River Rat Records

Today Proper Music Distribution released a compilation of young folk artists called Folk Rising 2, which features the track Murray's Wives from Ruth Theodore's Worm Food!

The follow up to last year's successful 'Folk Rising' and the phenomenal success of the 'That's Proper Folk!' sampler. This time 23 artists are included on two CDs, reflecting the growing momentum behind the current folk revival and features many artists who are at the start of their careers but who are still attracting considerable critical acclaim and media interest.

Back in May we signed a distribution deal with Proper (the UK's largest independent), which means that you can now buy our releases from your favourite independent record stores, as well as all the major chains like HMV and Amazon, but try and keep that to yourselves :)

Worm Food is also now available from practically all of the digital download services, including iTunes in DRM free format.

So, it's never been easier to grab yourself a copy!

Soon (when I manage to write the rest of the code) we'll be launching our very own digital download service, so you'll be able to buy high quality MP3s direct from us.. all in good time.

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Since we finished building the studio it's been non-stop recording at River Rat! Some exciting noises (and some nasty ones) have been shaking the walls here..

We produced an EP for Morricone-inspired rockers Death Cats, an EP of brand new songs from the Tofu Love Frogs who are officially back to eat your babies, as well as the first ever recordings of Victor Menace!!! - some (including me) said it couldn't be done, but with acrobatics and occasional death defying stunts their first CD has been made!

It doesn't stop there though.. Nathan Ball has an EP almost finished, Ruth Theodore is prolific as ever recording brand new material which is really exciting, Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos tracked 9 songs before going to Poland to record vocals, and Pintsized has been using downtime to confuse the hell out of the studio equipment with a soldering iron and sticky-backed plastic.

We have other exciting announcements too, but I'll bite my tongue for now.

In the gig space, Ruth Theodore is at Monkey Chews tonight in Chalk Farm with Gabby Young.. should be a great night so we hope to see some of you there! CDs of Ruth's album will be for sale as usual.

On the 22nd of June Victor Menace!!! will be playing with the Tofu Love Frogs at Lea Valley Festival.. keep your eye on the events page for actual details since they're a bit thin at the moment, but it promises to be a fantastic day out!

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We've uploaded our first YouTube contribution.. Ruth Theodore playing 'CO2' at Monkey Chews back in February.. enjoy!

Ruth and her band are back at Monkey Chews tonight, on stage somewhere around 9pm. I'll have copies of her album on me so come out and treat yourself! Full details on the events page as always.

Howdy y'all,

So what's new? We've been busy finishing off the studio with more lovely rockwool.. the first recording in the 'live room' happened at the weekend so I guess that means we're up and running! More pics and stuff soon.

On a related subject, we've created our own YouTube channel where we'll be uploading videos.. we've got some great live Ruth Theodore performances from the last Monkey Chews to go up, but most likely we'll get carried away with the novelty and upload useless yet self-entertaining drivel. More details to come..

You've got two chances to catch Victor Menace!!! in action this weekend, they're playing at Brixton Hootananny on Friday night and supporting Rabies Babies at Chats Palace on Saturday. Take your pick!

And finally, get yourself down to Southampton for Easter.. we'll be hosting the first ever River Rat event at Talking Heads on Thursday the 20th of March, featuring Nathan Ball, Ruth Theodore, The Moulettes and of course the marginally insane but consistently entertaining Victor Menace!!!.

See the events listing for full details.

Since the release of 'Worm Food' in November '07 River Rat has been playing 'builders'! With help from a few friends, a love affair with some rockwool and a near death experience with a circular saw, we have transformed two rooms in an old North London factory into a recording studio with control room and separate live room. There's still work to be done before we can begin recording, but now, with a proper base, surrounded by proper rats, at least we look like we know what we're doing!

Last Sunday we celebrated the launch of River Rat and Ruth Theodore's album 'Worm Food', by hosting an evening at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston.

The evening began with a wistful set from Ruth and the band, playing largely the slower songs from the album to a braced and silent audience.  After a few words were said on behalf of the record label we introduced Nathan Ball to the stage, who was once more accompanied by that haunting cello and captivating as ever.

After an interval came the second set from Ruth Theodore, this time performing solo and tearing in to her guitar with the faster more rhythmical tracks from the album (including the title track 'Worm Food').

To finish we saw the return of the rest of Ruth's band that drove home the final few tracks to a crowd who's attention and enthusiasm made the whole night really enjoyable for everyone.

'Worm Food' will be available to buy from this website on the 5th of November.

We're happy to announce that halfway through the 56^th verse of "why are we waiting", the debut album 'Worm Food' from Ruth Theodore was declared finished.

74 slurred verses of "for she's a jolly good fellow" have since been sung... now she's considering releasing that instead!

We hope you like our new website, there's more to come so check back soon..