Red Devil Ryders

Reviews

Red Devil Ryders Is It Love? LP

Very cool sounds coming out of Cleveland here. Lots going on, not easy to pin down, track times ranging from two minutes to over seven, half a dozen genres listed on their Bandcamp page—and yet, it all seems to work pretty well. There are plenty of other sounds you’ll find yourself thinking of throughout these thirteen tracks, and they’ll keep changing as you go along. The Ohio connection jumps out right away with GUIDED BY VOICES, but then you might think of the GIZMOS, or a more contemporary SMARTHEARTS, and then maybe ROYAL HEADACHE on the standout track “Rude Awakening.” The vast sounds and references make for a less than singular, cohesive collection, but it never really veers into feeling too disjointed at any point. A fun collection that will draw you in and out throughout its runtime.

Red Devil Ryders Pour Me Another One LP

It’s going to take me some time to digest this one. It’s an interesting sort of combination of late ’60s/’70s blues, folk, glam (a tad), and even what some people might call “hard rock.” (I can’t believe I actually wrote that.) I find the production a bit fuzzed-out, which required some adjustment. As I read this, it’s like I must totally hate it. I don’t. I will say that I think it’s a bit of a stretch that it’s finding itself being reviewed in MRR. I do find I tend to like the zippier numbers just a little better. If you’re at all intrigued by the description, you should make the effort to give it a listen.