Red Red Meat/Obits @ SXSW

If Tim Rutili’s doesn’t have the most harmonious singing voice, but it’s certainly one of the most distinctive, or just the flat-out weirderst. On his records with Califone and the long defunct Red Red Meat his words are always slurred, as if he’s somehow singing them backwards and forwards at the same time. I had assumed that some degree of studio trickery was involved in producing this effect–maybe running the tapes in reverse and then patching the mix through a worn out catchers mitt?–, but no, apparently it’s all natural.

When Red Red Meat reunited last night to perform at Subpop’s SXSW showcase all Rutili had to do to get that strange, nasal, warble was to simply push air through his lungs. Anything else that’s involved remains a mystery. That voice really drives the music, though. Without him Red Red Meat’s rusty, lo-fi, folk-rock might just sound like pretty-ok grunge.

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