Castanets is the ongoing musical project of San Diego native Raymond Raposa. The band features a constantly rotating cast of backing musicians, including members of Pinback, Rocket from the Crypt and Tristeza, but the focus is always on following Raposa's direction. The band is one of the torchbearers of the freak folk movement (often called "New Weird America"). Its sparse, atmospheric sound--usually led by Raposa's finger-picked acoustic guitar--is as desolate and atmospheric as the famously remote locations he records his albums, which include hotel rooms in the Nevada desert and cabins in the wilds of Northern California.
