Ride rides again (in a fashion): Shoegaze Festival to feature Mark Gardener backed by L.A.’s Sky Parade

Kevin Bronson on
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I can’t tell how many times I’ve listened to the Ride album “Going Blank Again,” which came out 20 years ago this spring. The cassette (!) stayed in my car for years after its release, and the work of the Oxford, U.K., quartet remains nonpareil (let’s argue) among bands who melded pop sensibilities with the effects-laden wall of guitar that characterized shoegaze music. It’s No. 1 on my list in another minor category: No album I’ve heard packs a better 1-2 punch in its first two tracks than “Going Blank,” with the epic 8 minutes of “Leave Them All Behind” kicking things off, followed by “Twisterella,” which received some minor radio play in the U.S. during the rare moments U.S. nations weren’t fawning over Nirvana. I’ve joked to friends that I’d like to be buried to “Leave them All Behind;” it’d be perfect.

Owing to their fractious separation, it’s unlikely members of Ride will ever share the same stage again (though that would be a nice Coachella reunion), but one of the band’s two principal songwriters, Mark Gardener, is celebrating “Going Blank Again’s” anniversary with a mini-tour backed by the members of Los Angeles popgazers Sky Parade, longtime acolytes of both the genre and the band. The tour includes an appearance at Part-Time Punks’ Shoegaze Festival on Sunday at the Echoplex. These guys do the Ride songs justice, and the festival also features up-and-comers Weekend, Lorelei, Tropic of Cancer and more. Below, selected streams from bands performing at the festival, including a new Sky Parade song.

||| See also: Matt Draper’s interview with Gardener on BBLA last year.

||| Stream: Mark Gardener of Ride performing “Leave Them All Behind” backed by Sky Parade at last year’s Clean Air Clear Stars Festival in Pioneertown:

||| Stream: Sky Parade, “Wildfire”

||| Stream: Tropic of Cancer, “One Left”

||| Stream: Weekend, “Hazel”

After the jump, set times for Sunday’s Shoegaze Festival:

12:00 MARK GARDENER (& SKY PARADE) playing RIDE tunes
11:30 SKY PARADE
10:30 WEEKEND
9:45 LORELEI
9:00 HALF STRING
8:15 ASTROBRITE
7:30 THE KVB
6:45 TROPIC OF CANCER
6:00 WHIRR
5:15 MOONBEAMS
4:30 TENNIS SYSTEM