I mentioned a couple of post back posts back that I was looking forward to seeing Ringo Deathstarr at Indietracks, but that was after only hearing a few songs and not the new album. Now that I've heard 'Colour Trip' (over and over) I can safely say that I'm seriously excited.
Like yesterdays blogstars The Midgetmen, Ringo Deathstarr also hail from Austin, Texas, and are also pretty loud. However where the former are primarily punk, Ringo Deathstarr are for the most part shoegaze. Some would say derivatively so (I've seen JAMC mentioned lots of times in reference to the band), and whilst it's fair to say that you can play a fair amount of spot the influence listening to the album it would be unfair to say that that's all there is to the band.
For example whilst opener 'Imagine Hearts' is straight forward shoegaze, the following track 'Do It Ever Time' comes off like Calvin Johnson fronting Yo La Tengo, and contains the couplet "we're falling apart again, she took my cardigan". It's brilliant.
That vibe sort of flows into the next track 'So High' whose giddy pop just makes me want to dance. It's the sort of song that could have been the other A-side to 'C Is The Heavenly Option'.
Other highlights include 'Kaleidoscope' ,which is a utterly beautiful fuzzy pop gem. The sort of song that if it was corporeal you'd hug it to your chest and never let go; 'Tambourine Girl' whose chainsaw guitar kicks into the most joyous melody, and the sweet and tender closer 'Other Things'. It's all great though.
So yeah, even in the course of that review you can see how easy it is to compare the band to those that have gone before (but surely it's that way for most bands) and yes you could play spot the influence or be all snotty and dismiss this as derivative but that would be missing the point; that Ringo Deathstarr have produced a record that is a joyful, heartlifting, humalong, jumpalong, gem of a POP record. More of this sort of thing please!
You can hear the album on Spotify now
Listen to some stuff on Last FM
Oh and maybe see them live at Indietracks
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