The Bull, The Balloon, and The Family

by Reubens Accomplice

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1.	Big Apple, Small Heart 04:35	info	buy track
2.	Lost Sun 03:36		buy track
3.	Underneath the Golden Grain 03:13		buy track
4.	All Chorus 05:16		buy track
5.	Leave the City 03:23		buy track
6.	This Town 04:17		buy track
7.	It is What it is 03:11		buy track
8.	Tonight We Drink 04:11		buy track
9.	In and Out of Key 03:41		buy track
10.	Act On (Feeling Alone) 03:51		buy track
11.	America You Look Good 03:27		buy track
12.	What You Want Gets You 05:33		buy track
13.	Life is Easy 02:32		buy track

about

allmusic.com

Like the Weakerthans southerly, desert-bound (Phoenix, to be specific) cousins, Reubens Accomplice play angular and smart pop songs built on a sunny outlook to tweaker trailer park culture, strip malls majesty, and spacious adolescent plains. The band is markedly stronger on their more propulsive numbers -- take "Big Apple, Small Heart," for instance, which crunches power pop, Jimmy Eat World bombast, emo-psychedelia (points for new genre) and waves of noise all into the same song. The country-pop twang of "Underneath the Golden Grain" sounds like Limbeck, and "All Chorus" recalls the more McCartney-inspired moments of Saves the Day's In Reverie, but with an epic grandeur that band never really aims for. The Bull, the Balloon and the Family is not a perfect album, but Reubens Accomplice has made good on the promise of their debut, and created a record that is not only as melodic and moving as the average emo fare, but more rocking and more true to themselves and their experiences.

RollingStone.com
March 22, 2004

Reubens Accomplice The Bull, the Balloon, and the Family (Western Tread) If the desperate, chord-crunching "Big Apple, Small Heart" launches The Bull, the Balloon, and the Family with a bit of Guided By Voices-derived abandon, it's an exercise in deception. The music of the Phoenix-reared principals in Reubens Accomplice is far closer to the dusty achievements of the Meat Puppets and Giant Sand on glistening, Americana balladry like "Lost Sun" (replete with xylophone) and the pensive "Leave the City." But the buoyant, autobiographical "Underneath the Golden Grain" and the shit-talking, locals-only feel of "This Town" are where you'll find Chris Corak and Jeff Bufano really hitting their stride. Even when they drift off into some sluggish abyss early into "It Is What It Is," they soon sucker punch you with an undeniable, sun-baked chorus. The Bull was produced with emo-peddler Jim Adkins (who co-owns the band's label, Western Tread) and while Corak and Bufano are light years away from Jimmy Eat World, this outing proves they are just as reliable. Perhaps they should consider altering their handle to Reubens Accomplished. (JOHN D. LUERSSEN)

credits

released March 16, 2004

"The Bull, The Balloon, and The Family"

Reubens Accomplice
as Written and Told by Reubens Accomplice is Chris Corak and Jeff Bufano

2004
Western Tread Recordings

Produced by Jim Adkins
and Reubens Accomplice
Mixed by Chris Fudurich
Except Track #10 Mixed by Jim Adkins

Drums Played by John O'Reilly Jr.
Bass Played by Ryan Kennedy

Howe Gelb Appears Courtesy of Thrill Jockey Records
David Bazan Courtesy of Jade Tree Records
Jim Adkins Courtesy of Dreamworks Records

Jon Rauhouse (pedal steel, banjo)
Robin Vining (vocals, cello, accordian)
Amy Ross (vocals)
Liz Bayersdorffer (bells)
Matt Maher (keys)
Jamal Ruhe (vocals)

Drums Tracked in Tucson, AZ at Harvey Moltz's House
Everthing Else Tracked in Tempe, AZ at Unit 2
Additional Tracking in West Hollywood at Chris Fudurich's Apartment

Cover Painting by Roy Miranda
Art Direction by Ben Allgood

All Songs and Words Composed by
Reubens Accomplice

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Reubens Accomplice Phoenix, Arizona

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