Biography
Rafter Roberts ranks among San Diego’s longstanding music presences, balancing duties that encompass the indie pop duo Bunky, management of one of the area’s busiest independent studios, and production or engineering credits for Castanets, the Fiery Furnaces, Arab on Radar, and additional acts. His own kaleidoscopic noise pop emerges from Roberts working with a shifting group of collaborators. Raised inside a California commune, he encountered little mainstream culture or recorded music aside from the new wave and punk selections his older brother supplied on weekend visits. Those sounds, supplied by XTC, Devo, Talking Heads, and the Beatles, led him to start the band Faucet while still a teenager. After high school he moved to New York and continued developing material on a four-track recorder.
Back on the West Coast, Roberts made San Diego his base and quickly turned into a vital presence in the local scene, capturing friends’ bands and organizing house shows at night while also assisting Glen Galloway, of Trumans Water and Soul-Junk, with music for commercials. Galloway and Roberts constructed a complete studio that went on to host sessions for Sufjan Stevens, Rogue Wave, Gogogo Airheart, and many others. Roberts kept shaping his personal recordings, forming Bunky with Emily Joyce; Asthmatic Kitty issued the duo’s debut, Born to Be a Motorcycle, and simultaneously signed Roberts to release work as Rafter. The label brought out 10 Songs, drawn from his four-track tapes of 1998 and 1999, in 2006; the album was followed in quick succession by Songs for Total Chickens in 2007 and Sex Death Cassette in 2008. The Sweaty Magic EP, which moved further into funk and Afro-pop territory, surfaced in summer 2008.
Modern R&B and classic video game music guided the direction of 2010’s Animal Feelings. Two further albums appeared in 2011: Quiet Storm, which Roberts characterized as “Darkthrone meets the Kinks meets Lee Perry,” and Eponymous, a dance-oriented collaboration with Simian Mobile Disco’s Simon Lord under the name Roberts & Lord. After pausing to explore fresh directions, Roberts delivered 2014’s It’s Reggae, an earnest yet eccentric homage to dub and roots reggae. He next concentrated on a return to his earlier pop approach, now filtered through a more mature and refined sensibility, and Joyful Noise released the resulting XYZ in late 2016.
Back on the West Coast, Roberts made San Diego his base and quickly turned into a vital presence in the local scene, capturing friends’ bands and organizing house shows at night while also assisting Glen Galloway, of Trumans Water and Soul-Junk, with music for commercials. Galloway and Roberts constructed a complete studio that went on to host sessions for Sufjan Stevens, Rogue Wave, Gogogo Airheart, and many others. Roberts kept shaping his personal recordings, forming Bunky with Emily Joyce; Asthmatic Kitty issued the duo’s debut, Born to Be a Motorcycle, and simultaneously signed Roberts to release work as Rafter. The label brought out 10 Songs, drawn from his four-track tapes of 1998 and 1999, in 2006; the album was followed in quick succession by Songs for Total Chickens in 2007 and Sex Death Cassette in 2008. The Sweaty Magic EP, which moved further into funk and Afro-pop territory, surfaced in summer 2008.
Modern R&B and classic video game music guided the direction of 2010’s Animal Feelings. Two further albums appeared in 2011: Quiet Storm, which Roberts characterized as “Darkthrone meets the Kinks meets Lee Perry,” and Eponymous, a dance-oriented collaboration with Simian Mobile Disco’s Simon Lord under the name Roberts & Lord. After pausing to explore fresh directions, Roberts delivered 2014’s It’s Reggae, an earnest yet eccentric homage to dub and roots reggae. He next concentrated on a return to his earlier pop approach, now filtered through a more mature and refined sensibility, and Joyful Noise released the resulting XYZ in late 2016.
Albums
Singles
