Rat Farm
Rat Farm | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 16, 2013 | |||
Recorded | 2012-2013 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:52 | |||
Label | Megaforce | |||
Producer | Curt Kirkwood | |||
Meat Puppets chronology | ||||
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Rat Farm is the fourteenth full-length studio album by the Meat Puppets. It was released on April 16, 2013, through Megaforce Records.[2]
Background and recording
Background and writing
On writing the music Curt Kirkwood remarked: "I tried to write stuff that would stand on its own — just the chords and the melodies, and play it kind of straight... I think that was the guiding boundary that I gave myself. It was one of those things where a lot of times, in the past especially, Cris (bassist Cris Kirkwood) would go, ‘Well, that’s all there is? Let’s put a prog rock part in the middle.’ But I tried to hold it off as much as I could."[2]
Content
Musical style
Lucy Jones of British music publication NME adjudged Rat Farm as "gently fried country-rock and psychedelia" and its guitar solos to be "Neil Young-worthy".[1]
Curt Kirkwood, the band's singer/guitarist and primary songwriter, described the album as "real blown-out folk music".[3]
Reception
As of June 2013, based on 17 reviews, Rat Farm has a score of 74 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4] This is the highest score of their albums released since 2000.[5] The Independent described the album as "dizzying psychedelic country in finest Meat Puppets tradition, full of slightly off-centre harmonies in Grateful Dead manner, and plenty of Kirkwood's swirling, trippy guitar."[6] Allmusic said: "The tracks on their 14th outing are the closest they've come in a long time to the colorful, no-frills brand of twangy alt-rock and informal punk (with hints of Americana, country, folk, and prog) that they instilled on their SST records."[7] The Austin Chronicle said that Curt Kirkwood "continues penning some of the strongest, sweetest, and compellingly twisted material of his already storied songwriting career," and that "[t]here's enough distorted weirdness, easygoing melodies, and guitar both hard and jangly to demonstrate why the Meat Puppets influenced both Nirvana and R.E.M."[8]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Rat Farm" | 3:54 |
2. | "One More Drop" | 3:46 |
3. | "Down" | 3:25 |
4. | "Leave Your Head Alone" | 4:20 |
5. | "Again" | 3:25 |
6. | "You Don’t Know" | 4:13 |
7. | "Waiting" | 3:14 |
8. | "Time and Money" | 3:50 |
9. | "Sometimes Blue" | 3:48 |
10. | "Original One" | 4:12 |
11. | "River Rose" | 3:22 |
12. | "Sweet" | 4:22 |
Total length: | 45:52 |
Personnel
- Curt Kirkwood - vocals, guitars, arrangements
- Cris Kirkwood - vocals, bass guitar
- Shandon Sahm - drums, percussion
References
- ^ a b c Gardner, Noel. "Meat Puppets - "Rat Farm"". NME. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ a b Kyle McGovern, Feb. 8, 2013, Spin. Meat Puppets 'Play it Straight' on 14th Studio Album 'Rat Farm'. retrieved Feb. 19, 2013
- ^ The Meat Puppets Create 'Real Blown-Out Folk Music' on 'Rat Farm' - Album Premiere, John Blistein, Rolling Stone, April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
- ^ "Rat Farm Reviews". Metacritic. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ "Meat Puppets Profile". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ Andy Gill (2013-04-12). "Album review: Meat Puppets, Rat Farm (Megaforce) - Reviews - Music". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ Lymangrover, Jason (2013-04-16). "Rat Farm - Meat Puppets : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ "Review: Meat Puppets - Music". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-06-10.