Raymond Raposa Obituary

Raymond Raposa, who released music under the stage name Castanets is dead. He died at the age of 41.

Raposa’s death was announced on July 29, 2022 by his longtime label Asthmatic Kitty Records, which is managed by Sufjan Stevens. However, a cause of death was not stated.

Sufjan Stevens posted a tribute to the late artist on his Tumblr account. Stevens wrote;

“Raymond Raposa passed away yesterday.”

“He was a bright star, a good friend, and a great musician. It was always such a joy and a fierce spiritual journey to work with him. Heavy hearts and deep sorrows over here.

“Ray, may your soul glimmer brightly on the other side! And may perpetual light shine upon you. I love you.”

Raposa was born on January 22, 1981 in Michigan City, Indiana and at age thirteen, Raposa and his mother moved to Baja California, where he was home-schooled for a year.

In his late teens, Raposa became involved in the free-jazz project Womb. Womb recorded a self-titled album in 2001, which was released in 2004.

While performing with others, Raposa began to develop his own musical projects and together with Nathan Delffs, he recorded a number of CD-Rs, including What Kind of Cure (2002).

While on tour with the band Howard Hello, Raposa began working with Liz Janes, who was already signed to Asthmatic Kitty at the time.

What Kind of Cure was then forwarded to Sufjan Stevens, who signed Raposa to the label However, instead of re-recording What Kind of Cure, Raposa instead decided to record new material for what became Cathedral, which appeared in October 2004, which was followed by an instrumental split 12-inch with the duo I Heart Lung.

In the same year [2004], Raposa moved to Brooklyn with Stevens to pursue music together and while there, he took a job working in a record store.

In October 2005, the band released First Light’s Freeze, which was largely constructed by Raposa, with the help of Stevens and engineer Rafter Roberts. In 2007, he released In the Vines, which Pitchfork described as indie folk.

Castanets was one of the more prominent bands in the so-called American freak folk movement (also known as psychedelic folk and New Weird America) of the early 2000s.