So who the Hell is Spookey Ruben? Good question. I've been told it's his real name, but who is he really? He lives in Canada, but has grown up in the USA and parts of Europe as well.His artistic talent manifested itself as a youth when he took up the guitar and started opening for some well-known rock bands with his group at the time. However, he started to gain an interest in different pursuits, and now Spookey has a solo career, and a debut album on TVT Records. I think the best way to get in touch with the Spookey Mindset is to view the brilliant video he made some years back for the song, "These Days Are Old." He was given a grant by MuchMusic, the Canadian equivalent of MTV, and he used it to make what turned out to be a bizarre statement about life in general. Indeed, the entire album is a series of statements, Spookey-style, about everything he finds himself thinking about. The video combines footage of him being beaten up and slamming his face through a sheet of glass with lyrics about how pointless yet important life can be. I'm doing a poor job of explaining, but the video itself is pretty indescribable.
The album is equally offbeat, as Spookey creates individual bizarre pop nuggets of musical originality. The songs are usually miniature epics, performed all by Spookey, using genuine and synthesized sounds to obtain a unique sound that is...well, in a world all its own. To compare Spookey Ruben's sound to another band or person's would be doing him a disservice. It literally has to be heard to be believed. My favorite songs include the song from the video, "These Days Are Old," as well as "Wendy McDonald," which dissects the fastfood industry quite nicely. I also grooved on "Welcome to the House of Food," a song with a meaning that still escapes me, though I love the tune. In fact, the tunes are my favorite part about the album, weaving original-sounding melodies with Spookey's voice, which can be a high-pitched falsetto one moment, and a low rumble the next. The songs may not hit you at first, and in fact you might dislike some of them. But a few listens later, you'll be humming along and trying to figure them out, just like I did (and still am). Finally, an album that doesn't rely on a carbon-copy sound of feedback to get its message across.
Even the album artwork is cool, with a little picture to go along with each song. My favorite, the picture for Wendy McDonald, appears on TVT's promo Spookey shirts, and if you happen to see one of these bright yellow attack shirts, grab it quick. The picture is the Wendy's logo, with that little Pippi Longstocking girl, but Ronald McDonald's face has been pasted nicely over little Wendy's ugly mug, creating a cool little image that will have people walking up to you all day going, "Hey, nice shirt. What's a 'Spookey Ruben'?" Also, the cover of the album portrays Spookey in a spacesuit, exactly like the movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
I highly recommend this album. It's adventurous, gorgeous to look at and hear, and won't leave the CD player after 2 listens like some other stuff. Check it out.
