Rattletree

One Liner: Marimba world music action
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia entry
Spotify Says Similar To: Line Upon Line Percussion and Aviateur
Home: Austin

Poster Position: 27
Slot: Saturday, ?

Thoughts:  Aw yeah!  Xylophone action, bitches!  The website says that "Rattletree is a must-see multi-sensory live show experience of towering marimbas triggering ethereal synth sounds, bursts of color, and ecstatic dance."  So I guess these aren't xylophones, but are marimbas.  Got it.  Sorry.  Their most popular track on Spotify is an instrumental called "Joy," with 1,365 streams (of which about 10 are mine), but that one doesn't have a snappy video shot at the KUTX studios, so you get "Blood Red" instead, which sounds like an instrumental version of some rock song.  Less than a thousand streams.

These dudes are freaking serious about their percussions, bro.  Out of curiosity, was that a cover song?  Google tells me about three other songs called "Blood Red."  I just listened to the terrible DMX rap by that name, and this is definitely not a cover of that one.  I don't see similarities with the Slayer track either (although Slayer sure does have a lot of songs with "blood" in the title).  But wait, it really might be a cover of the last one, a "dubstep classic" by Feed Me.

OK, now I'm actually laughing out loud in my office.  That fits.  And means that the marimba band is seriously covering a 2010 dubstep EDM track from an English dude named Jon Gooch who is signed to Deadmau5's label.  That is weird stuff.  (but I actually kind of like the original tune).  They also do a cover of "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" that I could do without - they do better with the instrumental thunder than the singing.  Here is some live action from the Central Market patio over on North Lamar.

My favorite part of the video are the little toddlers either drunkenly learning how to walk or dancing to the jams, down in the bottom left hand corner of the video next to the drum kit. 

These guys are obviously, or at least I find it obvious since I probably couldn't play Three Blind Mice on those things without 5 hours of practice, very talented at what they do, but I doubt I'd go see them play at the Fest.