We helped to organize a pre-release party for Renminbi back in March when their album, The Phoenix, was first being made available on a very limited basis. It ended up being an excellent show and the album has been in pretty heavy rotation for us the last few months since we first received it. The band plays a nice mix of post-punk and post-rock featuring intricately rhythmic drumming, swirling/pulsing keys and synth, and some damn fine guitar work. One thing that really strikes us is the way the vocals interplay with everything. Much of the album is instrumental and one pitfall we’ve noticed with other largely instrumental albums that feature vocals on only a few tracks is that the vocals can really stand out in a rather distracting way. Renminbi manages to avoid this with seeming ease. The vocals are never exactly upfront when they are present, but, rather, nested well into the instrumentation going on all around them without blending in too much or fading into the background.
We highly recommend checking Renminbi out tonight at Pianos. Everyone who attends will get a free copy of the album. And if you’ve already managed to snag a copy, bring it and they’ll give you a T-shirt to match.
And, as if that weren’t enough, The Naked Hearts and Forest Fire are also playing. Here are the details:
Renminbi + The Naked Hearts + Forest Fire
@ Pianos (RENMINBI CD RELEASE PARTY) / 8pm
158 Ludlow Street
New York, NY
8pm - Renminbi
9pm - Forest Fire
10pm - The Naked Hearts
11pm - Something In Spanish
And here are some photos from that aforementioned pre-release show, with more available on Flickr:
Tags:
cd release,
forest fire,
photos,
pianos,
Renminbi,
the naked hearts 
