Recording: Brian Ruryk

Artist: Brian Ruryk

Song: Blue Moon of Kentucky^* [composer: Bill Monroe; arrangement: B. Ruryk]

Recorded at Ratio ("Music Gallery Departures Series #2"), February 6, 2015.

Brian Ruryk - Blue Moon of Kentucky

Taking another Departure from St. George The Martyr, the Music Gallery landed at Ratio's cozy space for this trio of solo sets. While Germaine Liu's opening set playfully scattered some marbles across the floor, Brian Ruryk's follow-up came with a full-on warning to, maybe, step back for safety's sake. Pursuing his guitar/noise deconstructions for three decades and more, Ruryk demarked the area in front of the crowd with a semi-circle of old boomboxes, then sat down with his guitar and tape deck, bin of debris and dollar store goods at his side. As he played, his noisebursts would occasionally be punctuated by something flung onto the floor in front of him: tin flowerpots, Dollarama serving trays, hunks of a smashed acoustic guitar — and, eventually, Ruryk himself, flailing away amongst the jetsam. This fell into that space where his performance was both a little goofy but also — because of his full-on commitment — utterly serious. He might not have many sonic peers, but that one hundred-percent straight-faced intoitness can be seen in performers like Fleshtone Aura and Man Made Hill.

^* I'm not sure if Brian Ruryk's re-interpretation of this song has its own title or not. Please leave a comment if you can fill me in!