fred Sowder, December 2008
Night Shot, Kindercore Records
From the debris of I Am The World Trade Center arises Ruby Isle, a jubilant mix of garage-conceived electronic dance music to tremble the dance floors of Brooklyn and the world. This trio goes beyond the clichéd dance rock styles of The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem to create a dirtier yet euphoric sound that only builds with the appearance of guests such as Tay Zonday and Daniel Geller’s IATWTC cohort Amy Dykes. The latter lends her vocals to Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” turning it into a synth-driven flight of fancy. There are some clunkers here, though, simply through the use of Auto-Tune on otherwise passable jams like “How It Hurts.” (Leave the robo-vocals to Cher and Lil Wayne, y’all!) Otherwise, perhaps most impressive on this disc are the last eight tracks on the digital version, which feature somewhat spontaneous cover songs from bands both obscure (“Shadow Falls” by Hello, Blue Roses) and fairly well-known (“The Plane Of Baltimore” by Stephen Malkmus and M.I.A.). Let’s hope they bring what is certain to be a unique live show to Gainesville soon.