Wichita Vinyl & CDs

Review: With so much at stake when seminal outfits decide to get back together it's understandable people usually greet the news of reunification with a degree of skepticism. But if RIDE's first epilogue didn't confirm it, their second post-comeback album should; sometimes a return is exactly what we needed. Tracks like "Future Love", "Jump Jet" and "Fifteen Minutes" stand up as excellent in their own right. At its most adventurous and confident, "This Is Not A Safe Place" is a startling work of extraordinary daring. RIDE sound as powerful and room-filling as it does hypnotic. "Repetition" vacuum packs a party in sharp, staccato goodness, "Kill Switch" takes us into dark, edgy territories, high pitched chord refrains and crashing cymbals creating an air of menace. So, if we didn't say it already, welcome back.

Review: Shoegaze legends Ride are on a reissuing roll, having announced a re-release campaign of almost all their early classic albums on Wichita Recordings. 'Nowhere', of course, is their magnum opus. Helicoptring in out from a tundric seascape and Hemingway hazes, Ride's sound is massive, sonically honest and remarkably different to some of their later works. In keeping with the iconic wave depicted on its front cover, this new vinyl reissue comes in the form of a blue 12" housed in a see-through inner sleeve.

Review: Although it didn't receive quite as rapturous reviews as its predecessor, 1990's Nowhere, Ride's sophomore album Going Blank Again remains one of the finest shoegaze sets ever recorded - a dense, psychedelic, glassy-eyed, heavily layered set whose immersive sound, harmony vocals and droning textures come together to create a heavy, immersive and enveloping masterpiece. This remastered reissue replicates the format of its 2001 predecessor, expanding the set to include a quartet of bonus tracks plucked from singles and EPs released in the same period. These include the glistening, dancefloor-ready dream-pop swell of 'Going Blank Again' and the wall of sound that is 'Grasshopper'.

Review: Shoegaze legends Ride's reissuing roll reaches their first four EPs; the first here, simply titled 'Ride', was emblematic of the band's sound and, outside of that sphere, paved the way for an entire genre. After that, and before 'Nowhere', came the subsequent EP's 'Play', 'Fall' and 'Today Forever', which make up this sprawling blue vinyl boxset. Once again, you can now bask in the shimmering waves that lap at this jolly band's feet, and ours.

Review: By the time they released Tarantula in 1996, Ride had run out of road. The band split shortly before the album's release and would not reform again for almost two decades. At the time, the album was panned by critics, but listening to this remastered reissue, it's hard to see why. Sure, the dense, dreamy and heady shoegaze sound they'd pioneered at the turn of the 90s was long gone, replaced instead by a nostalgic late 60s rock sound that doffed a cap to the Beatles and those Britpop era bands that emulated their sound (hello Oasis). The sound is authentic - all blazed vocals, alternately jangling and heavy guitars, dependable bass and wide-eyed audio effects - and the songs entertaining. Perhaps it will be judged more sympathetically this time round.

Review: Tarantula is one of those bittersweet moments in the history of UK rock & roll. On the one hand, it's a fantastic album that showcases the natural talent and innovative approach to song craft that Ride had first grabbed attention with. On the other, it marked the beginning of the end for the group, or more accurately, the first chapter following the end - finally getting a release after the outfit had called time and gone their separate ways. Still, in so far as swan songs go, there are plenty to celebrate here. Tarantula is a purist's rock & roll extravaganza at times, with its gritty riffs and forward momentum, tracks like 'Burnin'' perhaps best typify this, or those looking for a taste of the genre's 1960s origin story might look to 'Deep Inside My Pocket'. But then it's all much more complex than that, too, with the reflective indie balladry of 'Castle On The Hill', noise pop on 'Gonna Be Alright', and hypnotising layers on 'Ride The Wind'.

Review: When 2017's Weather Diaries marked the first full-length from Oxford shoegaze legends Ride in 21 years, many welcomed what was presumed to be a reshaping of legacy so as to not have bowed out with the negatively received Tarantula. This made 2019's This Is Not A Safe Place even more of a joyous sonic spectacle (before touching on the fact that the LP legitimately bore some of the band's finest work to date). Now that the dust has settled on a plethora of tour dates and festival appearances, we arrive at the third of their post-reunion albums with the highly anticipated Interplay. From the bubbling, ethereal synths of lead single 'Peace Sign' to the hazy, neo-psych dream-pop of 'Last Frontier', Ride appear more rejuvenated and hopeful than they've ever sounded, and it's a miracle in and of itself to be on the cusp of nearly having as many post as pre-break up records.

Review: Shoegaze and indie rock fans rejoice! The new Ride album - their first for five years - is here, featuring 12 new songs in total, many of whch were with some of them being debuted on their recent tour. 'Peace Sign' triumphantly begins the album with the signature wall of sound that Ride is so well known for, while 'Last Frontier' seems to be a firm fan favourite already. Stunning , dynamic and beautifully crafted, the album comes on double colored vinyl complete with insert and MP3 download code and looks likely to be the best shoegaze album of 2024.

Review: Shoegaze legends Ride are on a reissuing role, having announced a re-release campaign of almost all their early classic albums on Wichita Recordings. 'Going Blank Again' is the patrician's choice, being one of their most acclaimed and praised. Unlike contempories a-la My Bloody Valentine, Ride's sound at this point was clear and crisp; it was drowned in sonic light, not vacuum fuzz, and carried with it a cheerier edge that predicted the sounds of later bands like Weezer. Don't miss this orange vinyl bundle version.