The Books break up
When I first heard Thought for Food it changed something about the way we could define something as music. This was weirdo outsider sound collage, but it packed all the wallop of emotional rock music, and I would fight anyone who didn’t recognize what The Books were doing was, in fact, songwriting.
But now Nick Zammuto has announced that The Books are no more. Their four studio albums - most recently the apropos The Way Out - are all we’ll get. I am grateful that I got to see them live. It was at the Ladies Literary Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I am also grateful that Nick Zammuto is back with a new band. It’s called, er, Zammuto. Less collagy and more songy, but the songs available so far have proven to be pretty amazing.
Zammuto said, in an interview with Pitchfork:
Everyone’s got a brass robot in their lives that they want to tear a new one, right? I had a frustrating couple years for sure, but these songs are more universal. Mostly they’re about making that difficult decision to cut your losses and move on, and committing to the new reality 100%.
