Wreck Of The Big Ragoo
In 1996, The Big Ragoo was formed as a side project of three members of Atlanta post-punk band Monkey Boy. Jimmy Ether (hey, that's me!), Ken Whitener and Shawn Christopher -- all prolific songwriters -- would rotate instruments with the principal songwriter playing guitar. Lyrics were written communally based on what each member thought the others were singing, resulting in both interesting motifs and complete absurdity. Musically, the trio pulled heavily from the influence of Trumans Water, fIREHOSE, Soul-Junk, Sebadoh and Archers of Loaf.
This set of 13 songs was recorded one weekend in August of 1996. The music was tracked live to two-track in a wonderfully large room reminiscent of The Pixies Surfa Rosa recordings. The music was then dubbed to 4-track cassette and vocals were overdubbed as a group live to the remaining two tracks.
The Big Ragoo disbanded shortly after the making of this album. In 2010, Jimmy Ether synced the overdubbed vocals to the original two-track master, remixed, remastered and reissued the release on the Headphone Treats imprint. The Big Ragoo have plans to reform... more than 14 years later.
In fact... your purchase of this record (just $5 for 13 songs!) goes directly toward a plane ticket to fly Ken down from New York to make said "new record". We appreciate the purchase!
If you are interested in this release for blog review or airplay, give me a shout.