Ra

Musically adept, relentlessly inventive, and fiercely independent, tenacious, shape-shifting hard rockers Ra formed in the late 1990s around the talents of vocalist Sahaj Ticotin, drummer Skoota Warner, bassist Kirk Lyons, and guitarist Ben Muaro. Offering up a heady mix of hard rock, funk, nu-metal, and middle eastern-tinged progressive rock, the band scored a minor hit with their first single, “Crazy Little Voices,” which appeared over the end titles of the 1999 horror film The Rage: Carrie 2. The band’s 2000 debut EP, One, landed them a deal with Universal, resulting in 2002’s well-received, hard-hitting From One, which featured the singles “Do You Call My Name” and “Rectifier.” 2005’s Duality introduced a more streamlined and melodic sound, an esthetic that the band continued to mine on subsequent long-players like Black Sun (2008), Black Sheep (2009), and Critical Mass (2013), all three of which were issued on Ticotin's own Sahaja Music Records. ~ James Christopher Monger