Ra Ra Riot's BETA LOVE Out Now on Barsuk; Tour Starts Today, Streamed Live from The Bowery

Ra Ra Riot's Beta Love is out now on Barsuk and today the band will be posting the Beta Love Visualizer on their site. This interactive piece merges the music of Beta Love together with real time audio visualization all inside an HTML5 based application. The band will kick off their U.S. tour with a sold out hometown show tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg which will be live-streamed in full HD via The Bowery Presents Live channel on YouTube at 10pm. This date is prior to their sold out date at Webster Hall. 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."

RA RA RIOT TOUR DATES

* with Savoir Adore
† with Guards
‡ 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 23 9:30 Club Washington, DC †
January 24 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA †
January 25 Webster Hall New York, NY †
January 26 Paradise Boston, MA †
January 29 Grappa's Cellar Hong Kong, China ‡
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††
June 8 Field Trip Festival Toronto, ONT

More Articles by This Author...