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Colour Trip
by
Colour Trip Image
Metascore
68

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 10 Ratings

  • Artist(s): Alex Gehring, Elliott Frazier, Daniel Coborn
  • Summary: The Texas trio's debut album is dreamy mix of shoegaze, noise pop, and heavily-textured rock, drawing comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
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  • Record Label: Sonic Unyon
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Rock, Noise Pop, Shoegaze
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. CMJ
    Mar 10, 2011
    80
    Despite its homage to its predecessors, the album holds its own and shows signs of Ringo Deathstarr developing its own signature sound.
  2. AllMusic
    Mar 10, 2011
    80
    Their debut album, Colour Trip, is more of a nostalgia trip as they delve deeply into shoegaze, dream pop, noise pop, and generally seem to be auditioning for a spot on the Creation roster between My Bloody Valentine and Ride.
  3. PopMatters
    Mar 10, 2011
    80
    Like the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and A Place to Bury Strangers, Ringo Deathstarr dips into classic shoegaze with more than enough energy to make the lack of originality a non-factor, but there's something about the versatility the band shows on Colour Trip that makes it all slightly more intriguing than their peers.
  4. Drowned In Sound
    Mar 10, 2011
    60
    If in the meantime you've lost your copy of Loveless, you could do far worse than listen to Colour Trip.
  5. Consequence
    Apr 11, 2011
    60
    It can be said that this is the best recently released shoegaze record, or perhaps that it best recapitulates the classic sounds of a genre largely past.
  6. Uncut
    Mar 10, 2011
    60
    Ringo Deathstarr here reveal their maxi-cranked, MBV/Jesus and Mary Chain adoration in full. [March 2011, p. 99]
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  7. Austin Chronicle
    Mar 17, 2011
    50
    Even if the first notes – and, well, most of Colour Trip – sound awfully derivative of British bands from the late 1980s, this Austin trio glitzes it up royally on its full-length bow, especially compared to its 2007 debut EP.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. zer033
    Sep 26, 2012
    10
    Awesome album by the best neo-shoegazers on earth right now! It may not be the most original sound but it really doesn't matter ; ) LookingAwesome album by the best neo-shoegazers on earth right now! It may not be the most original sound but it really doesn't matter ; ) Looking forward to their new album Mauve!… Expand
  2. Steech
    Jun 9, 2012
    8
    Having a clear inspiration and pushing it to the forefront of one's music isn't a bad thing if a band is both serious and articulate. RingoHaving a clear inspiration and pushing it to the forefront of one's music isn't a bad thing if a band is both serious and articulate. Ringo Deathstarr spends most of their time worshiping at the altar of My Bloody Valentine. They've cloned the tremolo strumming technique, lifted the beats, and buried the vocals up to the neck in the mix. While it would be patently heretical to say anyone has made a better album than Loveless, the Deathstarr has at least updated a twenty plus year old record and thrust it prominently in the vanguard of the ongoing shoegaze revival everyone is so enamored of at the moment.

    Colour Trip is Ringo Deathstarr's best material to date. It's also a great record, as a record. I hate reviews that just enumerate a band's component parts, but here it's unavoidable. And while that's sometimes a red flag that something's hopelessly derivative, such an enumeration reads more like a letter of recommendation for the Deathstarr.

    "Imagine Hearts" is a classic, enigmatic opening track. Distorted beats and tremolo strumming immediately shout MBV, but contain traces of other seminal 90s indie pop and shoegaze. "Imagine Hearts'" vocal stutter ("I-imagine Hearts/Imagine hearts-hearts") feels more than a little like the dangling vocal flourish in The Breeders's "Cannonball" ("The bong in this reggae song"). The baritone deadpan and fuzzy downstroke guitars on "Do It Every Time" mix up the Beat Happening and Jesus & Mary Chain. Later on, "Tambourine Girl" tosses a C86 band into the middle of a bunch of dissonant noise. "Day Dreamy" suggests what it is: swirly shoegaze reminiscent of Ride, complete with backwards guitar loops. Production values designed to trick the ear (where does fuzz and phaser end and pitch wheel synth begin?) only emphasize that Colour Trip is not merely a collection of songs, but an album.

    The individual parts of Colour Trip are easy enough to identify, but the way they're assembled is way more original. It shows a fluency in the source material less developed in many of the genre's other leading acts. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - for example, do much the same thing (Ringo Deathstarr's "Kaleidoscope" could easily share a split 7" with earlier TPOBPAH) - but - as much as I love TPOBPAH - the Deathstarr does it better.

    Ringo Deathstarr was the it band for 2011 for a reason. If you only get one of their records, Colour Trip should be your choice.    … Collapse

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