Ride band shoegaze albums

Ride take whynow through their 10 essential shoegaze albums.

As shoegaze enjoys a resurgence, Ride take whynow through 10 albums that shaped the genre, featuring classics by My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and more.

Shoegaze is enjoying a major resurgence, with the sub-genre proving more popular than it’s ever been. So, who better to delve into the scene with whynow than one of shoegaze’s foremost progenitors: Ride.

As the band set out on tour in support of their lauded recent album, Interplay, Ride’s rhythm section of bassist Steve Queralt and drummer Loz Colbert take us through their ten essential shoegaze albums. 

Pale Saints – Comforts of Madness

palesaints_madness

Steve: Comforts of Madness remains my favourite album from the early nineties for a number of reasons. I played it non-stop when it came out initially drawn in by Ian’s strange bass parts. I’d never heard chords on the bass before. The more I listened to it though the more I became swept up in the detail, the cool songs, the arrangements, the way every track merged into the next one, the great choice of cover version (Opal’s ‘Fell From The Sun’). It’s a glorious album which had a big impact on the way I play bass.

Loop – Heaven’s End 

Loop Heaven's End

Loz: Hair, repetition, distortion, delay and reverb vocals, dull thumping grooves, I don’t know what genre this is ‘officially’, but I’d say this was one of the important shoegaze albums for me, and for a lot of us as a band too. The aesthetic of the music, the look of the band, the narrowness (focus) of the material, so different to a lot of what was going on around it. There are also a lot of reference points in here we liked: Stooges, Velvet Underground, Valentines, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Hendrix, all mixed into a fuzzy relentless mass – this is one when the name of the group was half the battle if not more. Some say psychedelic / space rock as a genre, I’d say that was pretty close to the next step being shoegaze! They had that really ambient breakdown in ‘Straight To Your Heart’ as well.

Cocteau Twins – Treasure 

treasure

Steve: For me this is where it started. It was the blueprint for bands like ours. I love that each instrument is full of character, nothing is sitting in the background. The snare hits you in the chest with every crack, the bass is swamped in beautiful flange and chorus effects and the guitars are both abrasively spiky and beautifully soaring. It should be a mess! And, then there’s the vocals. No words, literally no known words. It’s perfection.

Grouper – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill

Loz: Again, what genre? Psychedelic Folk / Slowcore? But Shoegaze for me. This is in the list for the space(s) it takes you to, the scattered frequency range, the way all the vocals and sounds create unique tones and harmonies of their own, all within the context of a ‘song’ (although I never really pick up on any specific lyrics, just great titles). Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is so good. Liz Harris feels that for her “the music was at its barest just a grouping of sounds…” And yes, I love this album on that basis. Without being so specific about instruments having to sound like you’d expect, this album can take you to more places and way more distant places than more conventional albums…

Rob Da Bank – Sci-Fi-Lo-Fi Vol.3

Rob Da Bank - Sci-Fi-Lo-Fi Vol.3

Steve: I like this compilation because it includes a diverse range of styles which rightly or wrongly Rob Da Bank argues fall under the shoegaze umbrella. What was initially the sound of introverted teenagers bent over effects pedals became the broad church of sounds and ideas that flourished ten years or so after the Thames Valley scene faded away. Boards of Canada are shoegaze!

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Loz: Mainly because: noise, noise, and more importantly: the noise. This is where I fell in love with the clash, clamour and clatter of guitar bass and drums, and I’m still trying to explain it, but it has been threaded through all of Ride’s performances since the beginning. The revolution of noise, the emergence and empowerment of the ‘other’, sonic warfare in pop music. This is it for sure. Historically, each older generation always referred to new music as ‘noise’, and compared to what was in the charts in the 1980’s and most of what had come before: this was definitely a new and revolutionary approach for pop music that led to shoegaze. Existential void, sexuality, power, abandon, adrenaline, excitement, violence and love all seem possible in this album. Music to drive off a cliff to.

My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything

My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything

Steve: Miles better than Loveless in my opinion. This is when it started to get really interesting for me. Rather than the usual wash of noise which everyone associates with MBV there are acres of space and experimentation on this record. The woozy tunings, buried vocals and the genre-changing use of effects made this a groundbreaking record. It’s actually quite a suffocatingly dry-sounding album. I don’t think it’s ever been matched. It’s certainly never been bettered.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Loz: Odd one, maybe, but I put it in because I was into this album and to me, they are shoegaze with a bit of American rock energy to them. The vulnerable lyrics, the self-conflict, the guitar tones and drones, and the drums are not particularly ‘shoegaze’, but Jimmy Chamberlain blows me away and gives me energy and breathes life into the introspection and guitar fuzz. This album is shoegazers rocking out.

Cuts – A Gradual Decline

Cuts - A Gradual Decline

Steve: I can’t remember how I discovered this record. Perhaps it was the magic of those early algorithms but I’m so pleased it found its way to me. I’m not sure if Cuts would agree but this is a great shoegaze record. It’s an epic, widescreen, desolate-sounding collection of tracks perfect for wandering frozen icy landscapes should you ever find yourself in such a place. Works on the daily commute as well.

Mercury Rev – Yerself Is Steam

Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam

Loz: Went to some of the deeper, darker, more chaotic caverns of shoegaze and noise brilliance. We did a tour with them and the original lineup (with David Baker), which was pretty messy! Was surprised when they changed tack sonically without him, but Deserter’s Songs went on to become another great album of theirs.

Ride are currently on tour in support of their seventh studio album, Interplay, with dates throughout the UK and Europe in 2024 before heading to North America. Click here to buy tickets.



Keep up to date with the best in UK music by following us on Instagram: @whynowworld and on Twitter/X: @whynowworld


Leave a Reply

More like this