ARTIST: Rafter
TITLE: 10 Songs
LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 195kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 38m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-10-12
RIP DATE: 2006-10-05
Track List
----------
1. Bicycle 4:01
2. Whiskey For Water 3:29
3. I Don't Like To Get Down On My 3:19
Knees
4. "R" Is For Reach 8:02
5. Stars 2:05
6. Single Molecule 2:19
7. My Friend The Crow 3:44
8. You'll Never Win, He Says 1:45
9. Dwells In 5:58
10. Up Close And In The Light 4:04
Release Notes:
http://www.asthmatickitty.com/
This pop gem has been buried in the rough since 1998, when Rafter put the
finishing touches on his garage-built masterpiece and called it ô10 Songs.ö At
the time he was living in the infamous (and little-known) Go-Homes in downtown
San Diego, an experimental living space inhabited at the time by a number of SD
music luminaries. Pinback was busy recording their debut album in the same
building, Rafter was recording a bunch of excellent bands in his garage, and all
sorts of talented folk were within reach for a horn or string part when they
were needed. Some simmering impulse in RafterÆs soul told him it was time to
create an album of beauty, and so he went to work on ten luscious, wistful, sad
and beautiful songs (after it was finished he suspected it was all to get the
ladies to like himà ahh, the subconcious motivations of the human animal!).
This is long before Rafter had access to any sort of respectable recording
set-up, having to make due with the crappy-budget deal, which is just more proof
of how much you can do with so little when youÆve got the burning desire. A
first computer provided, for the first time, the ability to experiment with
looping and extensive sampling û long drum tracks could be reviewed and snipped
for the essential feel desired. All sorts of instruments with myriad effects are
employed with the end-result of songs like ôWhiskey for Water,ö with itÆs
driving distorto-bass and breakbeat drums overlayed with at least three distinct
guitar parts, incongruent cheerful string-wash accents, and delicate and
desperate (and again incongruent) vocals (not to mention the bird calls and
other minutae springing up like a Max Fleischer cartoon epic).
There can be a feeling of these songs belonging to a different time, as you
might expect from an eight-year lapse ætween creation and final fruition, yet
these songs are so fleshed out and worked through that once stepped into, they
tend to overflow contemporary technological and cultural streams. You can float
along on top contemplating the slowed-up folk crunk of ôMy Friend the Crow,ö
improbably perched soundwise between Neil Young and M.I.A. (with a bit of Pascal
Comelade thrown in for good measure), and thus forget that impulse to define and
measure and relate everything down to itÆs perceived place in the history of
time. This is an album to lose your way in, headphones pumping and toes tapping
and mind swimming in the rich environs authored by a persevering love-seeking
dude.