Castanets – Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts (Music Review)
By Andrew Duncan • Dec 30th, 2009 • Category: Categories, Folk/Americana, ReviewsCastanets
Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts
Asthmatic Kitty
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
With the ever changing platform of Castanets — from the music to the size of the band — Ray Raposa has never faltered to make interesting music. But Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts may be his best yet in the context of Raposa himself.
You see, the man has taken notes from the greats: Johnny Paycheck, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Sr. These legends all did it their way and Raposa is no different. With the sweat of Old Country swagger and the progressiveness of modern multi-instrumentalism where anything goes, Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts is a journey into the unknown. And with confidence, Castanets is the steps that are taken into the great beyond.
From the slide guitar crying over the looming jangle of rusty acoustic strings on “My Heart” to the brief exploratory Velvet Underground-ish rattle of “We Kept Our Kitchen Clear And Our Dreaming Quiet” that bleeds into the soft and soulful “Down the Line, Love.” Raposa’s rustic twang in his voice keeps you from being completely whistful. But even that bleeds into an inter-galactic space-age ride through the heavens with “Lucky Old Moon.” As the guitar notes twinkle like stars and an underbelly of synths float around like nebula in space, you wonder how in the world did I get here. But what you really feel is something genuine.
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Andrew Duncan is a journalist who has migrated to the forces of academia. He has written for various publications including Chord, Heckler, Readyset...Aesthetic, and a vast array of alternative press contributions. When not roaming the streets of Indianapolis, he is either addicted to KXCI, making music, or striving to watch every film listed on IMDB.
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