Acclaimed Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter David Ramirez has announced a new EP, called Rules and Regulations, set to release on February 25, 2022. The 6-song EP follows his 2020 full-length, My Love Is A Hurricane, which No Depression called “a warm, groove-driven record in the tradition of Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen.” It includes a collection of favorite tracks that were originally written for past albums but ended up not fitting the overall vibe of those projects. One such song, “I Believe You,” is premiering today on KUTX as the Song of the Day at 12:55pm CST and will be available on all DSPs tomorrow, January 28.
Of “I Believe You,” Ramirez offers, “In September of 2018, my buddy Matt Wright and I went out to the Salinas/Monterey area of California to write for a week. This happened to be the same week of the Ford-Kavanaugh hearings. Matt and I would wake up, make coffee, and spend the early part of the day reading about or watching these hearings and then go into writing. Eventually, if I recall correctly, we couldn’t continue to write without acknowledging our feelings towards what was happening in DC. Every song we attempted quickly came to a dead-end until we accepted that maybe we were there to write about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Together, through this song, we wrestled with our feelings towards confession, victims, politics, justice, truth, and lies.”
Recorded at Austin Signal Studios, Rules and Regulations was tracked entirely live with no additional mixing or mastering. The sound engineers used vintage microphones and first-edition recording equipment in combination with Dolby Laboratories' new spatial audio technology called Atmos to produce a raw yet finished sound. Speaking about the recording process, Ramirez shares, “Knowing all of it had to be live, one-take performances with no overdubs, over a two-day period, kept us on our toes and kept it interesting. Fortunately, everyone in the live room and in the control room were complete pros so what could have been a very stressful and unpleasant couple of days ended up being incredibly inspirational. In my early days, I did a lot of live recording but as I’ve grown older and become more specific I never thought I’d record in this way again. I’m now very interested in seeing if I could pull this off on a bigger scale.”
In celebration of the release, Ramirez has partnered with Austin-based coffee roasters, Try Hard Coffee, for a signature coffee blend to enjoy while listening to Rules and Regulations. Try Hard blended northern Peruvian coffee with a pulped-natural Brazilian coffee and roasted it a true medium so that it can be enjoyed the way David enjoys his coffee – black. Inspired by Ramirez’s recording process at Austin Signal, this coffee is a mash-up of new styles and classic boutique equipment working in tandem to create a unique, no-frills experience.
Try Hard Coffee is releasing an exclusive box set complete with a 12oz bag of coffee, 12” vinyl EP of Rules and Regulations, a felt turntable slipmat featuring an album lyric, and an insert detailing the recording process of the record. Pre-order it now HERE.
Rules and Regulations is Ramirez’s ninth collection of songs and follows his 2020 full-length, My Love Is A Hurricane, which was produced by Jason Burt (Paul Cauthen, The Texas Gentlemen) with "misty psychedelic undertones and potent gospel arrangements" (NPR Music). The Austin Chronicle praised, “Jason Burt's production sets Ramirez in new territory, swooning and swelling to match the balladeer's own vocal pendulum from understated Matt Berninger brood to emphatic Nathaniel Rateliff growl,” with the Austin American-Statesman adding, “Burt couches these songs in a variety of arrangements which complement but never override the powerful voice that remains Ramirez’s greatest asset.”
With the release of the EP, Ramirez will play multiple Texas shows — including Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio — as well as Oklahoma City and Cincinnati. He will then embark on an extensive European tour starting in Bristol, UK on April 21. Please see below for full tour details.
Rules and Regulations Tracklisting:
1) Teach Me Your Language
2) Rules and Regulations
3) Friends Forever
4) Can You Hear The Silence?
5) Put In The Work
6) I Believe You
David Ramirez On Tour:
February 24 - Sam's Burger Joint - San Antonio, TX
February 26 - Dosey Doe Big Barn - The Woodlands, TX
March 2 - Cactus Theater - Lubbock, TX
March 3 - Tulips FTW - Fort Worth, TX
March 4 - Beer City Music Hall - Oklahoma City, OK
March 5 - The Far Out Lounge & Stage - Austin, TX
March 18 - Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q - Tyler, TX
March 23 - The Ludlow Garage - Cincinnati, OH
April 21 - Thekla - Bristol, United Kingdom
April 22 - Oslo Hackney - London, United Kingdom
April 23 - Dinton Parish Church - Aylesbury, United Kingdom
April 24 - Railway Inn - Winchester, United Kingdom
April 25 - Komedia - Brighton, United Kingdom
April 26 - Bodega Social - Nottingham, United Kingdom
April 27 - Night & Day Cafe - Manchester, United Kingdom
April 28 - Broadcast - Glasgow, United Kingdom
April 30 - Civic Theatre - Gosforth, United Kingdom
May 1 - The Greystones - Sheffield, United Kingdom
May 2 - The Flowerpot - Derby, United Kingdom
May 3 - Boileroom - Guildford, United Kingdom
May 4 - Asylum - Birmingham, United Kingdom
May 6 - Tivoli Vredenburg - Utrecht, Netherlands
May 7 - Der Aa-Theater - Groningen, Netherlands
May 8 - Helios 37 - Köln, Germany
May 9 - Prachtwerk - Berlin, Germany
May 10 - Posten - Odense C, Denmark
May 11 - Tobakken - Esbjerg, Denmark
May 12 - Tøjhuset - Fredericia, Denmark
May 13 - The Tivoli - Helsingborg, Sweden
May 15 - Parkteatret Scene - Oslo, Norway
