dream pop

Ride on tour: Dates announced! Plus listen here to new shoegaze acts who could open!

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Ride on tour with The Charlatans! Check tour dates here + new shoegaze bands that could open. This image from London, 2019

UPDATE Monday 9:15 AM: Dates for Ride on tour here!

Here is the announcement for dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates. These are US and Canada big city performances starting in six weeks:

  • January 30 New York City
  • January 31 Brooklyn
  • February 2 Boston
  • February 3 Montreal
  • February 4 Toronto
  • February 5 Detroit
  • February 7 Chicago
  • February 8 Madison
  • February 9 Minneapolis
  • February 11 Denver
  • February 13 Vancouver
  • February 14 Seattle
  • February 15 Portland
  • February 17 San Francisco
  • February 18 Los Angeles

Here is the post to Ride’s Facebook page from an hour or so ago.

Dates for Ride on tour announced on Facebook! Charlatans tour dates are the same, they are co-headlining

With Ride on tour in 2023, it’s all fair game so let’s get right to it.

And KEEP READING — we’ll explore some new, gazey bands on the scene who could join the tour.

Bands opening Ride tour dates right now

Dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans next year! Moaning Lisa is supporting Ride right now in Australia

Melbourne’s Moaning Lisa are scheduled to open for Ride’s Australia dates. Moaning Lisa is pretty straightforward indie rock. Here is the opener on last year’s debut album, Something Like This But Not Like This. I haven’t spent much time with ML.

Here is the first single from Something Like This, “Something.”

Buy from Moaning Lisa at Bandcamp.

Similarly, in Perth, Ride tour dates are getting support from local 5-piece The Deenys. The Deenys are living the dream, already opening for The Charlatans this year. They’re obscure enough that if you don’t narrow your search correctly it literally brings up a list of Denny’s restaurants in Perth.

If you want The Deenys, and not Denny’s, this is what they sound like.

Shoegazers WE WANT opening for Ride tour dates!

First, a quick reality check.

The shoegaze genre isn’t exactly producing dozens of breakout acts right now. We have some terrific, gothy bands this year like Just Mustard. But they’re not going to show up in Salt Lake City (please God please) or San Francisco supporting Ride and The Charlatans tour dates.

Here are a few up-and-comers and, by the way, WHO AM I MISSING? Would love to know.

Healees

Healees are a standout new shoegaze band from Paris, France that could support Ride with The Charlatans tour dates

Okay, can we get more serious for a moment? Hidden Bay Records’ Healees have been on my Best Of list all year.

I can still remember wandering around a grocery store this spring listening to their self-titled EP in June and wondering, how am the only person swooning over this gazey band?! Healees, based in Paris, are probably synched most closely with the Ride’s 1990 sound from Nowhere on the aching cut “The Garden.”

Also, have a listen to the blistering “Jaguarundi” from the same EP. What exactly is a Jaguarundi, anyway? You won’t care after listening to Healees‘ shimmering, 4 minute jam that would be an incredible introduction, just before Andy Bell and Mark Gardener take the stage.

Buy Healees super strong debut at Bandcamp.

Downward

Tulsa, Oklahoma's Downward could crush it as an opening act for Ride in 2023

Downward is admittedly a band I only discovered for the first time tonight. Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Downward is currently touring in support of their February Brass Tacks EP. Sometimes 90’s indie, at other times right in a gazey bullseye…”Ugly Bug” is about as perfect an opener for Ride as I can imagine — or maybe Catherine Wheel?!

Listen to the variety of sounds on Downward’s Brass Tacks EP.

LAUNDER

LAUNDER is a super dream pop act out of Los Angeles. Could be a great warm-up for Ride on tour in 2023?

In my experience, a lot of bands described as shoegaze are in actuality loud dream pop. Google “shoegaze” all you want, mostly you’re getting metal or dream pop.

LAUNDER falls in this gap. This year’s Happening is super but it’s not gazey at all, whatever you read. The working name of LA’s John Cudlip, LAUNDER is in the same shoegaze zipcode on “Intake,” but it’s pretty atypical of the rest of the dream pop album.

This is a really nice album, an agitated dream pop record. Check it out!

Mo Dotti

Mo Dotti from Los Angeles could be a great opener for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates

Hat tip to The Noise Made by People, who flagged LA’s Mo Dotti for me. Their March EP Guided Imagery falls somewhere between dream and gaze, and I have no dispute with where they land! I love to imagine a really crunchy, aggressive version of “Come on Music” before Ride hits the stage.

And here is “Loser Smile,” the opening track on Guided Imagery, with some My Bloody Valentine energy.

Ride on tour to promote re-release of Nowhere and Going Blank Again

Ride's first two albums and four EP's reissued by Wichita Recordings

It’s already been a year for Ride.

On November 4, Wichita Recordings re-issued 1990’s legendary Nowhere and 1992’s Going Blank Again, along with a collection of their first four EP’s. I only have the Today Forever EP, so I’ll be buying 4 EP’s at the band’s website. Next week, Ride begins an Australia and New Zealand tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nowhere:

  • Nov 29 Adelaide, Australia
  • Nov 30      Melbourne, Australia
  • Dec 1        Sydney, Australia
  • Dec 2        Woolloongabba, Australia
  • Dec 4        Fremantle, Australia
  • Dec 6        Auckland, New Zealand
  • Dec 16      Athens, Greece
  • Dec 18      Paris, France (Les Inrocks festival)
Ride tour dates and Charlatans tour dates announced today!

One way or the other, let’s get Ride to Salt Lake for the #goingblankagain30 tour — and a ten-minute version of “OX4” please!

Alvvays in Salt Lake City: Show Review

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Alvvays in Salt Lake City on Tuesday October 18

Alvvays in Salt Lake City played a bang-up show Tuesday. Toronto’s rising stars played songs from their 2014 self-titled debut and more heavily from 2017’s Anti-Socialites and their acclaimed Blue Rev, released less than two weeks ago. The supremely assured performance is everything fans both old and new at SLC’s The Depot could have wanted.

Alvvays’ Rankin and O’Hanley enthrall

First, Molly Rankin looked every bit a college graduate student in black pants, a short-sleeve top and the the piercing, blue eyes of Siberian Husky. She confidently belted out 70 minutes of Alvvays’ best arrangements Tuesday. Rankin alternated the spotlight at times with guitarist Alec O’Hanley, who orchestrated the shoegaze overtones on “Pharmacist” and a couple of RAWK GOD breakouts, notably the showstopper bridge on “Many Mirrors.” The hour plus set was tight and confident, the sound of a band come into its own.

What is Alvvays, exactly?!

Its funny reading around to see how Alvvays is described, with very little agreement. Fuzzy guitars, yes. A bit of surf, sure. Dream pop, I gueessss. But Alvvays is also one of those bands that gets crunchier live, which is exactly what I love. At the same time, Rankin on stage still digs into the pathos and emotion of “Easy On Your Own,” “Party Police” and “Belinda Says.”

Second, a note about how Alvvays defies convention. At times Tuesday they dabbled in a bit of psychedelia, demonstrated their new range in electronics on “Very Online Guy” and showed off the sheer bubblegum delight of “Adult Diversions.” Here is that 2014 studio version:

Alvvays execute like consummate rock pros

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Critically, Alvvays possess the intangible and truly priceless gift of woah-woah lyrics, exquisitely on display Tuesday on songs like “Undertow” from Anti-Socialites. At times, Alvvays wrapped their live songs in a punky, perfectly curt dead stop. At other times, they indulged in an atmospheric, languid jam that still held the crowd’s rapt attention as on the delightful extended end to “Tom Verlaine.”

Alvvays in Salt Lake City a true pop joy

Finally, the standouts on Tuesday included not just current singles, “Earthquake” and “Easy On Your Own,” but perhaps inevitably their signature “Archie, Marry Me” from Alvvays’ debut. It carried no less punch, no less pleading, no less an exquisite picture of young love.

During the summer, take me sailing out on the Atlantic.
I won’t set my sights on other seas, there is no need to panic.
So honey take me by the hand and we can sign some papers.
Forget the invitations, floral arrangements and bread makers.

Hey, hey, marry me, Archie
Hey, hey, marry me, Archie

Buy your copy of Blue Rev and some Alvvays merch from Polyvinyl. Photos of Tuesday’s show follow + tour dates as Alvvays in Salt Lake City moves further west.

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Avayys' Kerri MacLellan, Sheridan Riley and Abbey Blackwell

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays played Salt Lake City on October 18

Always in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Molly Rankin of Alvvays in Salt Lake City

Alvvays tour dates:

  • 10/19 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory $
  • 10/20 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom $
  • 10/21 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre $
  • 10/22 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre $
  • 10/24 – Arcata, CA @ Arcata Theatre Lounge $
  • 10/26 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
  • 10/27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
  • 10/28 – Pomona, CA – Glass House $ [Just Added)
  • 10/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern $
  • 10/30 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park $ [SOLD OUT]
  • 11/02 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater $
  • 11/04 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall – Downstairs $
  • 11/05 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory $
  • 11/07 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse $
  • 11/08 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works $
  • 11/09 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel $
  • 11/11 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club $ [SOLD OUT]
  • 11/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall $
  • 11/15 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall $
  • 11/16 – New York, NY @ Kings Theater $
  • 11/18 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner $

Blue Rev album: I vvill Alvvays love you

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Molly Rankin and Alvvays play tour on the Blue Rev album in SLC on October 18. Stream several of the best tracks from the Blue Rev album here

Alvvays has released the hottest album of the fall just days before their visit to Salt Lake City. As Zion welcomes Alvvays, a few things you should know about the Blue Rev album, their third. It is a gauzy, absolute pop delight. Not overthought, not overwrought. Recorded live to tape, with a bit of gussying up after-the-fact. It’s sensational, beyond what was previewed in their July single “The Pharmacist.”

Let’s have a look shall vvee?

Blue Rev album has a little of everything

Even album opener and first single “The Pharmacist” feels like a pop song cross-bred with distorted guitar. But the solo itself is simple, clean, perfectly lovely. My early favorite on the Blue Rev album is “Easy On Your Own,” which starts with some noisy dream pop — and then out comes the delightful and too-short pop chorus of the year:

“If you don’t like it, well
Say it’s over, well…
Weekends alone.
Does it get easier on your own?
Does it get easier on your own?“

Treat yourself to three minutes of “Easy On Your Own.”

Mocking, rocking, clever Blue Rev album

Most of the songs on Blue Rev are two to three minutes long. Some songs as short as a minute and change, like a Ramones ditty. Mad props for any band that casts its antagonist boyfriend as Tom Verlaine of Television on the aptly titled “Tom Verlaine.”

That when you walk away.
It’s gonna be for good.
You were my Tom Verlaine,
Just sitting on the hood.”

But also on “Very Online Guy,” Alvvays shows their sardonic humor on the Blue Rev album. It inverts the traditional influencer criticisms and targets the perfect Insta male. Another mashup in less than 2.5 minutes…80’s wave, power pop and a blithe disco walkaway!

How did I not alvvays love Alvvays?

Alvvays' gauzy pop Blue Rev Album is tremendous. Listen to multiple Blue Rev cuts here

I have specific memories of listening to Alvvays’ self-titled debut in 2014. It was good. I mean, GOOD. Not life-changing…I didn’t sit around wondering when I would get my hands on the next Alvvays album.

Boy did they make the leap! The Blue Rev album is a marvel of effortless songwriting across genres. Everything works, across all 14 tracks. Need some post-punk? (Alright, EVERYTHING is basically post-punk.) How about “Pomeranian Spinster?”

…or when gauzy pop turns to power pop on “Belinda Says.” It is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, despite the darker material. I repeatedly stop and listen when Molly Rankin sings about a girl “moving to the country,” having her baby and starting a new life.

It is beautiful and sad and everything music should be.

The Blue Rev album: So many reasons you vvil love Alvvays too!

The Blue Rev album is that rare collection that presents a little bubblegum but rewards with more and deeper listens. I can’t recommend highly enough buying Blue Rev, nor recommend enough that you capture the chance to see Rankin and company live next Tuesday at SLC’s The Depot.

You vvill alvvays remember this night!

Chew on the band Buddhist Bubblegum

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Listen to the band Buddhist Bubblegum

I had honestly forgotten I ordered this rapturous new music from the band Buddhist Bubblegum until it arrived in the mail. In fact, I hadn’t even looked closely enough at the original purchase of Dreaming in the Desert to notice the release was actually a split with Kansas City musician Wiggly. More on Wiggly in a moment.

Buddhist Bubblegum delights

Starting with Buddhist Bubblegum, I am super looking forward to the full length later this year. BB is Polish emigrant Wiktor Szotowski, who is now working in Slovenia. Each Szotowski sketch on Dreaming of the Desert is some intoxicating marriage of Buddy Holly, Paul McCartney and Ty Segall.

If regrettably named, Buddhist Bubblegum show off multiple, glistening 80’s and retro sounds. For example, they’re perfectly comfortable as a polite garage band on “Paper Ridges.”

However, Buddhist Bubblegum is more intriguing when Szotowski shows off different gears. “Merry-Go-Round,” originally released in 2020, could be a sunnier version of the delirious harmonies of Veronica Falls, or more immediately, The La’s. Seriously — I can’t be the only person who wonders how songwriters even tap into this kind of sublime creativity. Bliss out with “Merry-Go-Round.”

Even more recently, the band Buddhist Bubblegum dropped “Seems Like Yesterday” in July, which could have been a B-side from Sgt. Pepper.

Can’t wait to hear which of these directions – or others – that BB leans into when their expected full length comes out later this year, I presume on Cavern Brew Records.

Wiggly isn’t worth it

Listen to the band Buddhist Bubblegum. But skip Wiggly!

I’m not entirely clear why Cavern Brew appended Wiggly’s six cuts here with BB to fill out the split. For every song he introduces with some coherent direction, Wiggly quickly layers a second, unrelated melody over the top. Or he abruptly stops and restarts the song in some new fanciful direction. I support experimenting with structure and space but here, the results are just noodlings.

If you want a better idea of what the mysterious Wiggly is capable of, check out his self-titled debut in 2019. It’s a charming collection of bedroom pop. Wiggly can be quite endearing…a bit of Luna, a lot of Lambchop. Here is the delightful “The Promised Land (Remember the Rainbow Through the Years).”

I liked it so much, I bought it. More of this please, Mr. Wiggly!

Best albums of 2022 so far

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rope lights on window

The sheer volume of music right now – full-lengths, EP’s, digital exclusives, singles, B-sides, remixes, extended mixes, reissues – all make it hard to keep up. How do you know if you’ve EVEN HEARD the best albums of 2022 so far with so much noise?

We’re all in this together, so let’s have a look at the best albums of 2022 so far.

Contenders

Best albums of 2022 so far: Once Twice Melody by Beach House

To start, let’s just note the year 2022 launched with the final installment and formal release of Once Twice Melody by Beach House. It is an epic dreamwork, one worth the time and scope across all 18 tracks. Once Twice Melody will likely be high on many people’s Best Of Decade lists, not just 2022. Even as I write this and listen to the song “ESP,” I question how rational I am not putting this in my top spot.

Buy this remarkable album and judge for yourself.

Other terrific works this year that will find many Top 10 lists:

Not Feeling It

basket sad clown

Next, a few albums that left me underwhelmed.

I buy very little music sight unseen — as in, almost zero. However this year several of my favorite bands released new music and I bought it on spec. Did I not give them enough of a chance? Was I in a bad mood? I don’t know…a friend is persuading me to go back and revisit them. But these albums didn’t change my life.

First among them, as reliable as rain, Spoon. Lucifer on the Sofa is Spoon’s first album since 2017’s Hot Thoughts. I’ve never NOT liked Spoon. Not ever. But this one has not cut through for me. However, I did enjoy single “Wild.” It sounds like a straight up INXS tribute, and I am here for every second of it.

Alright since I’m such a crabby pants about Spoon…a few other big name releases that fell short:

  • Animal Collective – Time Skiffs
  • Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers
  • Cate LeBon – Pompeii
  • A Place to Bury Strangers – See Through You
  • The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention

It’s probably me.

Best of 2022 So Far

Best albums of 2022 so far: We've Been Going About This All Wrong by Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten has been on my radar for years but We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is the first album that really took me aback. It has everything you could want…inflections of Emmylou Harris… dancier tracks… dense numbers layered like bucolic shoegaze. The thing I love most about this album is the way Van Etten starts many of her songs with the simplest musical ideas — and they grow into these epic, crashing things at the end.

Sit with “Born” for the full five minutes to hear this kind of masterful arrangement.

I think Van Etten has released one of the best albums of 2022 so far, so buy it here.