I try to keep my shameless plugs to one or two a year, so you can be sure there won't be another from me for awhile (if... ever).

If you haven't heard of RA, you would do well to check out their Myspace, listen to a few of their songs. There's some soft rock, some harder rock, but I don't think I would go so far as to say they make any metal. No matter what song you listen to, Sahaj universally belts out powerful vocals with real lyrics that actually make sense. I must say, Sahaj is probably my favorite vocalist, and RA probably my favorite band.

Regardless of your previous experience with RA, I'm primarily here to let everyone know about the new CD they've got on the press: "Black Sun." "Broken Hearted Soul," "The First Step," and "Don't Turn Away" (all on their Myspace) are a few of the tracks they'll be releasing on their newest record, which comes out September 16th on iTunes and September 23rd on disc. And the thing about buying the disc? Pre-orders come with a free autographed booklet. Just follow the link at the top of the band's homepage.

Anyway, now that that's over with... since we're on the topic of RA, who here's heard of RA before? Even if you haven't, and you listened to a couple songs off their Myspace, what do you think? RA is currently way below mass public recognition, and they've been fighting now for years to get known. Almost everyone I share RA with absolutely loves the music (I even played a song once for a class presentation in high school and the twenty-some people all said they enjoyed it).

Thoughts?

I think I have only heard one song, forget what it is called but pretty good stuff. I might check this out

Thank you for reminding me of how much I enjoy Ra.

Ra is awesome and I'm looking forward to their next album. Can't wait for it. IMO, their first album, From One is their best. Their second one isn't terrible by any means though. Must-hear songs from their first album are Fallen Rock Zone and Sky, those are probably their best.


They also put on the best live show I've ever seen (I saw them when they were relatively new and playing the sidestage at Pointfest, I think it was 2003ish? They're probably even better live now)

RA just posted one last track on their Myspace as a teaser/promo for the upcoming release next week. The song's called "Faulty Information," and it's pretty much awesome.

I think "energetic" is a little bit of an understatement.

Well, I'm more stoked than ever for the new CD.

Double post magic bump.

Anyway, anyone listened to this yet? It was released on Amazon and iTunes a couple days ago.

Personally, I still think From One is their best CD, but I'm loving Black Sun anyway. Some great guitar work, a good balance of heavy and soft (better structured than Duality was), a couple surprisingly charming piano sections, and layered lyrics abound. And some awesome throwbacks to From One with the Aladdin-sounding intro to "Lost Along The Way" and spiritual successor to "I Believe" ... "I Believe Again."

All in all, I can't wait to get my signed copies in, so I can rip it straight and without the volume leveling issue iTunes had (yeah, someone screwed up pretty hard and the original files were nearly silent).

I wore my RA shirt today in dedication of the fact that I had at least two-thirds of the CD cycling through my head, even while I was sleeping.

I listened to it once, granted, that's while I was at work, so I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to it, but I liked what I heard. I'll have to give it another listen when I'm paying attention

I bought their newest album on the release day.