Wooden Shjips, ‘Ruins (Live In Brooklyn)’ – Exclusive Video Premiere
On their latest album, 'Back to Land,' Wooden Shjips wrap up 'Ruins' in a neat and tidy 5:14. Onstage, it tends to run a bit longer, and in this exclusive live video -- shot on Nov. 14 by the All Axis production studio at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn -- the San Francisco psych-rock voyagers go for 7:02, letting singer and guitarist Ripley Johnson heap torrents of freaky, fuzzy noise atop a repetitive bass-and-organ groove.
The Shjips could have sailed on for 8:02 or 10:02 or 30:02 and its doubtful anyone would have complained, and thanks to the hypnotic swirls of projected light, it's probable no one would have even noticed.
The All Axis gang makes the performance even more awesomely disorienting by working in split-screen effects and other visual tricks not seen since those crazy days of late-'60s variety shows. Whether you missed the Shjips' Brooklyn gig or were there and just can't remember a damn thing, you'll want to sit through this entire clip. Just don't operate a forklift or anything immediately afterward.
Next month, the band brings the trippy goodness to the West Coast -- click here for a list of tour dates.