naturalismo

Castanets has released the first single from his forthcoming full length album titled In the Vines. “This Is the Early Game” features Ray Raposas signature creeky vocals which combine with his sleepy slide guitar and Jana Hunter’s vocals to form a song that feels very nostalgic. It’s been a long and hard year for Ray, so I anticipate hearing about it through his music. Striving always makes the best albums. In the Vines is out on October 23, on Asthmatic Kitty records.

[download] Castanets - This Is The Early Game

Jana Hunter and Castanets had most of their gear stolen this past Friday while passing through Tucson, Arizona. Damn the thieves! The following was sent out by Jana Hunter and includes an e-mail address if you want to help out. I actually have some friends out there who visit the thrift/pawn shops so I’m going to tell them to keep an eye out for their stuff. You can do your part by looking on eBay or if you’re in the area doing the same. I was fortunate enough to see them a little over a week ago and took some pictures. If you want to see their gear click the photo above. The place was nearly pitch black (and at other times, literally was- when the lights were turned off for Castanets murky riffs) but I think you can get an idea.
“So, the story is, last night we played in tucson at solar culture. Afterward, we loaded our stuff up, went downtown, had a drink, and went to a house to crash on the floor. en route, we damaged a door, making it such that the door won’t close and such that eventually, before we return the vehicle to the rental company, we’ll have to pay on the order of 2 grand to replace the door.

“Seeing as how we had an unsecured vehicle, ray (castanets) slept in the van. sometime during the night, some brave fug(s) very quietly opened the back door and took what they could carry. we assume their were more than one of them given all the stuff they managed to walk away with.

All this after we had to fly our friend/drummer to the airport yesterday morning so he could go to the hospital. pretty big bummer all around.”- Jana Hunter

This is what was stolen
Jana Hunter’s:
fender classical guitar (serial # 9505151116)
boss rc-20 loopstation (serial # 0860399ev16879)
boss reverb/delay pedal
original digitech whammy pedal
original b k butler tubedriver overdrive pedal
peavey 6 mixer (serial # k0344300)
shure beta 98/s (serial # 4421303325)
custom flashlight circuit-bended thing
briefcase with “houston deserves to be a better place to live” sticker (full of Jana Hunter CD’s, T-shirts and stickers)

Castanets’:
late 60’s blue fender music master guitar
line 6 delay pedal
boss tremolo
mutron volume/wah pedal
boss tuner pedal
digitech metal master
ebow
slides/cables

Anyone with any information regarding the stolen goods should contact Jana at: jana.hunter@gmail.com

Thanks!”

If you’d like to donate some money to help them get back on their feet you can send a paypal donation to mutualincarnation@gmail.com.

or go see them on the rest of their tour:

Jana and Castanets:

06-25 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
06-26 Austin, TX - Mohawk Place *
06-29 Houston, TX - The Orange Show *

* with Pink Nasty

Jana:

06-25 Dallas, TX - Good Records
07-07 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *
07-08 Chicago, IL - The Abbey Pub *
07-10 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater *
07-11 Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar *
07-12 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre *
07-13 Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep *
07-14 Park City, UT - Suede *
07-16 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater *
07-17 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
07-20 Houston, TX - DiverseWorks

Ray Raposa of Castanets and Jana Hunter not only toured and recorded together on a boat, but also seem to be sonically connected in some odd way. It seems whenever news for one of them arrives, the same is true for the other. To bring you up to date, Castanets is prepping his new album for release sometime in the next few months. In the meantime you can read about his job as a surf instructor here and download a track from his recently released EP. Meanwhile, Jana Hunter has recorded a live session where she played some new tracks from her upcoming EP. You can listen to the session in full here, or download one of the new songs she played below. The same website has a new recording session up with James Blackshaw.

Castanets - One arm around the sinner

Jana Hunter - Untitled (from upcoming EP)

Jana Hunter’s new album There’s no home hit the internet this week but will not see an actual release until April 2nd. Initial responses online are that it’s a grower. I haven’t had time to fully digest it yet but my upon my first listen I was completely blown over with how great it sounds. But why listen to me or anyone else…judge for yourself: Here’s two new tracks from Jana Hunter’s There’s no home

Jana Hunter - Bird

and

Jana Hunter - Vultures

Meanwhile, fellow boat mate and There’s no home contributor Castanets (Ray Raposa) has a new tour only split album with Shapes And Size out on Asthmatic Kitty. Castanets contributes 2 new songs to the split, as well as 2 covers. Here’s his great new cover of Viking Moses’ “One arm around the sinner:”

Castanets - One arm around the sinner

As for Castanets new songs on the split, all I can say is that they’re mind-melting and hauntingly dark. (In a good way)

Visit Jana Hunter @ myspace to order her new album.

and

Castanets @ myspace

Castanets quietly revealed their upcoming tour over the weekend on their website. The last I read about Ray Raposa, the driving forced behind Castanets, he was touring the East coasts intracoastal waterway with Jana Hunter and Red hunter (AKA Peter and the wolf) by way of sailboat. After that he was to leave his new residence in Brooklyn and return to his home town of San Diego to begin recording his new full length album. While putting the finishing touches on his new full length in San Diego he decided to play a one off show to try out some of his new material at the Casbah yesterday. I was able to catch the show and was amazed at his hauntingly engaging stage presence. While playing the superb you are the blood, Ray came out into the audience and knelt down between the audience members, quivering through the chorus he seemed to transcend beyond the audience while still bringing them into his world. It was reminiscent of the experience that I think most have after seeing Akron/Family live. I’m starting to realize that the experience of connectedness in a concert on such a personal level is unique to the Naturalismo movement. Rarely have have I been to a concert where the artist is willing to step off the stage and include the audience. The mutual interaction between artist and audience makes for a much more interesting and lasting experience and I hope it continues.

I had a brief conversation with Ray Raposa after the show and he said to expect a split 10inch record with The Dirty Projectors to be coming out in March. A second split is scheduled for release in April. I pressed for more information about his upcoming full length and he said that it would be coming out in June most likely and that he has a title in mind but isn’t quite ready to anounce anything yet. If you have the chance to catch him on his upcoming tour I HIGHLY recommend it.

The upcoming tour dates are as follows:

If you’re unfamiliar with Castanets music I have selected a few tracks of interest:

Castanets - You are the blood

Castanets - Three days, four nights

Castanets - All that I know to have change