Oh my, two bands! Ringo Deathstarr + Gliss

First up in this post is a lil' band named Ringo Deathstarr. I say little because, they are, pretty small and unknown. They're a 4 piece band from Austin, Texas, and at the moment they've only realeased a self-titled EP, and several 7"s. They'll soon be releasing a split with The Depreciation Guild, another rather excellent band, who mixes shoegaze with the blips and bloops of an NES. They rule, excellent live as well, check 'em out. Anyway, back to Ringo.

Ringo Deathstarr's a shoegaze/"nu-gaze"/chillgaze (as described on their myspace) band. They, like many of their contemporaries, heavily borrow from older bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. While their sound might be less than completely original, it's hard to call this a fault, because they pull it off really well. Their music's really swirly and atmospheric, with walls of sound at times. The singer definitely emulates Jim Reid more than Kevin Shields and others, and I think it matches their sound really well. The highlights from their EP are probably the songs "Starrsha" (my personal fave) and "Some Kind of Sad" (very, very JAMC like). Are they a completely new sound? No. Are they enjoyable? Very. One of the best new shoegaze bands around in my opinion, and I think they've got a bright future ahead of them. For fans of The Depreciation Guild, JAMC, MBV, Skywave, A Place to Bury Strangers.

On to Gliss! Gliss is a self described "hazy experimental fucked up pop" band from "los angeles/copenhagen". While I'm not sure about their location (all the info I find points to them currently being in LA, so I assume they are just of Danish nationality), they have a fairly accurate description of their sound. They blend elements of shoegaze and noise pop to create a fairly unique sound. Their closest match would be fellow Danish band, The Raveonettes, largely due to the female vocals they have over most of their songs. On a few songs there is a guy singing (and he sounds quite similar to the guy from Phoenix I think), and he's just as good as the gal'.

They have a few albums out I belive, but all I've heard is their most recent effort Devotion Implosion. It's a pretty solid album, and it succeeds in at least sounding like an album, with all the songs in a similar vein, blending into one another. The highlights, I think, are "Morning Light" (the opening track, which begins with the heavily, heavily, heavily copied boom, boom, cha drumbeat (from "Be my baby" by the Ronettes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzhbGaCwBzs) but thankfully soon transitions out of it) and "Lovers in the Bathroom" (a good ol' dreamy, swirly track). They also have a blog (which unfortunately hasn't been updated since March, but is still worth a read) http://www.gliss.tv/.

Anyway, to sum it up. Two great swirly, dreamy, atmospheric, nosie popp-y, shoegaze-y bands.

- Alec