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James is releasing his solo album Everything on March 24th. The first single has premiered on Surviving the Golden Age. Enjoy! 01/05/17 Wishing all our friends and fans a happy and healthy new year. Lights Out from Acres 02/16/16 Visit our Facebook page to view a photo set from the shoot for Dizzy on Daddy by Valerie Galloway from 1998. It's on my silver rooftop in East Harlem. A dreamy shoot indeed. Lovely work. 10/28/15 Our good friend and colleaugue Hannah Fury (from the song "Always" on Acres) has released a brand new tune on her Bandcamp page. Check it out! Thanks to Russell Suereth for his new review of "Acres" on iTunes and Amazon. Visit our Facebook page to see the post and read it below in New Reviews. 08/03/15 "NYC’s famous Music Row is about to be a ghost town" - NY Post I bought my guitar at Rudy's for recording and performing "Dizzy on Daddy" back in 1998. I still have it and love it dearly. I'm so glad I had a chance to spend numerous hours on 48th St., Music Row. 06/21/15 "Dizzy on Daddy" was written and recorded in honor of both our fathers. Happy Fathers Day from James and Jeral. Listen here and visit our Facebook page to see the post. Nine new photos added to our Facebook page: "Tracking strings at Loho Studios for the album Acres. 2009" See them on our Facebook page 04/13/15 I am starring in a series of photographs called The Book of James by artist Stephen Honocki. These are large format artworks and they are beautifully printed. I can't wait until you can see the full exhibition. Here is one called "Facing Temptations." 02/03/15 We posted an early promo shot of James by Valerie Galloway on our Facebook page. View it here Thanks to RUST Magazine for referencing RWR in a review for the new Soft News album: "RUST Magazine recently interviewed James Raftery, half of the creative core behind Rat Wakes Red, along with Jeral Benjamin, who described his work as making “music so beautiful it hurts”..." Visit our Facebook page to see the post. 20 years ago, Jeral and I met and started planning the first RWR album. Here's a photo from the vaults. It's the last day of recording for Dizzy on Daddy at Dubway Studios and we are laying down hand percussion on the floor for Gold. We clearly have gone and opened the celebratory bottle of Veuve. Was a great day and a wonderful first recording experience. See the pic and listen to Gold below on our Facebook page.  05/03/14 James was featured today in Come Saturday Morning, the photo blog by Walter Briski, Jr., who took the portrait for Acres. These pictures were part of the photo sessions.  Celebrating fifteen years of Rat Wakes Red on Rat Disk! Wishing you a happy holiday season! Thank you for listening and supporting. We hope you keep enjoying all the albums. XXOO !!!  12/23/13 Happy Holidays from James and Jeral. We are are celebrating 15 years of Rat Wakes Red. Thank you for listening and supporting. We hope you keep enjoying all the albums. XXOO  07/31/13 After opening for Hayden at Maxwell's, I opened for Sloane the next month. But, in 2003 I had one of my favorite shows ever when Rat Wakes Red opened for Bob Mould. We were both going to play solo acoustic. The sold-out show was scheduled for August 14th, 2003; but, as I was getting ready to go out the door, there was a city wide blackout. Luckily, the show was rescheduled for September 18th and it was literally a dream come true. The crowd was amazing and he was super nice. Wow. View original show announcement here. The closing of Maxwell's brings back some amazing memories . One was doing a Rat Wakes Red show there opening for Hayden in 2002. The room was packed and the crowd was rapt. Such a great night. View show pics here. Check out Rat Wakes Red on 8tracks. You can hear the mixes at the bottom of the page. You can also create your own mixes as well and add in some of your favorite RWR tunes, if you so desire. Enjoy this mix on 8tracks, Boys Do Cry. Sensitive men singing sensitive songs. 02/28/12 The new video for Your Way Out is out now along with the just released Come Over both from the album Acres. View them here. Check out this new interview with Rat Wakes Red in Rust Magazine. Click here to read it. 02/21/12 Out now, the new music video by Rat Wakes Red. Come Over is over here... 02/19/12 There are now 2 videos ready for release. In the meantime, enjoy five stills from Come Over, from the album Acres, posted on our Facebook page. All these gorgeous photos are by Tim Gerken. Click here to view. We made a Rat Wakes Red station on Spotify and man, they are playing some good tunes. Try it, you'll like it! 01/05/12 A lot of the RWR catalog is now up on YouTube, with more to follow. Give a listen and if you like, spread the word....Thank you in advance. 08/14/11 Acres reviewed in Independent Clauses. "...for those who love the experience of setting an album on and blissing out to the mood it creates, this is a treasure trove." Read more here New review for Acres in the esteemed Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music. "It's one of those magical albums that seems to lack flaws." Read more here and visit The Ectophiles' Guide. 12/09/10 Acres gets another great review in the new issue of the prestigious publication M Music & Musicians. Read the review here and look for it in the November, 2010 issue of M. Check out the magazine's website here. 09/08/10 Rat Wakes Red is today's MP3 At 3PM on Magnet Magazine. Two free downloads, plus a cool write-up and photo. Check it out here, spread the word and take a look at this great music magazine. 09/07/10 Acres makes Jack Rabid's Top Ten for September 5th in The Big Takeover Magazine's online edition. We are so honored to be in such illustrious company! Check out the list and review here. Rat Wakes Red is now on Bandcamp, the best site on the web for super high quality downloads in 320k mp3, AAC, FLAC, Ogg or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Also, you can find Bandcamp downloads on our MyStuff Tab on the Rat Wakes Red Facebook page. Check out our updated Facebook MyStore too. Become a fan! Runrunaway loves Acres, too. Another great review! But, don't forget the violas! "Rat Wakes Red is the musical vision of James Raftery. The latest incarnation of this vision is a new CD titled “Acres”. The album is a collection of 18 songs featuring James on vocals, guitars, piano, synths, organ, and tin whistle. To further round out the sound James is joined by a supporting cast on bassoon, clarinet, French horn and drums. In addition, on the opening track “Always”, he is joined on vocals by the incomparable Hannah Fury. Read the entire review here. Acres gets a sweet review in Sentimentalist Magazine. "Rat Wakes Red may sound like the name of a punk band belting out three-chord, angsty anthems, but this act is quite the opposite, and the haunting, charmed surprise is partly what makes RWR, and their latest release, Acres, stand out." Read more at www.sentimentalistmag.com. It's official. Rat Wakes Red Acres was released today. Three songs are previewing here and now through August 10 order from our website and get a free Weekend EP. The new LP would suggest a prolonged elegy to the dead and awakening. It is a spectacle of simple sounds: piano, acoustic guitar, synths, organ, strings, woodwinds, drums, tin whistle and many, many voices. James sings, plays, plucks and blows. Jeral returns to produce and provide violas while woodwind stars chime in to emboss the layered lather. Matt Raftery adds the needed kick from his drums while Hannah Fury lends her voice to "Always". The ensuing song service is sung from the heavens inside, like an internal choir and orchestra. It comes from loss, change, death, and new beginnings. A slow burn of sad, beautiful dark nights of the soul. Our upcoming release Acres was reviewed by Jack Rabid, publisher of The Big Takeover, in its new special 30th anniversary issue, #66, spring 2010. Check it out here. The new album is called Acres. It will be released by the end of this month. I hope you all are as excited as I am. More details to follow... 02/23/10 Ok. This is really big. The new album was mastered today. The 18 songs that I've gotten to know so well over the last couple years opened up before my ears, unfurling their petals, revealing hidden layers. I love the mastering process. It takes something great and makes it even better. Feels like magic. Seems like mystery. Science and art collided today and we smashed a few atoms along the way. Soon, baby, soon. Today, the last sound recorded for the album was a tin whistle I got when I was 11 on a family trip to Ireland. The mouthpiece is covered in bite marks. I used to play the shit out of that thing. Funny part was, my teeth remembered the grooves. 12/17/09 The album is almost there. Last week was the cherry on top and the frosting all at once. More lush strings went down, and three amazing players came in to add bassoons, clarinet and french horn. Songs were silkened by strings and frothed with a woodwind meringue. A very tasty treat. Soon enough you can have a bite. 11/29/09 RWR was featured on Jack Rabid's "Big Takeover on Breakthrough Radio" this week. Sloan opens the show, who I opened for a few years ago. Cool! Also, some Dead Kennedys and Feelies... yeah! Listen in, y'all. 11/14/09 In the studio today, I knew we had something special. It keeps revealing itself. Rich, glittering, multi-layered, opalescent, labyrinthine. Quietly jeweled. A spectacle not making a spectacle of itself. Just being, reflecting in all directions. Well, everyone. Seems to have become fall suddenly. I'm windswept and burnt orange. Fires are being lit, leaves are asunder, and I am planning many things. The tunes are a bubbling cauldron. Simmer simmer, little ones. Stay warm by the coals. We are adding spices and herbs to the widescreen steam. It will happen, just let it stew. We are stirring the pot. Stay with us. You will be rewarded. 07/20/09 I've recently had the honor of having a secret guest vocalist grace my new album with her singing. Details will follow as we lead up to the release, but I don't want to spoil the surprise just now. We hunkered down in a basement studio in Brooklyn and captured her tones. It was bliss. There's so much cooking right now with this project. Strings are being layered, synths are vibrating, tracks are mixing, voices are blending. It definitely has scope. Cinema-Scope, only sonic. Soon, baby, soon. 04/03/09 The album is taking shape. Jeral is upstate with me laying down strings this weekend at Dryhill Studios. It's grey, wet, and very, very windy. Everything is blowing everywhere. Just the right atmsosphere. I can't wait for you all to hear this. 02/05/09 You can have it if you want it. It'll shuffle for you, too. 01/28/09 bridgit's back Re-introducing Bridgit. The new and improved widget portal to all things Rat Wakes Red on the web. Get it, share it, embed it, post it. Just use it! Click here. 12/27/09 I just put up a page on thesixtyone.com. The address is thesixtyone.com/ratwakesred. If you haven't seen this site, check it out. It's a pretty cool place to hear new music. Oh, and Happy New Year! Thanks for supporting Rat Wakes Red. Energy Garage has been entered and reviewed in the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music. Also, the guide re-visited Horizon Drops and gave it a second review. A nice surprise! We love the Ectophiles' Guide and are happy they include Rat Wakes Red in their esteemed pantheon. Click here to read the new Energy Garage review here. Click here to read our entire Ectophiles' Guide page. 04/10/08 01/18/08 Rat Wakes Red has a home on Facebook now! Click here to view. Also, visit our pages on Last.FM, PureVolume, ReverbNation, OurStage, YouTube, TagWorld and be sure to keep an eye out for our new page on AbsolutePunk! 11/19/07 Rat Wakes Red will be featured on XM SATELLiTE RADiO this Thanksgiving, November 22nd at 10PM ET on the Radar Report on XMU Channel 43. The Radar Report is a special feature highlighting XMU's most notable bands each week. The Radar Report re-airs every Friday at 2PM ET and Saturday at 6AM ET. The show airs on: XMU, XM RADIO Channel 43, XM RADIO Online, Direct TV Channel 831 and on AOL. XMU, XM 43, is located on XM SATELLiTE RADiO in the United States and Canada: xmradio.com or xmu.xmradio.com. If you don't have XM you can listen online with A FREE ACCOUNT simply go to xmro.xmradio.com and use the following code: XMB4MD. All you need is an email address. 10/04/07 Energy Garage is here. After bated breath and much anticipation, you can now order the new ep/dvd which began life during the sessions for Horizon Drops and were completed for this new collection. A four song ep and music video dvd, "Anyway Now", originally released on Horizon Drops, shows up again on track 4 and as a music video to sate the masses with visuals. Three new songs, "Energy Garage", "You" and "Be Kissed" are spacey acoustic to pop with sweeping strings to quirky rock nugget. Something to enjoy on its own and to tie you over since the next full-length project is under wraps and proving to be yet another departure as well as a new return to form. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS 08/25/07 We are pleased to announce that the video of "Anyway Now" from Rat Wakes Red's new "Energy Garage" ep/dvd, available October 2007, is being featured and can be seen exclusively now at Digifestival.net. and partner events around the world. 04/30/07 RWR emerged from the studio in late March with the beginnings of the new album. After a week of twelve hour days in the darkness, the new project began to reveal itself. Will keep you posted on the proceedings. Before the new full-length is completed, we plan to release a new EP/Video. The "Anyway Now " video and a few new songs will comprise this surprise late summer CD/DVD. Title and release date TBA. 01/11/07 The video for "Anyway Now" is getting ready to drop. Directed by Antonio Leon and set/lit by Tim Gerken, who did the album photos for Horizon Drops, it is beautiful and we can't wait to show you all. Stay tuned for news on how to see it and for now click here to see exclusive stills. We are now featuring a music download center here and on our MySpace page |
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