The Onion A/V Club is premiering the video for the title track off Ra Ra Riot’s new album Beta Love, out now on Barsuk Records. The video was directed and edited by David Dean Burkhart, a Ra Ra Riot fan who sent it to them after assembling it from found footage. The band immediately loved it and became even more enamored of it once they learned about its source, the local TV show “Dance Party” which aired in the ‘80s on the low-wattage UHF station KOFY in San Francisco. The band is currently touring in Asia and will kick off a west coast leg of their tour in Vancouver on February 7. Please see full tour dates below.
Beta Love marks the band’s first outing as a four-piece with members Wes Miles on vocals, Milo Bonacci on guitar, Mathieu Santos on bass and Rebecca Zeller on violin forming the core of the group. Beta Love’s songs are informed by the works of cyperpunk novelist William Gibson and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s musings on the technological singularity and transhumanism.
Inspired by their lean new lineup, the recording process found Ra Ra Riot’s members exploring and re-defining their roles within the new makeup of the group. They built upon demos created mostly by Miles and producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello, Wavves) at Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS. For the first time in their history the band recorded in a warmer climate and found themselves stimulated by the balmy Southern air and the physical setting of Oxford. Joined by session drummer Josh Freese (Devo, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer), the band enjoyed exploring its potential, experimenting with new influences and exciting sounds.
Santos said of the sessions, “Making the record was a lot of fun for us, because we were in a completely different environment, trying a completely new approach. We’d been used to arriving at a session with every song totally arranged and figured out, but in Oxford, a lot of the creative decision-making happened in the studio, on the fly. We wanted to be outside of our collective comfort zone for this record. We wanted to be open to new things happening. There was a lot of building up and tearing down with Dennis—a lot of problem solving, a lot of trial and error, and that was really exciting for us.”
Formed in the basements and attics surrounding Syracuse University in 2006, Ra Ra Riot released their debut The Rhumb Line on Barsuk in 2008. NPR Music said their 2010 release The Orchard’s “10 songs positively burst with sophistication, precision and polish.”
Beta Love marks the band’s first outing as a four-piece with members Wes Miles on vocals, Milo Bonacci on guitar, Mathieu Santos on bass and Rebecca Zeller on violin forming the core of the group. Beta Love’s songs are informed by the works of cyperpunk novelist William Gibson and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s musings on the technological singularity and transhumanism.
Inspired by their lean new lineup, the recording process found Ra Ra Riot’s members exploring and re-defining their roles within the new makeup of the group. They built upon demos created mostly by Miles and producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello, Wavves) at Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS. For the first time in their history the band recorded in a warmer climate and found themselves stimulated by the balmy Southern air and the physical setting of Oxford. Joined by session drummer Josh Freese (Devo, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer), the band enjoyed exploring its potential, experimenting with new influences and exciting sounds.
Santos said of the sessions, “Making the record was a lot of fun for us, because we were in a completely different environment, trying a completely new approach. We’d been used to arriving at a session with every song totally arranged and figured out, but in Oxford, a lot of the creative decision-making happened in the studio, on the fly. We wanted to be outside of our collective comfort zone for this record. We wanted to be open to new things happening. There was a lot of building up and tearing down with Dennis—a lot of problem solving, a lot of trial and error, and that was really exciting for us.”
Formed in the basements and attics surrounding Syracuse University in 2006, Ra Ra Riot released their debut The Rhumb Line on Barsuk in 2008. NPR Music said their 2010 release The Orchard’s “10 songs positively burst with sophistication, precision and polish.”
Ra Ra Riot, Beta Love
1. Dance with Me
2. Binary Mind
3. Beta Love
4. Is It Too Much
5. For Once
6. Angel, Please
7. What I Do For U
8. When I Dream
9. That Much
10. Wilderness
11. I Shut Off
1. Dance with Me
2. Binary Mind
3. Beta Love
4. Is It Too Much
5. For Once
6. Angel, Please
7. What I Do For U
8. When I Dream
9. That Much
10. Wilderness
11. I Shut Off
RA RA RIOT TOUR DATES
‡ with Dirty Projectors
§ with Best Coast & Dirty Projectors
** with Cayucas
†† with Pacific Air
‡‡ Yeah Yeah Yeahs
§§ Feist and Broken Social Scene
January 22 /// Music Hall of Williamsburg /// Brooklyn, NY*
January 31 /// The Wall /// Taipei, Taiwan ‡
February 1 /// Love Garage /// Jakarta, Indonesia
February 3 /// Hostess Club Weekender /// Tokyo, Japan‡§
February 7 /// Venue /// Vancouver, BC**
February 8 /// Neptune Theater /// Seattle, WA**
February 9 /// Wonder Ballroom /// Portland, OR**
February 11 /// Fillmore /// San Francisco, CA**††
February 12 /// El Rey /// Los Angeles, CA**††
February 13 /// The Observatory /// Santa Ana, CA**††
February 15 /// Belly Up /// Solana Beach, CA**††
February 16 /// Club Congress /// Tucson, AZ††
February 19 /// Kessler Theater /// Dallas, TX††
February 20 /// The Belmont /// Austin, TX††
February 21 /// Fitzgerald’s /// Houston, TX††
February 23 /// Proud Larry’s /// Oxford, MS††
February 24 /// Masquerade /// Atlanta, GA††
February 25 /// Cat’s Cradle /// Carrboro, NC††
February 26 /// Grey Eagle /// Asheville, NC††
February 28 /// A&R Music Bar /// Columbus, OH††
March 1 /// Metro /// Chicago, IL††
March 2 /// Der Rathskeller /// Madison, WI††
March 3 /// Triple Rock /// Minneapolis, MN††
March 5 /// The Blind Pig /// Ann Arbor, MI††
March 6 /// Lee’s Palace /// Toronto, ON††
March 7 /// Il Motore /// Montreal, QB††
March 8 /// Higher Ground /// Burlington, VT††
March 9 /// Pearl Street /// Northampton, MA††
April 4 /// El Plaza Condesa /// Mexico City, Mexico
June 8 /// Field Trip Festiva /// Toronto, ONT§§
‡ with Dirty Projectors
§ with Best Coast & Dirty Projectors
** with Cayucas
†† with Pacific Air
‡‡ Yeah Yeah Yeahs
§§ Feist and Broken Social Scene
January 22 /// Music Hall of Williamsburg /// Brooklyn, NY*
January 31 /// The Wall /// Taipei, Taiwan ‡
February 1 /// Love Garage /// Jakarta, Indonesia
February 3 /// Hostess Club Weekender /// Tokyo, Japan‡§
February 7 /// Venue /// Vancouver, BC**
February 8 /// Neptune Theater /// Seattle, WA**
February 9 /// Wonder Ballroom /// Portland, OR**
February 11 /// Fillmore /// San Francisco, CA**††
February 12 /// El Rey /// Los Angeles, CA**††
February 13 /// The Observatory /// Santa Ana, CA**††
February 15 /// Belly Up /// Solana Beach, CA**††
February 16 /// Club Congress /// Tucson, AZ††
February 19 /// Kessler Theater /// Dallas, TX††
February 20 /// The Belmont /// Austin, TX††
February 21 /// Fitzgerald’s /// Houston, TX††
February 23 /// Proud Larry’s /// Oxford, MS††
February 24 /// Masquerade /// Atlanta, GA††
February 25 /// Cat’s Cradle /// Carrboro, NC††
February 26 /// Grey Eagle /// Asheville, NC††
February 28 /// A&R Music Bar /// Columbus, OH††
March 1 /// Metro /// Chicago, IL††
March 2 /// Der Rathskeller /// Madison, WI††
March 3 /// Triple Rock /// Minneapolis, MN††
March 5 /// The Blind Pig /// Ann Arbor, MI††
March 6 /// Lee’s Palace /// Toronto, ON††
March 7 /// Il Motore /// Montreal, QB††
March 8 /// Higher Ground /// Burlington, VT††
March 9 /// Pearl Street /// Northampton, MA††
April 4 /// El Plaza Condesa /// Mexico City, Mexico
June 8 /// Field Trip Festiva /// Toronto, ONT§§
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