a + eyear :: 2013music by Ra Ra Riot
January 1, 2024
label ::
music artist: Ra Ra Riot
album: Beta Love
track: Binary Mind
year: 2013
music video |
credit: Ra Ra Riot
interview |
company: Google
web series: My favorite things.
episode: Ra Ra Riot on Ray Kurzweil
presented by
card :: Google
VIDEO
IMAGE
1 ::
broadcast: NPR
radio show: All songs considered.
story: First Watch: Ra Ra Riot’s track Binary Mind.
read | story
presented by
card :: NPR
excerpt ::
Indie pop group Ra Ra Riot album Beta Love is steeped in science fiction and futurism: with robots, space — and on the song “Binary Mind” merging humans with computers. In a music video for the song the heads of the band members playfully float and bob in a kaleidoscope digital landscape.
Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles says “Binary Mind” was one of the first songs written for Beta Love and helped shape their album. The director for the music video of “Binary Mind” Cole Hannan took a textured approach. Hannan used photos he took of places a+ objects while walking around town. He filmed the band members singing while wearing green screen bibs to isolate their heads.
quote ::
name: Wes Miles
bio: music artist
bio: The lead singer of Ra Ra Riot.
“It’s written from the viewpoint of a fiction version of futurist Ray Kurzweil. In the song he longs for his father. He’s trying to merge with a computer and become immortal by uploading into the web. He wants to make an avatar of his father who he misses. He is dealing with time.”
— Wes Miles
quote ::
name: Cole Hannan
bio: text
I started thinking about the concept of singularity. I wanted to make a story about a planet being created. Life on that planet popping up, that life assimilating with computers, and its new human-computer hybrid.”
— Cole Hannah
2. |
company: GHS Strings
profile: Ra Ra Riot
read | story
presented by
card :: GHS Strings
— excerpt —
The band Ra Ra Riot re-created themselves on their album Beta Love—- a collection of giddy pop songs and heady lyrics. It pulls inspiration from futurist Ray Kurzweil, among others. This is an interview with band lead singer Wes Miles.
question |
Tell me about your song “Binary Mind” from your album Beta Love. That song has a science fiction-as-emotional conflict metaphor.
Wes Miles |
Well, that song is about Ray Kurzweil. We got into him at the end of our album the Orchard. I majored in physics in college and I’m into science. Mathieu was also really into that.
Mathieu Santos |
I ordered the book the Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil.
Wes Miles |
It’s all about his math, estimating when humans and computers will become fully integrated. There’s a great documentary about him, exploring that idea — called Transcendent Man. So we got into him and his ideas. Watching the movie you realize one of his biggest hopes for singularity is to sort of re-create his father. He has boxes of his father’s documents and personal writings — he believes it will help him create a sort of avatar of his dad.
Meanwhile he’s racing against time in his own way — because according to his theory, singularity happens at a certain time. So that’s the song: from his perspective, hoping when singularity happens he’ll be able to sync with his computer and create his father — basically bring his father back to life.
question |
Seems opposite your mind-set where you guys are trying to give-up control — he’s trying to have control over death. Beta Love is an interesting phrase — there’s the idea of beta as an in-progress software program, not quite ready to go.
Wes Miles |
The lyrics in the song encapsulate a lot of topics on the record. It’s about a beta version of an android discovering love. But listening to it and writing all the lyrics, it felt like it was representative of everything.
3. |
publication: Pitchfork
story: Ra Ra Riot’s Beta Love
read | story
presented by
card :: Pitchfork
card :: Condé Nast
— excerpt —
Along with a lyrical focus inspired by author Ray Kurzweil’s book the Singularity is Near — Ra Ra Riot incorporated more keyboards + synthesizers into many of the songs on their album Beta Love.
This new techie attitude is a change for a band known mostly for one thing. The album peaks during the drums on “Binary Mind” — the songs that speaks about Ray Kurzweil’s idea of trans-humanism.
4. |
broadcast: MTV
story: 5 ways William Gibson + Ray Kurzweil influence Ra Ra Riot’s new album
read | story
presented by
— excerpt —
text
5. |
STORY
music artist |
1.
music artist: Ra Ra Riot
web: home ~ channel
2.
group: Barsuk Records
web: home ~ channel
profile: Ra Ra Riot
image | below
Photo of Ra Ra Riot members: Wes Miles, Milo Bonacci, Mathieu Santos, Rebecca Zeller, Alexandra Lawn.
credit: Ra Ra Riot
— lyrics —
music artist: Ra Ra Riot
album: Beta Love
track: Binary Mind
This body that I own — it’s got no use anymore.
But to go to rack and ruin.
This body that I own — I can’t tell you what it’s for.
I can’t tell you.
I can’t tell you — no.
Alone in my room.
Why — tell me why.
I want to read you with this binary mind.
Cause if I do I’m sure that we’ll be complete.
That’s why I need this binary mind.
So I can forget how lonely feels.
This body that I own — is giving up a thank you for.
The information given me — I found.
This body that I own — is part of everything I’ve learned.
It’s gone — why, why, why?
If they don’t mind — no.
Why — tell me why.
I want to read you with this binary mind.
Cause if I do I’m sure that we’ll be complete.
That’s why I need this binary mind.
So I can forget how lonely feels.
I don’t know why you’ve gone.
It’s a technocratic future world.
Though it’s only time ahead.
But alone in my room.
It don’t matter — just prepare my release.
Why — tell me why.
I want to read you with this binary mind.
Cause if I do I’m sure that we’ll be complete.
That’s why I need this binary mind.
So I can forget how lonely feels.
So I can forget how lonely feels.
Cause if it’s falling apart — it’s falling apart.
And if I don’t, I don’t agree.
I won’t let that stop this — no.
I won’t let that stop — this is falling apart.
I won’t let that, though I don’t.
This body that I own.
This body that I own.
— notes —
GHS = Gould, Holcomb, and Solko
MTV = Music Television
NPR = National Public Radio
CBS = Columbia Broadcasting System