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.