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 To observe Ra Ra Riot on stage is to observe a joyful experience in progress, somehow both intensely fun and just plain intense; it's a joy that's always aware that darkness and despair may be just around the corner, that life is both beautiful and terrible, and it’s a joy that is in fact amplified by this awareness.
It's this bittersweet dynamic that makes the rhumb line a compelling debut album by a band with seemingly limitless potential. From the haunting slowburn crescendos of opener ghost under rocks through the playful each year, can you tell and too too too fast, the more pensive oh, la and dying is fine, and a curveball cover of Kate Bush's suspended in gaffa, the album skillfully melds elements of new wave and classic indie with sweeping orchestral chamber pop to startling effect. Epic and eloquent, dramatic and graceful, Ra Ra Riot's debut is an inventive and ambitious record that consistently conveys the passions of its creators.
Daytrotter is back with another run of Barnstormer dates, taking a handful of favorite Daytrotter recording alums out to tour the rustic, old barns of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois for some more nights to remember. One and all are encouraged to attend and caravan with the tour; grilling with, camping out, and staying at the same campgrounds and bed and breakfasts as Daytrotter and the bands (which include Ra Ra Riot, Pearly Gate Music, Delta Spirit, Nathanial Rateliff, and Free Energy). It will be five days that no one will soon forget. |
 The Yellow Bird Project teams up with indie rock musicians to create t-shirt designs, and then sells those shirts to benefit a charity chosen by the musicians. They've teamed up with Ra Ra Riot and have a smashing new shirt, which benefits the John Pike Memorial Project. See the shirt and read all about the concept behind the Yellow Bird Project here.
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 Following a string of sold out dates in winter 2008 / spring 2009, this summer and fall Ra Ra Riot will once again be touring across North America. This July they’ll be supporting Andrew Bird, Death Cab for Cutie, and The New Pornographers. September and October will find Ra Ra Riot on a run of headline dates, with Maps & Atlases and Princeton as support.
In other Ra Ra Riot related news, LP, the debut album from Discovery, Wes’s side project with Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend, is out July 7th on XL. Pitchfork has already called the record "your electro-pop summer soundtrack". |
 The limited edition CD-single of Ra Ra Riot's can you tell is almost all gone, but have no fear: it's now available digitally, with one bonus track (the Passion Pit remix of ghost under rocks). Get yours now at iTunes or your favorite digital retailer.
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Ra Ra Riot will be performing tomorrow night, March 25, on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson — be sure to tune your receptors to the appropriate station! They'll be playing the song can you tell, which is on their full-length album (the rhumb line) as well as a new cd-single. |
Barsuk staff and many of our bands will down in Austin later this month for the annual SXSW music festival, playing parties, doing DJ sets, and having a good ol' Texas time. Our official showcase with Merge Records, March 21 at the Parish, will feature Ra Ra Riot, Say Hi, and The Wooden Birds, as well as Merge bands Telekinesis, Lou Barlow with Imaad Wasif, and The Rosebuds, and special guest DJ Jason Hammel from Mates of State spinning records between sets. Due to tour routing logistics, Viva Voce will have to hit the road before our showcase Saturday night, but they'll be down in Austin earlier in the week playing a few parties in their new four-piece lineup. |
Ra Ra Riot took some time off from touring to perform on acclaimed radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning. You can listen to the entire show here. |
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Ra Ra Riot are: Milo Bonacci (guitars), Alexandra Lawn (cello), Wesley Miles (vocals), Mathieu Santos (bass), Rebecca Zeller (violin) |
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