Search - Lightning Bolt :: Ride the Skies

Ritalin is bad for america.

Nathan W. Walker | delray beach, fl United States | 03/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"lightning bolt are the sound of joy! the riff and its dissolution! fun counterpoint! happy animals dancing happily! they make me want to swiffer my apartment (which is a rare thing i promise)! lightning bolt essence should somehow be condensed and distilled into twirly anti-gravity infant mobiles to delight the young with colorful sounds and tempos. they will never go back to raffi. perhaps they could be the house band on the inevitable early-morning gwar children's show on pbs right after richard scarry. or even for the richard scarry show itself! things that go! things that go! a totally classic cd."

Ohmigod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ban_the_apocalypse | ANTARCTICA | 02/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First heard one track on a college radio station and spent months tracking the artist down. I knew what i was getting into, so when i first heard the album, i cranked it LOUD. I gotta say, i was absolutely blown away. How can a 2 person "band" sound so rich and rock so hard and complexly? I finally got to see the band live at Irving Plaza in NYC with sonic youth, and they destroyed it! They set up on the floor while SY was playing and started playing in the middle of a sonic youth song, and were sooo loud that sonic youth walked away. These guys played IN THE PIT, right there with the audience in front of a tower of mismatched speakers, held together with duct tape. A drummer and a bassist. Both, amazing players, hell bent on twisting and turning and changing up the structure of the song so as to lose the other, but succeeding only in blowing your mind with the complex intricate, rockin arrangements. So loud (snares like gunshots in your ear, bass up around 3000 watts!!), so fast (easy to pass off as a wall of noise at first listen) and so intricate (took me a week to figure out how some of the songs worked). Part of the art-rock collective of Fort Thunder RI, which i fear has been disbanded. Seriously, if you like noise, experimentation, metal, complex arrangements, or amazing players, buy this immediately. even if you don't like it, you'll be that much cooler for owning something that flew so under the radars. Also, they have a DVD which i recommend and lots of other good bands on load records. dot com. ROCK LIVES!!"

After their live show, i found their albums.....

R. King | Brooklyn, NY | 01/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"....to make much more sense. Having had the chance to see them live several times, including a show back in September at the Hook in Brooklyn, I revisited their albums and rediscovered my love for them. I had bought this album and last year's Wonderful Rainbow at the same time, mainly because I admired their Do It Yourself Sensibilty, much the same way I discovered Fugazi back in the day. Honestly, it took me awhile to get into them on CD, wheras their live shows are so immediately amazing. I didn't really see it at first. Their live show is so beautifully raw and honest and intense, and it seemed impossible to capture that on a cd. I kept listening and found myself feeling it more and more. Now, more than a few years later, I still find myself listening to Ride the Skies every week, one of the few albums that has had such staying power. I find their albums much more intricate and emotional than other "noise" bands, although I hate that term. I don't care for the Wolf Eyes and others of similarity. The release they must feel at the creation of this album is incredible, and over the year's I have found this to be their best album, much better than their first album, and Wonderful Rainbow. Also, if unable to catch them live, check out their DVD called The Power of Salad, at least that gives you an idea of what is in store."