Ratboy
| Wading in the Balance
Not
Your Daddy’s Records | by Ross Rice
It’s
good to have bands around like New Paltz’s Ratboy. Longtime
collaborators Tim Sutton (guitar, vocals, songs) and Matt Senzatimore
(drums, keys) have been presenting their twisted pop vision around
the valley for quite some time now, mostly at the Oasis Cafe. With
their debut Wading In the Balance, they serve up a scrappy, honest
set of tunes (with rotating assistance from the New Paltz talent
pool,) that mix the simplicity of Crazy Horse/Neil Young with the
irreverance of Cracker, and spin it with whiteboy rap. The result,
while somewhat uneven, is a pretty good party.
Rather
than cutting on computers and tweaking the music into submission,
Ratboy opted for a more hit-it-and-quit-it vibe, cutting live at
the Utopia Soundstage in Bearsville in a two-day marathon. The €nal
product is a more immediate, easy-going, and dare we say, indie
rock sounding effort. Starting with “Falling Up,” with
its brush-stick train beat and singalong chorus, Ratboy sets a friendly
tone. What else to make of a song that ends with the chant, “That’s
Incredible with John Davidson and Fran Tarkenton?” Then, on
to the more uptempo “Not It,” with its plaintive “are
we there yet?” chorus over chords that sound like they are
from a Foo Fighters outtake. “Garbage Man” features
a tasty sax arrangement by Shane Kirsch, and an appropriately anarchic
guitar solo by Johnnie Wang. Other highlights include the almost
funereal “El Futuro,” where the singer isn’t going
to “make it to 2080,” and asks a visitor from t h e
futur e to “tell me everything right now,” Later, it’s
comedic mortality in “The Skull,” the Sublime-like goodtime
rap in “9x10,” and the more serious sounding “Something,”
which bene€ts nicely from the open production, and feature nice
scrolling and feedback guitar work from Wang.
Although
the songs sound spontaneous and live on this CD, the only complaint
I have is that sonic fidelity could be a little better, particularly
with the vocals, and that some of the songs needed a kick in the
ass energy-wise at times. It's always a trade-off when going for
this recording approach, but these minor details shouldn't prevent
you from enjoying the multiple charms of Ratboy, who bring a much-needed
twinkle of friendly humor to the CD player.
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