Those of you who know me well enough to have discussed music fall into one of a few general categories: There’s the “You listen to weird music” group that doesn’t even bother to have music conversations with me anymore, the “Why do you have to be such a music snob?” group which wishes I was more willing to listen to Jack Johnson or go with them to Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews or Cheap Trick concerts, and the “You always listen to cool new bands, what are you listening to now?” group. This infrequent feature is for the last group.

A band I’m currently enjoying a lot is Ra Ra Riot.

Brief Bio

Ra Ra Riot hails from Syracuse, New York. They formed in 2006, appeared at the CMJ Music Marathon the same year. They have one full length album – The Rhumb Line — which they released on August 19th, 2008.

For Fans of (an attempt to describe their sound)

Other than the uber-generic “Indie Rock” description, I would describe Ra Ra Riot’s music as upbeat, dare I say “pop?” If you’re a fan of Vampire Weekend, I think you’ll like Ra Ra Riot just fine.

iTunes Genius Says…

Highlighting Ghost Under Rocks and launching iTunes Genius playlist function pulls in music from my collection by:

• Okkervil River
• Professor Murder
• Rogue Wave
• The National
• Dr Dog
• The Dandy Warhols
• Asobi Seksu
• Vampire Weekend (see!)
• and more

Standout Track

• Ghost Under Rocks
• Each Year
• Dying is Fine
• Can You Tell

If you like those tracks, you’ll like the album.

On Tour

Ra Ra Riot was actually in Milwaukee for Summerfest this year, playing the US Cellular stage on July 6th. I didn’t see them (probably because I didn’t really discover them until August).

They are currently playing a few shows on the East Coast before heading to Europe to play several dates with Vampire Weekend.

They are definitely on my radar for their next show in Milwaukee — I’m thinking a show at the Pabst or Turner Hall is coming this winter…

Videos

Performing “Can You Tell” on Letterman on 10/13/2008

The music video for “Ghost Under Rocks”

Links

Official Band Site: http://www.rarariot.com/

Buy the CD from Barsuk Records

Band Bio on Wikipedia

What do you think?

Is Ra Ra Riot for you? Too poppy? Too much cello? Perfect? You’ve been listening to them for a year and can’t believe I just now heard of them?

Let me know what you think in the comments…