Ricky Eat Acid
Donate: Starry Cat – “Self-Titled”
All the money donated goes into Caroline’s Paypal account to help pay for the surgeries. If you have ever downloaded music from the aforementioned bands, you’ll have noticed they never ask for money, so please this time help Caroline out, thank you.
“if you can’t afford anything you can still download it but it’d be rad if you shared it i guess so maybe other people will see it.” – Sam Ray
[Edit: Cameron Boucher of Old Gray has also released a solo album for the same cause, which you can buy on his Bandcamp page.]
Listen: Julia Brown – “to be close to you”
To support the band, you can buy the album on their Bandcamp page on a “Name Your Price” basis or you can buy the tape version from Birdtapes. The download of the album comes with a fifteen page lyric zine, which is common with Ricky Eat Acid releases and the tape version comes with a sticker by a friend of the band Brad “brohloff”. From the band about the album, “any money paid for this music/donated to us goes towards funding the studio time we have booked between february and april, as well as helping us get the touring setup we need for the summer. please don’t feel obligated to pay, and feel free to grab it for free, but know that if you do donate, the money is helping us make more music.” You can stream the album below and more information about the band can be found on their Tumblr, and Facebook pages.
Listen: R.L. Kelly – “Life’s A Bummer”
Listen: Ricky Eat Acid – “I can hear the heart breaking as one”
In Ray’s own words about the track, “i’ve been having this dream that spans a few weeks and each night in my dream it grows less and less dark until the last few nights it stays completely light out even though there’s no sun and at that point i just stop sleeping and on the last night i go outside at 4 am and the sky is blue and i go inside to grab my camera because of the way the trees look against the blue sky and my dad is in my room reading the bible on my bed with my cat sitting on his lap and he tells me that the end is coming soon.”
Listen: Julia Brown – “library”
You can download one of the songs off the upcoming release called library. It was released through a friend of the band, Mat Cothran’s (Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly) blog. Compared to Teen Suicide this track has a much more pop aesthetic with both male and female vocals creating a completely different sound and an all together beautiful track. Fans of any of the bands affiliated with the Unlimited Free Milkshakes Label or part of the 420 Love Songs compilation should definitely check this band out. You can listen to a Julia Brown B-side song titled dizzy below.
Track Listing:
1. ‘im falling in love’
2. library
3. how i spent my summer
4. i will do this for the rest of my life
5. 5/21/11
6. i was my own favorite tv show the summer my tv broke
7. virginia
8. to be close to you
Listen: Ricky Eat Acid + Arrange – “Sketches”
The roles they each played in the collaboration explained in Sam’s own words, “Malcom recorded the vocals for these songs, as well as a lot of the instruments and synths, while I handled the production aspect mostly, contributing guitars, (some) pianos, pads, bass, (some) synths and most of the drums. We shared a lot of the mixing duties as well. The cover art is also by me, and is composed of four photos I’ve taken (and subsequently re-printed and scanned again to achieve a textured effect.)” You can see a lot more on Ray’s tumblr.
Their distinct styles seamlessly work together to a produce an excellent experimental ambient collection of four songs. Sketches is available both at Ricky Eat Acid’s Bandcamp and Arrange’s on a name your price basis.
Listen: Gremlins – “Maim My Bitch”
For this project, Mat Cothran provides most of the vocals alongside Katie Lee, who also plays the keyboard. Cothran further contributes with guitar, keyboard and drums. Patrick Jeffords adds the bass, keyboards, and guitar while Sam Ray provides his unique Ricky Eat Acid-esque style drums and noise.
“Maim My Bitch” combines different aspects from each of the artists. The song consists of melodies created through synthesizers entangled by a constant percussion beat. Scheduled for February 29th, the three song (plus “introducing” and “outroducing” tracks) record will be available on the Gremlins bandcamp page on a “Name Your Price” basis. I recommend you check this project out as it is a unique coming together of talented artists which seek to “express a sense of panic, reality, and death.”
Listen: Ricky Eat Acid – “so i will not fall deep into the earth”
Sam Ray under the moniker of Ricky Eat Acid produces breathtaking ambient experimental tunes. His most recent release called “so i will not fall deep into the earth” is part of a genre titled “space punk.”
In his own words he describes the genre as “there is no point to spacepunk. it’s anti-trendy. there are no driving electronic rhythms – it lacks any post-rave, post-internet, future-pop beats. there’s nothing really. that’s it. there’s nothing. it’s music that evokes the feeling of floating endlessly and eternally through darkness. it’s inspired as much by the romanticized and unscientific idea of space as it is by sleep, heavy opiate use, and the feeling of being alone in bed, half awake on a rainy day. it’s a very sad feeling. it’s not nostalgic, but it still makes me miss everything. it’s nothing, really. you could characterize it as drone, sometimes, or ambient. i’m not really sure. it’s fun, but it’s not. it’s not post-internet, it’s post-life.”
The nine minute track gives you the feeling of floating endlessly in time and space. If you are a fan of ambient, drone or experimental music, pick up the track for free on his Bandcamp.
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