Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Portland
Ra Ra Riot first met seven years ago while attending school in Syracuse, New York, and quickly graduated from basement rehearsals and student dance parties to blog buzz and press acclaim for their debut The Rhumb Line. After extensive touring for their meticulously recorded second record The Orchard and some membership changes, Ra Ra Riot decided to mix things up for their album Beta Love, leaving upstate New York for Sweet Tea, the Oxford, MS studio of producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse/Elvis Costello/Wavves).
Herring pushed singer Wes Miles, guitarist Milo Bonacci, bassist Mathieu Santos and violinist Rebecca Zeller to embrace spontaneity and rethink their roles. The band recreated themselves on Beta Love, a collection of giddy pop songs and heady lyrics that pull inspiration from futurist Ray Kurzweil, among others.