Pitchfork

On Christmas Eve, Ray Raposa of Castanets set down the candy cane and penned up a bit of a to-do list for the coming year for his MySpace blog. Tucked underneath cryptic messages like "that one DVD" and "Powers LP" and "maybe the other DVD"-- meant to jog Raposa's memory-- comes the final item, and where his 2008 begins: "shows."

Ray and his Castanets will unravel last fall's In the Vines LP on a West Coast tour that kicks off January 15 in Seattle. The band for Raposa's forthcoming tour reportedly isn't set yet, less than a week before these dates commence. Looks like somebody needs to work up a new list!

Before he enumerated his future plans, Raposa had a bit of old business to attend to: a new 7". This one is for a remix Ray's Asthmatic Kitty labelmate Rafter did of In the Vines' "Strong Animal", and it comes backed with Vines outtake "Golden". The disc, sporting artwork from Tara Jane O'Neil, will be issued by Asthmatic Kitty January 22.

In other Castanets news, Ray will appear in some capacity on the forthcoming DVD from the folks at Asthmatic Kitty.

"Strong Animal" 7":

A1: Strong Animal (Rafter Remix)
B1: Golden

Castanets:

01-15 Seattle, WA - Jules Mae Saloon
01-16 Portland, OR - Someday Lounge
01-18 Eugene, OR - Sam Bond's Garage
01-21 San Francisco, CA - Café Du Nord *
01-22 Davis, CA - Fort Douglas *
01-23 Sacramento, CA - N Street House
01-24 Fresno, CA - Club Fred *^
01-25 San Luis Obispo, CA - Steynberg Gallery
01-28 Phoenix, AZ - The Trunk Space
01-30 San Diego, CA - The Casbah
01-31 Long Beach, CA - Koo's Art Center
02-01 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo

* with Sholi
^ with Eli Olio Wolof