Rat Farm

Rat Farm
Studio album by Meat Puppets
Released	April 16, 2013
Recorded	2012–2013
Genre	Alternative rock country rock[1] psychedelia[1]
Length	45:52
Label	Megaforce
Producer	Curt Kirkwood
Meat Puppets chronology
Lollipop (2011) Rat Farm (2013) Dusty Notes (2019)

Rat Farm is the fourteenth full-length studio album by the Meat Puppets. It was released on April 16, 2013, through Megaforce Records.[2]

Background and recording

Background and writing

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]

Content

Musical style

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]

Reception

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]

Track listing

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

Personnel

• Curt Kirkwood – vocals, guitars, arrangements
• Cris Kirkwood – vocals, bass guitar
• Shandon Sahm – drums, percussion

References

1. Gardner, Noel (April 12, 2013). "Meat Puppets – "Rat Farm"". NME. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
2. Kyle McGovern, February 8, 2013, Spin. Meat Puppets 'Play it Straight' on 14th Studio Album 'Rat Farm'. retrieved February 19, 2013
3. The Meat Puppets Create 'Real Blown-Out Folk Music' on 'Rat Farm' – Album Premiere, John Blistein, Rolling Stone, April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
4. "Rat Farm Reviews". Metacritic. April 16, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
5. "Meat Puppets Profile". Metacritic. October 5, 1996. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
6. Andy Gill (April 12, 2013). "Album review: Meat Puppets, Rat Farm (Megaforce) – Reviews – Music". The Independent. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
7. Lymangrover, Jason (April 16, 2013). "Rat Farm – Meat Puppets : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
8. "Review: Meat Puppets – Music". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved June 10, 2013.