Beta Love

Ra Ra Riot's new album, Beta Love, is out today. "Synth pop" and dance-ability are two descriptions about the new release, and if it's not obvious, the first track is "Dance With Me." Each song is short and focused. Nothing longer than 3:14.  The Seattle Times review mentions its giddiness. and the New York Daily News references "dinkiness."  The reviews says, "They (the synth sounds) sound like toys, flimsy in a fun way. They’re well-suited to Miles’ voice, a boyishly bright instrument that moves easily into falsetto. It’s a nether-sex voice, androgynous, if not neutered. That flatters the lyrics, which deal with sex and love as problems to be solved and shelved.

Worth a download? Sure.

More Ra Ra

Ra Ra Riot debuted another single from its forthcoming album "Beta Love."  Check out "When I Dream" here.  The group will be at the 9:30 Club on January 23. The album drops the day before.

New Ra Ra Riot

With the new Jim James single and the new Ra Ra Riot "Beta Love" premiering, the new music 2013 is premiering. I really enjoyed the first Ra Ra Riot album, and "Ghosts Under Rocks" and "Dying is Fine" are some of my favorite tracks from 2008.  "Beta Love" is described by NPR Music as:

Inspired by the works of William Gibson (the inner lives of robots pop up several times, particularly in the title track heard here), Beta Love is a half-hour collection of light, tight, fizzy earworms. It's the sound of a band that's left a lot of its grandiosity behind, but Ra Ra Riot's intellectual curiosity remains intact. Compared to past songs like "Dying Is Fine" — with its gorgeous strings, E.E. Cummings quotes and dark rumination on mortality — "Beta Love" feels like an agreeably frothy trifle. But listen closely, and ideas still seep out amid the synths.

 It reminds me a bit of the last Rogue Wave. Listen to it here.  Beta Love comes out January 22.

Ra Ra Weekend

While I am still loving the Fanfarlo album, I must turn to a few other Friday favorites. Like Ra Ra Riot's The Rhumb Line (Ghost Under Rocks, Dying is Fine). The Dodos, Black Kids, Matt & Kim, Frightened Rabbit, and White Rabbits are all fun for a Friday play list. Happy Weekend!