Baruch the Scribe

Baruch the Scribe at the Spune 2k10 Ice Cream Social - Wedentondoit.com

There’s a genuine honesty and realness that happens in music occasionally wrapped in a weight of upright creativity and passion, that lands in your lap on those special occasions. Denton’s Baruch The Scribe might fit the bill for this particular occasion.

A beautiful organic approach to minimalistic, ambient music created in it’s own patient time and space, Baruch The Scribe may be on the right track to something really great. The instrumentation is broad and airy while the recording incorporates everyday day sounds into the mix. The band has a 6 song EP titled (Let Us Call Them As The World Calls Them) Evil Memories that flows seamlessly from start to finish like the seasons of the year. - Sonic Itch Music

There’s a genuine honesty and realness that happens in music occasionally wrapped in a weight of upright creativity and passion, that lands in your lap on those special occasions. Denton’s Baruch The Scribe might fit the bill for this particular occasion.

A beautiful organic approach to minimalistic, ambient music created in it’s own patient time and space, Baruch The Scribe may be on the right track to something really great. The instrumentation is broad and airy while the recording incorporates everyday day sounds into the mix. The band has a 6 song EP titled (Let Us Call Them As The World Calls Them) Evil Memories that flows seamlessly from start to finish like the seasons of the year. - Sonic Itch Music

Si on a quelques réserves sur le nom, la musique de Baruch the Scribe, elle, mérite qu'on lui accorde une oreille. Alors on peut aller télécharger le titre 'Evil Memories' (mais aussi 'Intentions') sur Bandcamp. C'est plutôt noisy / shoegaze et bien agressif comme on l'aime mais c'est à vous de voir...

- http://www.danslemurduson.com

Old fans of Baruch the Scribe might be surprised by what they hear in this week's video, shot last Wednesday out at El Sibil. As frontman Judson Valdez explains, his band flat-out doesn't do acoustic sets anymore. Why? Well, Valdez has filled in his project with three new faces since last summer, and they've taken a strong turn away from the earthy landscape Baruch used to live by. As Travis Oliver ventures to say above, it's "a little more rock and roll."

Valdez says the band reached this shoegazey, electronic space through a gradual evolution, though there was one point months ago where the band stepped back to settle on a new direction. Their set last week was almost completely comprised of yet-to-be-recorded material that's new since last summer's Evil Memories EP (which also featured a different lineup alongside Valdez).

As for the name? It is, yes, a Bible reference, as Valdez explains above. Faith is what guides his songwriting, he says, and what brings a hopeful twist to some otherwise down-beat lyrics. Like a number of Christian acts that avoid wearing their faith on their sleeves, Valdez says the band's not out to convert anybody--it's about reaching down for the most honest, personal lyrics he can muster. - The Dallas Observer

"Shoegaze rockers Baruch The Scribe were first – and we say shoegaze because it seems the best fit for the ambient quartet. Each member stood onstage quite still, completely engulfed in their music and detached from everything else going on around them. The heavy use of guitar effects – thanks to the wide array of pedals that guitarist Judson Valdez implements – and the indiscernible vocal melodies between Valdez and keyboardist Kristen Bryant made Baruch The Scribe a band that stands out in DFW. There was an ethereal beauty to their music when the inventive noise of the guitar was blended with the inaudible vocal melodies, which would vanish and reappear more unique than the next." - Pegasus News

Here’s another little golden nugget out of Denton. We’re not too sure what the name Baruch the Scribe is all about, but it does have a much nicer ring than Judson Valdez. Maybe. Still, we can’t argue with the music, which is a nicely layered and folk pop that hints a bit towards a cross between Page France and The Accident That Led Me to World. Valdez debut as Baruch dropped last year in the form of a intricately intimate 6 song EP titled (Let Us Call Them as the World Calls Them) Evil "Memories. Why yes, let’s. You have two chances to make some Evil Memories of your own this weekend as Baruch rolls into town. Tonight, Friday, April 30, he’ll be setting up shop at the Parlor along with Steve Arceri and Mermaid Blonde, and tomorrow he’ll be at Lambert’s with the Sad Accordions. Get a taste of the Scribe below with the track “Isn’t It Pretty to Think So?” off of the EP." - Austin Sound

"To hear a definitive Denton act in that hefty lineup, be there in time for Baruch the Scribe.

The local quartet has shrugged off its folksy history and is in the here and now. If ever there was a band that exemplified the ambient music of Denton, Baruch the Scribe is it. Concocting spacious, meandering tunes out of guitar, bass, chimes and percussion, to name a few instruments, the band merges simple sounds with rich, textured intent.

The band has been noted for collecting “found sounds,” environmental and coincidental sounds that are pulled like taffy through software programs that give them new context. A drop of water takes on the depth of a timpani drum, or footfalls on gravel become a shimmer of sound off a distorted guitar.

Something else to appreciate about the crew: The group has been open about the soulful depths it reaches for in its music, without wringing its audience out for a religious conversion.

Baruch the Scribe is: Judson Valdez, Kristen Bryant, Travis Oliver and Chance Maggard.

Sounds like: some sinners met up in a neglected cathedral to invent their own steps to recovery." - Denton Record Chronicle

"To hear a definitive Denton act in that hefty lineup, be there in time for Baruch the Scribe.

The local quartet has shrugged off its folksy history and is in the here and now. If ever there was a band that exemplified the ambient music of Denton, Baruch the Scribe is it. Concocting spacious, meandering tunes out of guitar, bass, chimes and percussion, to name a few instruments, the band merges simple sounds with rich, textured intent.

The band has been noted for collecting “found sounds,” environmental and coincidental sounds that are pulled like taffy through software programs that give them new context. A drop of water takes on the depth of a timpani drum, or footfalls on gravel become a shimmer of sound off a distorted guitar.

Something else to appreciate about the crew: The group has been open about the soulful depths it reaches for in its music, without wringing its audience out for a religious conversion.

Baruch the Scribe is: Judson Valdez, Kristen Bryant, Travis Oliver and Chance Maggard.

Sounds like: some sinners met up in a neglected cathedral to invent their own steps to recovery." - Denton Record Chronicle