| Rat Farm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 16, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2012-2013 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:52 | |||
| Label | Megaforce | |||
| Producer | Curt Kirkwood | |||
| Meat Puppets chronology | ||||
| ||||
Rat Farm is the fourteenth full-length studio album by the Meat Puppets. It was released on April 16, 2013, through Megaforce Records. [2]
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]
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]
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]
| 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 | |
Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood, and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix. The three then moved to Tempe, Arizona, where the Kirkwood brothers purchased two adjacent homes, one of which had a shed in the back where they regularly practiced.
MTV Unplugged in New York is a live album by American rock band Nirvana, released on November 1, 1994 by DGC Records. The album features an acoustic performance recorded at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993, for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Beth McCarthy and aired on the cable television network MTV on December 16, 1993. In a break with MTV Unplugged conventions, Nirvana played mainly lesser-known material and covers of songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie, Lead Belly, and Meat Puppets, whose Cris and Curt Kirkwood joined Nirvana onstage.
Eyes Adrift was a three-piece rock supergroup consisting of Krist Novoselic, Curt Kirkwood, and Bud Gaugh. They released a self-titled album in 2002, which was a mixture of punk, grunge, and country, taking all of their previous backgrounds and putting them together. They toured the United States in mid-2002. They later broke up in 2003, after their debut album flopped. Kirkwood and Gaugh went on to form the supergroup band known as Volcano. The album is currently out of print. Novoselic went on to record songs with Foo Fighters and become a political activist in Seattle, Washington.
Too High to Die is the eighth studio album by American rock band the Meat Puppets. The album was released on January 25, 1994, by London Records. It was produced by Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary. The album's title is a parody of The Ramones' 1984 album Too Tough to Die.
Curtis Matthew "Curt" Kirkwood is an American musician best known as the lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter for alternative rock group Meat Puppets. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, but currently resides in Austin, Texas.
Up on the Sun is the third album by the Meat Puppets, released in 1985 by SST Records. The album features a cleaner and more technical sound with a more psychedelic rock feel, in contrast to the sloppy punk approach of their first album (1982), while continuing with the mystical, poetic lyrics and country-inflected songwriting of Meat Puppets II (1984).
Christopher "Cris" Kirkwood is an American musician who is the bassist and a founding member of the Meat Puppets, an alternative punk rock band.
Volcano was a supergroup band, formed by Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood, Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh, Sublime soundman Michael 'Miguel' Happoldt, and bass player of The Ziggens Jon Poutney after the breakup of Eyes Adrift. They released one self-titled studio album in 2004.
Meat Puppets II is the second album by the Phoenix, Arizona band the Meat Puppets, released in 1984. It is a departure from their self-titled debut album, which consisted largely of noisy hardcore with unintelligible vocals. It covers many genres from country-style rock to slow acoustic songs to psychedelic guitar effects to hard rock.
Meat Puppets is the first album by American band the Meat Puppets, released in 1982. The album is unlike their later, better-known releases due to its hardcore punk sound.
Huevos is the fifth studio album by the Arizona alternative rock band the Meat Puppets. It is said to have a strong ZZ Top influence in terms of style. The album is named not only after the Spanish word for eggs, but is also a reference to the Southwestern expression "Huevos", meaning to deliver with chutzpah. Most of the songs were recorded in one take. The cover art is done by guitarist/vocalist Curt Kirkwood.
Out My Way is a mini-album released by the alternative rock band the Meat Puppets in 1986. It features a more hard rock oriented sound than the band usually has, leading some critics to say that the sound is similar to southern/hard rock stylings of ZZ Top. The EP was reissued in 1999 by Rykodisc with additional bonus tracks.
Mirage is the fourth studio album by the Arizona alternative rock band Meat Puppets.
No Joke! is the ninth studio album by the Meat Puppets. The album was released on October 3, 1995, by London Records. It was the follow-up to the band's album Too High to Die and was the last Meat Puppets album with bassist Cris Kirkwood and drummer Derrick Bostrom. A video was filmed for the song "Scum", directed by Dave Markey.
Live in Montana is a 1999 live album by the Meat Puppets. It is compiled from two December 1988 shows.
No Strings Attached is a 1990 compilation album of Meat Puppets songs released by their ex-record label SST Records. It was released after the band left SST Records to join London Records. The compilation includes songs from their first album Meat Puppets (1982) through to their 1989 album Monsters. The Meat Puppets had no involvement in this release.
Rise to Your Knees is the Meat Puppets' eleventh full-length studio album, released on July 17, 2007. Not only was it their first studio release since 2000's Golden Lies, it was also their first to feature the original bassist Cris Kirkwood since his departure after the release of 1995's No Joke!. The album was given a one-month advance release on the iTunes Store and eMusic.
Sewn Together is American rock band the Meat Puppets' twelfth full-length studio album, released on May 12, 2009, both on CD and vinyl. It was the follow-up to their 2007 reunion album Rise to Your Knees.
Lollipop is the Meat Puppets' thirteenth full-length studio album. It was released on April 12, 2011, through Megaforce Records.
Shandon Sahm is an American drummer, who is a native of San Antonio, Texas and is best known for his two stints as the drummer of the Meat Puppets, from 1999–2002 and 2009–2018.