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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = The Books|image = Thebooks.jpg|caption = Left to right: Nick Zammuto, Paul de Jong||background = group_or_band|origin = New York City , New York , United States |Instruments =|genre = Folktronica , experimental music|experimental , sound collage |Formed = 2000|years_active = 2000& ndash;2012|label = Tomlab , Temporary Residence Limited |website = http://www.thebooksmusic.com/ www.thebooksmusic.com|current_members = Nick Zammuto Paul de Jong|past_members = The Books were an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech.cite web |author=Richardson, Mark |title=Album review: The Books - Thought for Food |url= http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/854-thought-for-food/ |date=2002-07-23 |work= Pitchfork Media |publisher= |accessdate=2009-07-28cite web |author=Mintz, Hillary |title=Album review: The Books - Thought for Food |url= http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/226 |date=2002-06-11 |work= |publisher=Published by Dusted Magazine |accessdate=2009-07-28 They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab , and released their fourth studio album, The Way Out (The Books album)|The Way Out , on Temporary Residence Limited in July 2010.
History
1999–2002: Thought for Food
Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building.cite web |first=James |last=Reed |title=On the search for sounds |url= http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/04/10/on_the_search_for_sounds/? page=2 |work= Boston Globe website |publisher=Published by The New York Times Company |date=2009-04-10 |page=Page 2 of 2 |accessdate=2009-06-03 De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record.cite web | author=Ruttenburg, Jay | title=Aural recipe | url= http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/music/70686/aural-recipe | work= Time Out (company)|Time Out New York | publisher= | date=2005-04-28 | accessdate=2009-06-03 Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music." Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music , in comparison to their own works, under the name The Books .cite web | author=Bolle, Susanna | title=The Books | url= http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php? i=963 | work=Junk Media | publisher= | date=2004-03-15 | accessdate=2009-06-03
In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album Thought for Food .cite web | author=de Jomb, Paul, and Zammuto, Nick | title=About The Books| url= http://www.thebooksmusic.com/news/ | work=The Books' website | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-03 Zammuto and de Jong moved locations constantly during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles , Boston , and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail .cite web | author=Sarna, Dan | title=Interview: Nick Zammuto of The Books | url= http://www.imposemagazine.com/interview-the-books/765/ | work=Impose Magazine | publisher= | date=May 2007 | accessdate=2009-06-03
Thought for Food was released on October 22nd, 2002.cite web | title=The Books: Thought For Food | url= http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php? pid=546205 | work=HBDirect.com | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-03Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot Praised by critics for its distinctive sound,cite web | author=Richardson, Mark | title=Album review: The Books - Thought for Food | url=Allmusic|class=album|id=r613714|pure_url=yes | work= Allmusic | publisher=Published by All Media Guide | date= | accessdate=2009-06-03 it featured extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with mostly acoustic instrumentation.
Shortly after the release of Thought for Food , the band relocated to North Adams, Massachusetts , near where Zammuto had graduated from Williams College in 1999, studying chemistry and visual arts .cite web | title=2008 Keynote speaker: Nick Zammuto | url= http://siffest.com/? q=node/82 | work=Student Independent Film Festival website | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-03 Zammuto and de Jong began the recording of The Lemon of Pink around this time. Anne Doerner, a guest vocalist on the album, said the process was much more arduous than the recording of Thought for Food , with Zammuto working on the album for five straight months.
The Lemon of Pink was released to critical acclaimcite web | url= http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/books/lemonofpink | title=Reviews of The Lemon of Pink - The Books | work= Metacritic | publisher=Published by CNET Networks|CNET Networks, Inc. | accessdate=2009-06-04 on October 7th, 2003.cite web | author=Carr, Daphine | title=Album review: The Books - The Lemon of Pink | url=Allmusic|class=album|id=r659623|pure_url=yes | work=Allmusic | publisher=Published by All Media Guide | date= | accessdate=2009-06-04 It is similar in style to Thought for Food , but oriented more around vocals performed mostly by Anne Doerner.
2003–2006: Lost and Safe , Music for a French Elevator , Prefuse 73 Reads The Books
In 2004, the French Ministry of Culture (France)|Ministry of Culture asked The Books to compose music for a new elevator in their building. The Books released a Mini CD of this work in 2006, under the name Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books .cite web | title=Music for a French Elevator EP | url= http://www.thebooksmusic.com/garage/ | work=The Books website | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-06
On April 5, 2005, The Books released their third studio album, Lost and Safe . Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album, and the album was criticized for this change of sound.cite web | author=Gaerig, Chris | title=Playing by The Books | url= http://www.michigandaily.com/content/playing-books | work= Michigan Daily | date=2005-04-11 | accessdate=2009-06-24 Aside from this, Lost and Safe was well received by critics.cite web | title=Reviews of Lost and Safe - The Books | url= http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/books/lostandsafe? q=lost%20and%20safe | work=Metacritic | publisher=Published by CNET Networks, Inc. | date= | accessdate=2009-06-06 Throughout early 2005, The Books collobarated with the electronica artist Prefuse 73 . The Books appear on his album Surrounded by Silence ("Pagina Dos"), and the E.P. Prefuse 73 Reads the Books E.P. collects remixes of material sourced from The Books' albums.
Before starting a three-monthcite web | author=Madison, Tjames | title=The Books book big domestic tour | url= http://www.livedaily.com/news/9633.html | work= LiveDaily | publisher=Published by Ticketmaster | date=2006-02-21 | accessdate=2009-06-06 tour of North America in April 2006, The Books had played only one concert, in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago, Illinois .cite web | title=The Books: Information | url= http://www.thebooksmusic.com/news/ | work=The Books website | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-06 Zammuto has expressed apprehensiveness towards touring, but says it is necessary to make a living, given his belief that people downloading The Books' music via file-sharing has put him under financial strain.
2006–present: Break, The Way Out
Following the release of Music for a French Elevator , the band took a break from recording to tend to their new families, tour in support of their albums, and pursue some of their own projects, which included Zammuto scoring a feature documentary about the Biosphere 2 .
In 2007, The Books released Play All , a DVD of thirteen music videos and three previously unreleased tracks.cite web | title=Play All: A DVD of Videos | url= http://www.thebooksmusic.com/garage/bv_play_all.html | work=The Books website | publisher= | date= | accessdate=2009-06-04 The Play All videos are composed of found footage transformed into a collage that matches their music. The Books often screen these videos during their live performances.cite web | title=Film Review-Play All: The Books | url= http://www.tinymixtapes.com/The-Books-Playall-DVD | publisher=Tiny Mix Tapes | accessdate=2009-09-30Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot
The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007, including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows. In early 2009 The Books covered the Nick Drake song "Cello Song" in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization 's Dark Was the Night fund-raising album.cite web | author=Hall, Tara | title=Jose Gonzalez maps North American jaunt | url= http://www.livedaily.com/news/19193.html | work=Livedaily | publisher=Published by Ticketmaster | date=2009-05-27 | accessdate=2009-06-24
The Books began working on The Way Out (The Books album)|The Way Out in late 2008. Zammuto spoke of the album's New Age themes in an interview in April 2009, saying they took samples from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes. When asked to describe the album, Zammuto said "You're getting verrry sleepy." On April 5, 2010, the duo announced that The Way Out would be released through Temporary Residence Limited in July.cite web | author=Zammuto, Nick | title=Temporary Residence& #33; | url= http://thebooksmusic.tumblr.com/ | work=The Books' Blog | date=2010-04-05 | accessdate=2010-04-29 On April 27 Pitchfork Media began streaming the track "Beautiful People",cite web | author=Dombal, Ryan | title=New Books track: "Beautiful People" | url= http://pitchfork.com/news/38626-new-books-track-beautiful-people/ | work=Pitchfork Media | date=2010-04-27 | accessdate=2010-04-29 which Zammuto described as "a three part christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat, an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass and lyrics about the twelfth root of two (my favorite irrational number), trigonometry and tangram s".cite web | author=Zammuto, Nick | title=Beautiful People | url= http://thebooksmusic.tumblr.com/ | work=The Books' Blog | publisher= Tumblr | date=2010-04-28 | accessdate=2010-04-29 The album was released on July 20.
The Books played the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 and are currently touring North American tour with the Black Heart Procession . The band have been chosen by Portishead (band)|Portishead & ATP to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace. http://www.atpfestival.com/events/ibymportishead.php ATP: I'll Be Your Mirror London
2012: Indefinite Hiatus
Nick Zammuto released an interview via Pitchfork saying that The Books were ending.
Musical style
The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own,.cite web | author=Richardson, Mark | title=Album review: The Books - The Lemon of Pink | url= http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/855-the-lemon-of-pink/ | work= Pitchfork Media | publisher= | date=2003-10-08 | quote= The Lemon of Pink may sound a bit like this duo's debut, but it also sounds like nobody else. The Books remain more or less a genre of one. | accessdate=2009-06-04 Zammuto has described it as sound collage|collage music . Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , David Bowie , Roxy Music as well as new wave music|new wave and classical music, these do not show prominently in their music,cite web | author=Male, Howard | title=The Books: Don't take us literally | url= http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-books-dont-take-us-literally-428430.html | work= The Independent website| publisher=Published by Independent News & Media | date=2006-12-15 | accessdate=2009-06-04 though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic music|electronic musicians Squarepusher , Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada .cite web | title=Roots maneouvring | work= The Guardian|Guardian | url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jan/27/worldmusic.popandrock | date=2006-01-27 | accessdate=2009-12-13cite web |author= Zammuto, Nick |title=Chain of Missing Links |work=The Books' Blog |url= http://thebooksmusic.tumblr.com/post/866311995/chain-of-missing-links |publisher= Tumblr |date=2010-07-27 |accessdate=2010-08-15 The Books' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk music|folk melodies usually played on acoustic guitar|guitar , cello , banjo and more, combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift store s,cite web | author=Khawaja, Jemayel | title=Interview with Nick Zammuto | url= http://www.hatesomethingbeautiful.com/? p=572 | work=Hate Something Beautiful | publisher= | date=2007-04-24 | accessdate=2009-06-04 which are digitally processed and edited. They also rarely use a drum kit in recordings and performances, instead favouring inanimate objects like children's toys and filing cabinets, which are sampled and looped. Some observers contend that their music is aleatoric ,cite web | author= Dainer-Best, Justin | title=Playing with Sound: The Books at First Unitarian | url= http://www.biconews.com/? p=5765 | work=The Bi-College News online | publisher= | date=2007-05-01 | quote=They ( The Books ) make aleatoric music, but that’s the easiest thing to say about them. | accessdate=2009-06-04 but Zammuto has disagreed, saying the music is very tightly controlled.
