thraed of my new favorite indie rock band ratboys

they just released their best album so it was time for a thread

https://ratboys.bandcamp.com/album/the-window

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV7J0JFH5oQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKeZCRtprlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ROH3jHJhU

sound sits somewhere between waxahatchee and wednesday, feels like it's trying to recreate the exact vibe of rilo kiley's the execution of all things which i am extremely in favor of, great lyrics, songs that build into explosions or sway like electrical wires through a car window, just fucking really fucking good

i have no opinion on the music but some feedback on your figurative language: i've never seen an electrical wire sway through a car window. pretty sure i've never seen an electrical wire go through a car window for any reason. sounds more like a big evil snake in a z-grade horror movie. i've also never seen anything build into an explosion, either. usually when stuff explodes it just ... explodes, all of a sudden.

oh wow thanks i was really looking for a guy to edit my posts

idk when glimpsing wires through a moving car they can appear to sway. arguably a line of lit gunpowder builds toward an explosion. also fuck off

hey, if you’re gonna write metaphors you should write ones that make sense! your audience deserves it

oh my god thank you so much, i had no idea that metaphors should make sense*

*fuck off into oblivion!!!!

what the fuck is yr problem tlg

i hate this thread because it starts like this! why! is what i wrote really that fucking obtuse or are you

i would just start it again in exactly the same way and get a mod to trash this one tbh.

for real? Because I said, someone’s metaphor didn’t make sense?

for someone that likes to talk about murdering politicians, you can be quite soft me table

welcome back, ivy! or maybe you haven't been gone for a while, but regardless ... i just figured out yr previous handle, so i am stoked to watch for your posts.

anyway, Ratboys is absolutely one of the best rock bands on the planet right now, and the new album is 9+ out of 10.

RAT
BOYS
RAT
BOYS
RAT
BOYS
RATBOYS!

let's just move on rather than trash this thread

Julia Steiner is a genius

i'd travel for a Wednesday / Ratboys tour

i mean sorry i said the figurative language didn’t make sense, thank god i didn’t say the music was bad, we’d have to have a restorative circle

i am clutching my forehead and asking you for the third time to fuck off

fair enough! here’s hoping for swift healing and no permanent trauma

you're being a dumb asshole tlg

every time i start a thread on ilm without attempting to describe what the music is doing i feel really guilty bc what reason am i giving y'all to listen to this record? what case am i making for it, how is more notable than other records in its mode, how can i bring it to life pre-listen by trying to embody its sound in imagery, and sometimes i do this really quickly because it's a fucking message board post and i find that the less i think about it the more excited and in the moment it seems. did i say to myself at one point "huh idk if these metaphors totally work, but i've already thought about it too much, send post"? yes, absolutely. did i expect a total dickhead to notice it, idk i guess i should've

ivy, tlg is being awful, yr post was great and made me want to listen to this band

^^^

and hey, i like the one song i listened to a lot. thanks!

i honestly thought the "electrical wires" was evocative and unexpected, so it made me stop, imagine what i thought you were trying to say, and then think about whether i think Ratboy does, in fact, sometimes sound like that.

ignore the gleeful dick and hopefully they will go away.

there's no reason to analyze your metaphors, ivy. it's clear you meant *seeing* swaying electrical wires through a car window and figurative uses of the word explosion do not need to conform to the laws of physics ffs

I dream of wires

it’s curious what some feel the need to chime in on

It's kind of a place for chiming in.

it’s true we should all just chime in

I was so stoked to see this thread and even more stoked when I noticed who started it, a shame that someone felt entitled to be an asshole to you ivy.

Shamefully I haven’t heard the new one yet, but the last Ratboys did not leave my car CD player (yes I still have one) for four months worth of errand running so I am super excited for this new one and even more so with Ivy’s endorsement.

<3 you Ivy and please keep making thread like this, tlg kindly stop being an asshole

Had not heard of them before, started with this, which is good stuff, thanks!
check it out yall: https://ratboys.bandcamp.com/album/happy-birthday-ratboy-2

This drama all seems a little too convenient… getting my to open a thread and listen to a band I typically wouldn’t 🤔 Lemons into lemonade.

TBH it’s not my taste, but always happy to see someone share something they like and write interesting sentences about it (like wtf the car sentence was great!). I’ll try another track tomorrow

I want a Danelectrofied Flying V like hers (I do not have $1500 to spend on a guitar).

really like ratboys. haven't heard the new album yet, but their single "black earth, wi" was excellent, like an extended version of "debris" by the faces, one of the best songs ever.

"my hands grow," from their last album, was one of my favorite songs of whichever year it came out. great resuscitation of the classic saddle creek vibe, tho this particular song is maybe more azure ray than rilo kiley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2F8FaS8o_U

ivy has introduced me to so many great bands i've loved over the years i finally get to take credit for one (from big thief: masterpiece thread)

i asked my friend who is part of this scene (played bass for Cardinal on tour) for some riyl big thief when i was in withdrawal after listening to this album too much, and he told me to check out ratboys. been listening to this album A O I D from 2015, it's very good and they have a new one coming out this year

https://ratboys.bandcamp.com/track/tixis

― flopson, Thursday, February 2, 2017 1:23 PM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

ratboys are fucking great though, thank u

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, February 2, 2017 1:33 PM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

(although tbf i had forgotten this band existed)

still like the song "tixis" tho

unfortunate start to the thread but otoh a little bit of drama can be good "promo" for a thread. one day we'll all look back fondly and laugh at "wire-car-window-ghazi"

Gotta say, I really love this album! And everyone I recommend it to (if they haven't already heard it) is like, "oh hell yes, this is perfect."

Who knew that this year would be the year that i return to indie music? I certainly didn't.

ivy, there are moments that kind of remind me of the Breeders, am I losing it? "Empty" in particular— which is, whew, a highlight on the album for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZROSwijkFI

i don't even like playing guitar but i need a sparkly flying v this instant

ratboy slim is fucking in heaven

WTF. Even by today's indie standards, that is so fucking boring.

If this was on a car stereo, I'd appreciate an electrical wire coming through the window to wipe me out.

Did you listen to the album?

Will make my ballot this year, anyways, thanks to you, ivy!

Her twang makes it for me, it's like being 19 and listening to a mix CD with Dino Jr. and Rilo Kiley again.

i gave "black earth, wi" such uh prominence on my ballot that i did not end up voting for the album. revisiting the album again today, wish i'd voted for both

love that little math rocky flourish they do after namechecking maps & atlases in "i want you"

Voted for both I think. Love the ramshackle country meets Meat Puppets glints on “Morning Zoo” 4eva

Will be curious to hear the album. The song is ludicrously good of course, had I heard it sooner it would have probably gotten to the ranked part of my ballot. That sort of ambition, scope and above all execution in my pop = oh yes please

When I nominated "Black Earth, WI" I thought it had an outside shot of placing because it was so good. I thought "The Window" would do better as that is an actual single. I didn't even know we had a thread for this band but discovered all of this very late last year.

album was in my top three. thanks again for starting this thread ivy!

oh gosh oh my, No Way is gorgeous, it sounds like later-period Catherine Wheel

― imago, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 10:45 (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is one of the best songs i've heard in ages, holy fucking shit

late period catherine wheel sound like that?

yeah this is 2020s American folk-indie meets Adam & Eve meets Deerhunter or something idk

It’s a great record! i also went in skeptically, having only heard “The Window,” and was immediately charmed by the range of what they can do.

Ratboys

ok so I have been in the "good but not great" camp until just now when "Making Noise For The Ones You Love" came up on my "new stuff" shuffle play, this is why shuffle was made <3

https://www.reddit.com/r/madisonwi/comments/1ddjp54/robert_plant_spotted_at_bside_records_on_state/

listened to this tonight, warm spring evening here in Philly, honestly a perfect record especially for driving

lol i showed this thread to a friend yesterday as an example of how, literally right after i came out as a woman, i experienced misogyny

this is the best album ever. it hurts my heart to listen to it sometimes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgF8ugvCbr0

we're so back

this is the best song i've ever heard probably

this is very very good! more krauty/psychedelic than I expected given what I've heard from the band and the Wednesday comparisons. dunno why I've slept on them

yeah this rocks!

Love this band, and I need to stop pointing out that they are much better than Wednesday because it’s a shitty framing even if they totally are.

Hmm...doesn't grab me the way some of the singles off of the last album grabbed me. Maybe it's because I went through a power pop trip in the spring and this just doesn't sound that *original* to me, even if it is pleasant enough. I also felt like even though there were clearly meant to be peaks and troughs within the song's energy, it sort of felt like the same thing the whole time.

(And I mean fwiw, I believe I voted the last album as my favorite album of the year).

idk i'm pretty sure this is the most singular song they've put out

Maybe it'll grow on me.

three listens later, nope. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://ratboys.bandcamp.com/album/singin-to-an-empty-chair

new album singin' to an empty chair will change my life on 2/6/26

here's the new single :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYUMoL9FrIA

this is so great

It is really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6OiASeY-As

i should be in bed but i decided to press play on this instead and holy shit

that is pretty flipin aces! thanks!

I wasn't ready for the jangle tone and I'm not sure I can get over the guitar/drum making me think of Dire Straits, but it's a fine song especially once it starts going.

More motorik than "Walk of Life" imo. Good tune.

listening again this morning, this is the greatest band of all fucking time

And the distant din as I walk in
Washes over me
And says, “Break all your concentration,
Love yourself
End these thoughts of desperation,
Embrace hell”

^^^ amazing verse, instantly made me want to get an "embrace hell" tattoo

I am unreasonably excited for the full album, if it maintains this level of consistency I'm not sure I'll ever recover.

Love the fuzzy bridge in there.

this pushed me to listen to the whole thing last night ... it is all terrific.

best American band right now? it's them or Horse Lords.

Did it leak or did you get a review stream? Thought we had a few more months til it came out.

i def deserve a review stream bc i'm the ratboys street team. get at me record label

review stream. i'm sorry. should've kept my mouth shut! not because you want to hear it, but because this is just annoying.

jealous!!! ugh *sits in one place very patiently until february*

at this point worried that i'm going to tire out the pre-release singles but fuck "what's right" is so good

Still surprised that "Black Earth, WI" finished at number 7 in ULMs 2023 Top 77, so well deserved. Such a classic video that hasn't been posted in this thread, so I'm going to fix that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G16z77UxFyE

So I haven't listened to this band that much — I liked "The Window," but haven't gone back to earlier things — but all three songs released off this album so far are great. Looking forward to the rest. I can see them on a spectrum with Wednesday and Big Thief, but Ratboys seems like much more of a Rock Band.

Also weirdly positive and uplifting, but I haven't listened closely for any dark lyrics or anything. I'm seeing them here in ... April? I have a feeling it might be the smallest place they play for a while.