Elliott Smith, Pink Floyd, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Love, Arthur Lee, The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley, The Grateful Dead, Mercury Rev, Joni Mitchell, Beach Boys, The Byrds, House of Love, Lambchop, Mojave 3, Grandaddy, Nick Cave, Scott Walker, Gram Pasons, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Johnny Cash, The Band, Townes Van Zandt....to name a few.
"Death In Fiction is the kind of album that will return your faith in music" The Daily Star
"Quite frankly, awesome" netrhythms
"Sweepingly majestic and savagely beautiful, a serious contender for best rock album of 2008. This cd ought to establish British rock quartet Ray as frontrunners for this year’s Mercury Prize" Lucid Culture
"The quality of songwriting and the finesse of their playing marks them out as timeless. Ray deserve to be in the charts, they deserve to be loved by millions" hard-wired
"It's a stunner...Not retro; modern and now!" The Big Takeover (US)
"A particularly majestic shade of limelight ought to beckon" Gigwise
"This is indie as it was and should be" Nightshift, Oxford
ABOUT RAY
Since Ray's conception in London there’s been four critically acclaimed studio albums, 15 members come and go and a fair few tantrums on the way.
First spotted by Geoff Travis at Rough Trade, the band have since enjoyed being bashed like a pinball into various blind recesses of the independent music industry. The results have been the LPs First Light (Rough Trade), Deep Blue Happy (Pito), Daylight in the Darkroom (Pito) and Death in Fiction – out now on Pito Records.
Those Ritalin-soaked days are now but memories for the troubled youth.
Death in Fiction is an album that lays claim once and for all to the sonic territory that the band have always inhabited – it’s a toughened up set of ten songs that flows dynamically from peak to peak, whilst still preserving the charm and beauty of Ray’s earlier work.
The four piece are now a lean mean gigging machine and pride themselves on playing wherever they are asked to play.
“Artistically monumental and offering huge anthemic fun with more than enough intelligence to offset your guilt” unpeeled.co.uk
“Young masters” Mojo
“A more melodic ‘The National’, with insane potential … I think Ray could forge a classic” The Big Takeover
“A slice of top draw, sky-scraping post-punk” Roomthirteen.com
“Guitar notes hang in the air. Words are weighted then dispersed in the ether … but acutely present undercurrents of hostility, give the songs a serrated edge” NME
"Wetter is massive, it will make Julian a star" - Alan McGee (Creation records) "Very impressed" - David J (Love and Rockets) "An infectious release, a few steps away from acclaimed success" - mojophenia "This guy has massive talent" - boom boom chik
May your stuffing be tasty, May your turkey plump, May your potatoes and gravy Have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious And your pies take the prize, And may your Thanksgiving dinner Stay off your thighs
We are pretty much there line up wise for this year - be assured our new friends will be looked at for next year, meantime why not come down and join us on the farm, meet us, listen to other great musicians, drink local beer, cider, or wine at £3 a pop, local food, among the happiest crowd - this is what Two Fingers of Firewater said:
"Just the best festival in the world for cool country and Americana music + goats"
Apologies for the shameless plug, but I'm giving people the heads up about a gig I'm playing at the Kings Cross Water Rats on Sunday April 5th. Please drop me a line if you'd like more information and guestlist : )
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