Category Archives: Jim Ruiz Set

Jim Ruiz Set to Play Chickfactor 30th Anniversary Show in NYC

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chickfactor, the indiepop zine founded by Gail O’Hara and Pam Berry in 1992, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with special shows in NYC and London.

Korda’s Jim Ruiz Set is playing one of the NYC shows (at the pier aboard the boat Frying Pan!) on October 6 with The Aluminum Group, Beatrix Madell, DJs Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields) and Gaylord Fields. Rare and amazing live music plus “vegan options in the restaurant, nautical photo ops and portraits and other fun stuff!” (tickets TBA). Head to chickfactor’s website for more information on the events and bands.

Related show

  • Artist: Jim Ruiz Set
  • Date: 10/06/22
  • Time: 6:30pm
  • Venue: The Frying Pan
  • City: New York, NY
  • Country: United States

KINKY KRISTMAS SHOW 12/12/14

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A strong Korda Kontingent will grace this Holiday Food Drive and concert hosted by ace Kinks tribute band Kinda Kinky!  Party, dance, and feed people in need all in one enchanted eve!  Three full sets of Kinks songs, with guest turns by members of Jim Ruiz Set, The Starfolk, and many many more!

8PM Friday December 12 2014

Eagles Club 34, 2507 E 25th St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406

The deets:

Admission is $5 with a non-perishable food item ($10 otherwise). And, for every paid admission, Eagles Club 34 will make a matching donation of $5 – up to $1000 for The Food Group (formerly known as The Emergency Foodshelf Network). Special guest cameos by: Brian Tighe and Allison LaBonne, Jim and Emily Ruiz, Mike and Charlotte Crabtree, Dylan Hicks, Cindy Lawson, Gini Dodds, Curtiss A,  Robert Wilkinson, Stephanie Winter,  Mike and Kiki Lane, Carol Cunnington and Jacques Wait, John Magnuson, Helm Matthews, Georgia Conley Ramin and Alma Engebretson. Plus 3 very special MYSTERY guests!

 

Jim Ruiz Set @ Chickfactor 22 Pop Festival!

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It’s high time to book that long dreamed of jaunt to NYC, for fave pop zine Chickfactor is taking over the Bell House in Brooklyn March 20-21 for two nights of chic pop bliss!

NIGHT 1 thu 3/20 features  WITHERED HAND (from Scotland!), Korda’s own JIM RUIZ SET, KURT HEASLEY (Lilys), AMOR DE DIAS (The Clientele/Pipas)!!!

NIGHT 2 fri 3/21 features THE CLIENTELE, VERSUS, BARBARA MANNING, THE SATURDAY PEOPLE !!!

Might we suggest, the best of both worlds: a TWO NIGHT PASS.

With Chickfactor as your host you can rely on a plethora of fun, melodic, smart pop; and this will be Jim Ruiz’s last show before shutting himself in the new song workshed.  His “Brooklyn Four” line up features drums by Emily Cahill, bass by Allison LaBonne, and marimba by Kim Anderson.  Don’t miss it!

Night 1 Facebook Event

Night 2 Facebook Event

Poster by the exceptionally talented Tae Won Yu…

Chickfactor-22-poster

 

 

Jim Ruiz Set Tunes Up for final shows in Minneapolis and Brooklyn

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Thanks to an invitation from Gail O’Hara, the JRS postponed retirement last week, and at the same time scored a “natural” hat trick, by accepting an invitation to play Day One of CF 22.  This will be the third time in a row JRS has had the good fortune to be included on Chickfactor’s New York bill.  The festival of pop will take place in Brooklyn at the reliable Bell House, March 20 and 21.   An exhausted Jim reports “It’s been a goal of mine to play on the same bill as Amor de Dias ever since we first saw them play in Minneapolis three years ago.  Check another one off my bucket list!”  Also on the bill will be indie charm-eleons The Lilys, and from Scotland, youngish up-and-comers Withered Hand. Our Brooklyn squad will feature the mellifluous mallet work of Kim Serene and, filling in for her sister Charlotte, the equally talented Allison LaBonne on bass.

Sharing Bill with Bethany Larson and Bee’s Knees Coincides with Premiere of Newly Restored Video

Thanks to another invitation, this time from our friend Bethany Larson, we will be returning to the Aster Cafe this Friday, the 7th.   To coincide with our last show in Minneapolis, we are making available, for the first time, the director’s wife’s cut of the legendary Minneapolis video.  Mark Preston (The Funseekers – Northwoods Holiday, dir.) and his wife Anne, have cleaned up the video, and with the help of a technology I don’t understand, transformed this slice of Minneapolis life in the nineties into a quality that defies all description.  See for yourself!

Final “Mount Curve Avenue” Tour Dates Announced!

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Minneapolis (you lucky city) will host the final two gigs of the Mount Curve Avenue tour which has brought Jim Ruiz Set coast to coast and across the Atlantic…don’t miss them!

1/31/14 Kitty Cat Klub (w/Somewhat Fierce, The Syrup Eddies) Free.  JRS has asked for song requests on the FB event page!

2/7/14 Aster Café (w/Bethany Larson & The Bees Knees) $7

The last year+ has been magical, with Jim releasing his first new material in fourteen years to glowing reviews.  Most fortuitously, the release of Mount Curve Avenue intersected with ace music zine Chickfactor‘s 20th Anniversary series of  “for the love of pop” festivals in NYC, London, and Los Angeles; where Jim Ruiz Set played to packed houses and shared bills with exquisite indie pop rosters curated by CF’s ever savvy Gail O’Hara.

JRS also celebrated with us at two banner Korda Showcases in Minneapolis; met up with pals The Orange Peels (lead by Allen Clapp, producer of Mount Curve Avenue) for jaunts to Chicago and Madison;  shared the bill with Korda mates The Starfolk for their CD Release Show, and played a birthday party at the historic Trempealeau Hotel in Wisconsin, home of the Walnut Burger.

With the Mount Curve Avenue mission gloriously accomplished, word has it the band is heading into hibernation until they have new music to share with us.  Last time it took 14 years, but Ruiz was recently overheard stating in a most cocksure manner, “I think I can cut that time in half.”

Buy Mount Curve Avenue on baby blue vinyl right here.

And check out the latest track by JRS, available only on Korda 2 Komp!

Jim Ruiz Set’s Mount Curve Avenue Now on Baby Blue Vinyl!

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Ears and eyes across the lands rejoice!  Jim Ruiz Set’s latest release–the stupendous Mount Curve Avenue, is available for a limited time on baby blue vinyl right here from our friends at shelflife records!  It looks almost as amazing as it sounds.

Kevin Lien's Collection of Jim Ruiz Colored vinyl

From 1995 to 2013: Jim Ruiz’s  Mij Amsterdam 7″ on Minty Fresh, and his latest LP  Mount Curve Avenue  on Shelflife/Mystery Lawn/Korda Records!  Photo by Kevin Lien

“Art Pop?  Cocktail Jazz?  Mount Curve Avenue is one of the best non-rock albums I’ve heard in quite some time.” -Bill Kopp, Musoscribe

 

The Starfolk CD Release Show!

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We can’t wait for you to hear this fantastic new record by The Starfolk!  CDs and download cards will be available at The Starfolk CD Release show on Aug 24 in Minneapolis (two weeks before the 9/10/13 release date!) at Aster Cafe’s River Room.  The night will also feature Bay Area sunshine popsters The Orange Peels, and the eclectically jazz infused stylings of Korda’s own Jim Ruiz Set.   All three bands will also be playing in Chicago at Schubas!

The Starfolk CD Release Minneapolis 8/24/13 Ticket Link

The Orange Peels + Jim Ruiz Set + The Starfolk in Chicago Aug 22 Schubas, get tickets here!

SF CD release poster 05

“The present iteration of Tighe’s Anglophilia lands The Starfolk somewhere near the land of The Left Banke in the time of The Three O’Clock, and that’s the kind of music that gets me all fired up with religious fervour.” –The Big Takeover

“The Orange Peels’ fifth disc, Sun Moon, overflows with bright, healing alt pop salvos that sound primed for vacation playlists. . .” –The Aquarian

“Jim Ruiz Set creates music that’s quite hard to pin down. Cocktail jazz? Art-pop? Sometimes wry, sometimes romantic, never overwrought –Mount Curve Avenue is one of the best new, non-rock albums I’ve heard in quite some time. Immediately appealing on its first listen, the album only improves on subsequent spins.” –Musoscribe

 

 

 

Extra! Extra! Bellows award! Mount Curve Avenue on Vinyl! Jim Ruiz Set in Chicago!

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 It’s summertime and the riding is easy here at Jim Ruiz Set HQ.  With the spring classics behind us we are heading into the most challenging time of the year.  The season has been a memorable one and we are pleased to announce three surprising and exciting new developments.

Jim Ruiz Set Wins Bellows for Mount Curve Avenue

Director Sportif Jim Ruiz:  “of all our palmares, I believe The Bellows is our most prestigious, awarded for ‘making a good CD’ and, notably, by a 10 year old.”

Jim Ruiz Set Wins Bellows for Mount Curve Avenue

Jim Ruiz Set Wins Bellows for Mount Curve Avenue

“Honestly, I’m tired of The Grammys, so many people win them!  It means a lot more to me to have The Bellows on my wall than some old statue I would have to dust all of the time.”

Mount Curve Avenue now available for sale on Vinyl on Shelflife

Jim:  “we are very pleased to announce that a sponsorship deal with Shelflife will mean that Mount Curve Avenue will finally appear on vinyl.  We will be adding the Shelflife logo to our jerseys at the soonest opportunity.”

Mount Curve Avenue now available for sale on vinyl on Shelflife

Mount Curve Avenue now available for sale on vinyl on Shelflife

The first 150 will be pressed in light blue vinyl and are available for pre-order here.  Mp3s will also be available for download for those who purchase the LP record.  “I think I speak for everyone involved in making Mount Curve that we all felt we were making a vinyl album, it was what we were striving for and why we put so much effort into capturing the sound of that house.”

Jim Ruiz Set to play Chicago’s Schubas August 22nd

Jim:  “After a very good showing in Brooklyn, the Set is excited to test itself in Chicago.”

Jim Ruiz Set to play Chicago’s Schubas August 22nd

Jim Ruiz Set to play Chicago’s Schubas August 22nd

“We are familiar with The Starfolk but The Orange Peels are a bit more of an unknown.  It’s always fun to play Schuba’s so the venue shouldn’t have an effect on the outcome.”  Tickets are for pre-sale here.”