Nomi Ruiz Clocktower installation, photo by Sam Huber, 2013

Nomi Ruiz, Borough Gypsy

Artist/singer Nomi Ruiz (Jessica 6, Hercules + Love Affair) has been working in our new recording studio finishing a new EP and now she has set up a Fantasy Exhibition & Listening Room to share costumes, ephemera, video, sounds and stories. She has a great blog for you to follow her daily explorations at nomiruiz.tumblr.com.

Singer/Songwriter Nomi Ruiz unveils her sophomore solo release Borough Gypsy, an album that has been in the works for 10 years and was completed during her two month residency at the Clocktower Gallery. Nomi takes the listener on a lo-fi cassette tape trip down memory lane using the grit of 90’s Hip Hop combined with Soul and acoustic folk elements. She relives intimate moments of her life growing up in Brooklyn, New York at a time when gang culture ran rampant. Topped with her poetic journalism, somber vocal arrangements and catty alter-ego rhymes, she weaves the tale of an urban gypsy who wheels and deals in sex, love, drugs, and darkness while sifting through the psychological effects of her upbringing.

For her Borough Gypsy studio residency, Nomi invites you to be one of the first to hear the album in its entirety and see accompanying video portraits directed by Nomi as well. The studio space is transformed into a world where visitors step into the mind of the borough gypsy and get to see and sift through the urban tale as they listen to the album unfold. Visitors are granted full access to diaries, sketchbooks, photo albums and song writing journals which document the albums progress as well as the emotional progression which inspired its content. Also on display are hand-made items used for stage shows, items from Nomi’s childhood, and some of her first ever recorded demos which are only available in reel-to-reel and cassette tape format.

The Borough Gypsy Mixtape is available as a free download on May 14th on the Clocktower's Website.

Reception: Nomi Ruiz, Borough Gypsy

Singer/Songwriter Nomi Ruiz unveils her sophomore solo release Borough Gypsy, an album that has been in the works for 10 years and was completed during her two month residency at the Clocktower Gallery. Nomi takes the listener on a lo-fi cassette tape trip down memory lane using the grit of 90’s Hip Hop combined with Soul and acoustic folk elements. She relives intimate moments of her life growing up in Brooklyn, New York at a time when gang culture ran rampant. Topped with her poetic journalism, somber vocal arrangements and catty alter-ego rhymes, she weaves the tale of an urban gypsy who wheels and deals in sex, love, drugs, and darkness while sifting through the psychological effects of her upbringing.

After Hours, Nomi Ruiz at BB Kings!

As part of Times Square Arts and the Clocktower Gallery’s After Hours series, singer-songwriter-producer Nomi Ruiz performs songs from her new album Borough Gypsy, live for the first time: Thursday, May 9, 2013 AT BB KINGS BLUES CLUB!!!* RSVP required - SOLD OUT! Doors open at 10pm * Originally scheduled for the Liberty Theater (through Famous Daves) on West 42nd Streei, that venue was suddenly closed by the police just hours before show time (no fault of ours). Some fabulous friends and good spirits in the club community found a way to make this happen at BB King's. Our thanks to all and specially the heroic Nomi, who put on a most memorable and inspirational concert with her band. Nomi Ruiz’s sophomore solo release, Borough Gypsy, is a lo-fi cassette tape trip down memory lane. Using the grit of 90’s Hip Hop combined with R&B and acoustic folk elements, Ruiz relives intimate moments of her life growing up in Brooklyn through song. Topped with her somber vocal arrangements as well as catty alter-ego rhymes, Ruiz weaves the tale of an urban gypsy who wheels and deals in sex, love, drugs, and darkness.