Friday, February 03, 2006
Ride - Going Blank Again
From the sounds of the cloistered, chaotic opener, "Leave Them All Behind," Going Blank Again sounds like it could be headed down the same Nowhere path. Guitars as far as the ear can hear -- not much different from the effect gained after riding a sit-and-spin for eight straight minutes -- are just as dizzying as the prior record's opener. But rather than sink into a thick underbelly of melancholy, Going Blank Again offers sunshiney melodies and gleaming, bold production. All the band's elements are more pliable, and overall it's pretty cheery. In fact, some of the album could be loosely classified as power pop. Bouncy tunes like "Twisterella," "Not Fazed," "Mouse Trap," and "Time of Her Time" each share more than a thing or two in common with the likes of Teenage Fanclub, but with more layered vocals and less-cutting guitars. Though Ride's guitars don't bite as much, there are loads of them everywhere; the band doesn't completely sacrifice their love of reverberating noise, but it's more done in the name of pop than to merely cause a blistering racket. Though the lyrics often read as overtly simple or obtuse (a common Ride foible), Mark Gardener's and Andy Bell's voices are too pretty to let this shortcoming mar things. They create enough of a mood with their proper instruments, and their sighing and random vocal intonations are undeniably lovely. No longer do they hide shortcomings with sheets of distortion, and there's a lot more focus and confidence on display throughout. Don't let a Ride fan tell you otherwise: Going Blank Again is anything but empty. [Going Blank Again was remastered and reissued by Ignition U.K. in 2001. Four B-sides are added; the only B-side from this era not included is an alternate version of "Chrome Waves."]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts of the Week
-
History They originally called themselves The Reactionaries , with additional band member and singer Martin Tamburovich. According to Watt, ...
-
Calexico is an indie rock band known for playing an eclectic variety of music. Its two main members are Joey Burns and John Convertino, wh...
-
Wheatus is Wheatus' first album, released on 15 August 2000. Three singles were released off the album: Wheatus' biggest hit "...
-
New ep is recorded by two good musician John Darnielle and John Vanderslice, this EP is a concept album about organ harvesting colonies on t...
-
A collection of all of Pavement 's low-fidelity early singles and EPs, which feature considerably less melody than Slanted and Enchante...
-
*MM review Rating:8.5 Los Angeles based dance rock duo She Wants Revenge are self-confident to expand their fans in the name of the sophomor...
-
The Bachelor is set to be released by Universal Records on June 1. New record sounds authentic and poppier than previous Patrick Wolf albums...
1 COMMENTS:
pass:qwerty
Post a Comment