“yes, we’re good looking”
Rusty Santos is a highly commendable human being.
His best friend, the one he spends most of his time with, is a recording studio. Rusty has produced, recorded and/or mixed one of the best Animal Collective records (Sung Tongs), Panda Bear’s Young Prayer and Person Pitch, Born Ruffians’ Red, Yellow & Blue, Owen Pallett’s Heartland, remixed Ariel Pink, Yamataka Eye, Grizzly Bear and many many more.
Rusty also composes rich and yet accessible music. He released four solo albums in a rather messy acoustic hippie vein, then he created The Present with his old pal Jesse Lee (Gang Gang Dance drummer) and Mina Ohashi (Mina’s background in classical piano and her love of japanese traditional songs bringing an inspired counterpoint to Rusty’s songwriting).
Psych/Folk/Rock/Experimental/Electronica/Post-Everything ? It is hard to label The Present. Noah Lennox/Panda Bear said about them: “When I listen to the sounds and the songs, the webs of connections and opposites remain. I can hear light and dark, high and low, happy and sad, synthetic and organic and on and on like that forever and that’s a compliment to the production and the technique (…). Most of all I like how I feel when I listen to the music”.
The Present also delivers raw and intense live shows. We met them when we organized their gig at our DIY venue Grrrnd Zero. We saw Mina and Rusty live again a few months later at La Route du Rock festival, where their set convinced us both God and Santa Claus actually do exist.
Rusty was supposed to do a mixtape, then an article about the rise of Footwork music for A&D collective webzine. He was a bit late to send it, so he wrote us again: “I’m so sorry I haven’t done my article about Ghetto Teks yet! Can I contribute a song by The Present you can premiere on your website?”.
So here comes In Bliss. We’re still impatient to hear/read these others contributions, but we feel Honoured to propose you this new song:
The Present – In Bliss
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Some news about The Present : “We are currently midway through recording a new album which we’ll probably release somehow in a couple months. We put new music up on our Soundcloud once or twice a week. We’re going to do a US tour after we finish the album and would love to make it to Europe sometime this year“.
They posted Sunbeam a few days ago on their Soundcloud. Mina we love you.
Another unreleased The Present epic song, recorded in 2007/2008 I think:
The Present – Victory
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And finally some Rusty “as you can hear i produced Sung Tongs” solo stuff:
Rusty Santos – This Direction (taken from The Heavens, released by United Acoustic Recordings in 2004)
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Rusty Santos – Bulletproof (beautiful song taken from Eternity Spans, released by United Acoustic Recordings in 2006)
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