In addition to Jonathan Richman’s assertion that Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole, the chameleonic Cubist was good for a quote or two, too. Speaking about the still-life paintings of Cezanne, he said, “If there were not anxiety behind those apples, Cezanne would not interest me any more than Bouguereau.” The same thing can be said about the music of Ray Raposa, who plies his trade under the guise of Castanets (minus the Bouguereau thing). Although he often adds a deft dose of experimentation to his brittle beauties, it is what is not on display that is so admirable and intriguing. There's always tension beneath the sparse but passionate surface.
Few labels embrace the audio/visual relationship quite like Asthmatic Kitty Records. Not that long after issuing their first DVD collection Encyclopedia Asthmatica, which details the rich history of the label from early, charming (I won’t say amateur) works to full-bloom works of art, comes the announcement of Tendrils, a DVD of Castanets cover songs to be released May 22 by the label. In keeping with his own declaration that “The recorded version of the song is not necessarily the definitive version of the song,” Raposa sees his songs interpreted by a host of friends and past collaborators, including Phosphorescent and members of The Dirty Projectors and Vanishing Voice, as well as original vids by director Mia Ferm. Pre-orders and orders will come with a download card for an exclusive new Castanets EP.
1. Rain Will Come (Dave Longstreth)
2. Remix On Post Apocalyptic Music (G. Lucas Crane)
3. This Is The Early Game (Golden Ghost & Silver Spokes
4. Jump Cuts And Hip Hop (John Chavez)
5. Strong Animal (Sayard Egan and Angel Deradoorian)
6. Dirty Jokes & Billiards (Jesse Ainslie)
7. Sway (Marla Hansen)
8. Lost Lyrics (recited by Matt Lorenz in Farsi with Polish subtitles)
9. Three Months Paid (Jesse Ainslie)
10. Interlude At Miller's Pond I
11. Night Is When You Can Not See (Tucker Dulin and Ben Piekut)
12. Interlude At Miller's Pond II
13. Noise Prelude To City Of Refuge (Ray and G. Lucas Crane)
14. On Genre/Spaces (Ben Piekut)
15. And the Swimming (Phosphorescent)
Well, you can call him Ray, or you can call him Jay... um, on second thought, you should call him Ray because that is his name! Ray being Ray Raposa, Castanets’ one steady soul, who will be playing a bunch of dates, with Meg Noe in tow. Go and see these, Euro buuuu-ddies (and you can call me Pauly Shore)
05.02.08 - Haarlem, Netherlands - Patronaat
05.03.08 - Offenbach, Germany - Hafen 2
05.04.08 - Lille, France - La Malterie
05.05.08 - London, England - Windmill
05.06.08 - Hove, England - Greenhouse Effect
05.07.08 - Manchester, England - Dulcimer
05.08.08 - York, England - The Basement
05.10.08 - Coventry, England - Taylor John's House
05.11.08 - Nantes, France - Cafe Grimault
05.12.08 - Rennes, France - 1929
05.13.08 - Paris, France - Le Point Ephemere
05.15.08 - Basel, Switzerland - Kaserne
05.16.08 - Düdingen, Switzerland - Bad Bonn
05.17.08 - Ravenna, Italy - Hana Bi
05.18.08 - Trieste, Italy - Tetris
05.19.08 - Zagreb, Croatia - Kset
05.20.08 - Maribor, Slovenia - Pekarna
05.21.08 - Prague, Czech Republic - Skutecnost
05.22.08 - Berlin, Germany - Schokoladen
05.23.08 - Hamburg, Germany - Øbel und Gefährlich #
05.24.08 - Bremen, Germany - Spedition (Guterbahnhof)
05.25.08 - Cologne, Germany - Kulturbunker-Mulheim
05.26.08 - Trier, Germany - Ex_Haus
05.27.08 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05.28.08 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Ekko
# Stereo Total