View source for Rat Farm

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Rat Farm
| type       = Studio Album
| artist     = [[Meat Puppets]]
| cover      = Meat Puppets Rat Farm.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = April 16, 2013
| recorded   = 2012–2013
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Alternative rock]]|[[country rock]]<ref name="nme">{{cite web |last1=Gardner |first1=Noel |title=Meat Puppets – "Rat Farm" |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-meat-puppets-14323-309287 |website=NME |date=April 12, 2013 |accessdate=February 10, 2019}}</ref>|[[psychedelia]]<ref name=nme/>}}
| length     = 45:52
| label      = [[Megaforce Records|Megaforce]]
| producer   = [[Curt Kirkwood]]
| prev_title = [[Lollipop (album)|Lollipop]]
| prev_year  = 2011
| next_title = [[Dusty Notes]]
| next_year  = 2019
}}
'''''Rat Farm''''' is the fourteenth full-length studio album by the [[Meat Puppets]]. It was released on April 16, 2013, through Megaforce Records.<ref name=Spin_Rat/>
== Background and recording ==
=== Background and writing ===
On writing the music Curt Kirkwood remarked: "I tried to write stuff that would stand on its own — just the chords and the melodies, and play it kind of straight... I think that was the guiding boundary that I gave myself. It was one of those things where a lot of times, in the past especially, Cris (bassist [[Cris Kirkwood]]) would go, ‘Well, that's all there is? Let's put a prog rock part in the middle.’ But I tried to hold it off as much as I could."<ref name=Spin_Rat>Kyle McGovern, February 8, 2013, [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]. [https://www.spin.com/2013/02/meat-puppets-rat-farm-new-album/ Meat Puppets 'Play it Straight' on 14th Studio Album 'Rat Farm']. retrieved February 19, 2013</ref>
== Content ==
=== Musical style ===
Lucy Jones of British music publication ''[[NME]]'' adjudged ''Rat Farm'' as "gently fried [[country-rock]] and [[psychedelia]]" and its guitar solos to be "[[Neil Young]]-worthy".<ref name="nme" />
[[Curt Kirkwood]], the band's singer/guitarist and primary songwriter, described the album as "real blown-out [[folk music]]".<ref name="rstone">[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-meat-puppets-create-real-blown-out-folk-music-on-rat-farm-album-premiere-20130414 The Meat Puppets Create 'Real Blown-Out Folk Music' on 'Rat Farm' – Album Premiere], John Blistein, [[Rolling Stone]], April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.</ref>
==Reception==
As of June 2013, based on 17 reviews, ''Rat Farm'' has a score of 74 on [[Metacritic]], indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/rat-farm/meat-puppets |title=Rat Farm Reviews |publisher=Metacritic |date=April 16, 2013 |accessdate=2013-06-10}}</ref> This is the highest score of their albums released since 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/person/meat-puppets |title=Meat Puppets Profile |publisher=Metacritic |date= October 5, 1996|accessdate=2013-06-10}}</ref> [[The Independent]] described the album as "dizzying psychedelic country in finest Meat Puppets tradition, full of slightly off-centre harmonies in [[Grateful Dead]] manner, and plenty of Kirkwood's swirling, trippy guitar."<ref>{{cite web|author=Andy Gill |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-review-meat-puppets-rat-farm-megaforce-8568900.html |title=Album review: Meat Puppets, Rat Farm (Megaforce) – Reviews – Music |work=The Independent |date=April 12, 2013 |accessdate=2013-06-10}}</ref> [[Allmusic]] said: "The tracks on their 14th outing are the closest they've come in a long time to the colorful, no-frills brand of twangy alt-rock and informal punk (with hints of Americana, country, folk, and prog) that they instilled on their [[SST Records|SST]] records."<ref>{{cite web|last=Lymangrover |first=Jason |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/rat-farm-mw0002491400 |title=Rat Farm – Meat Puppets : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |date=April 16, 2013 |accessdate=2013-06-10}}</ref>  [[The Austin Chronicle]] said that Curt Kirkwood "continues penning some of the strongest, sweetest, and compellingly twisted material of his already storied songwriting career," and that "<nowiki>[t]</nowiki>here's enough distorted weirdness, easygoing melodies, and guitar both hard and jangly to demonstrate why the Meat Puppets influenced both [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] and [[R.E.M.]]"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2013-05-17/meat-puppets-rat-farm/ |title=Review: Meat Puppets – Music |publisher=The Austin Chronicle |date= |accessdate=2013-06-10}}</ref>
==Track listing==
{{Tracklist
| total_length  = 45:52
| title1 = Rat Farm
| length1 = 3:54
| title2 = One More Drop
| length2 = 3:46
| title3 = Down
| length3 = 3:25
| title4 = Leave Your Head Alone
| length4 = 4:20
| title5 = Again
| length5 = 3:25
| title6 = You Don't Know
| length6 = 4:13
| title7 = Waiting
| length7 = 3:14
| title8 = Time and Money
| length8 = 3:50
| title9 = Sometimes Blue
| length9 = 3:48
| title10 = Original One
| length10 = 4:12
| title11 = River Rose
| length11 = 3:22
| title12 = Sweet
| length12 = 4:22
}}
==Personnel==
*[[Curt Kirkwood]] – vocals, guitars, arrangements
*[[Cris Kirkwood]] – vocals, bass guitar
*[[Shandon Sahm]] – drums, percussion
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Meat Puppets}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Meat Puppets albums]]
[[Category:2013 albums]]
[[Category:Megaforce Records albums]]