the books

Touted as 'more or less a genre of one', The Books are special. You can listen to them here and here, but in short, their music is crafted out of samples of speech and found sound. Then, cellist Paul de Jong and guitarist/vocalist Nick Zammuto, create aural masterpieces gently pieced together on every record. Maybe you could call it folktronica, but I hate genre-boxing. Whatever it is, it's amazing, and their live shows are, by all accounts, a multimedia collage-type experience in meticulous detail. So, after all that, I was excited to hear that they are playing at the Sydney Festival, and even more so to hear whispers that they will also be playing Auckland immediately after. Particularly beautiful is their recently released cover of Nick Drake's Cello Song.

EDIT: They're only playing in Wellington! As support for Camera Obscura! Grr.