Review
Rip Room
Alight and Resound

Spartan Records (2022) Loren

Rip Room – Alight and Resound cover artwork
Rip Room – Alight and Resound — Spartan Records, 2022

San Francisco trio Rip Room play a meandering art-punk style that’s forceful but equally unpredictable, largely built around bass licks and rhythm switches that give it an off-kilter dance vibe complemented by some angular guitar riffs that serve more as accent than lead. Musically I hear a good chunk of early post-punk meets math rock, but simplified into a 3-piece with a skeletal rather than wall of sound approach. At different points I find myself thinking of Dead Milkmen (it’s the voice), Sonic Youth, and the Kill Rock Stars roster. The press release fittingly shouts out Unwound and Sleater-Kinney too.

Alight and Resound features 12-songs and while that lead bass and John Reed’s timbre remain pretty steady throughout, each song has a unique vibe as the record twist and turns, taking us around sudden bends like a crashing river before it finally lets out into the sea with the nautically named “Abandon Ship!” at the close. The general sound is equally explorative and caffeinated. It can’t sit in one place, but it also keeps itself on track just enough that it never gets totally lost either. The sing-song choruses and occasional call and response vocals give a sense of familiarity and home throughout the journey.

A few personal favorites include “Worth Repeating,” “Second To None,” the aforementioned “Abandon Ship!” and “Dead When It Started,” which uses staccato guitars with back and forth energy that slowly builds up energy until a big breakdown. This song, and a few others, has a little more defined structure and I seem to enjoy those more than the entirely bass-led songs, but everything is pretty enjoyable.

The band previously released two EPs, with this as their first full-length. This is a good start and I’m curious to see how they grow.

7.5 / 10Loren • June 1, 2022

Rip Room – Alight and Resound cover artwork
Rip Room – Alight and Resound — Spartan Records, 2022

Related news

A single today and an LP in May from Rip Room

Posted in Records on January 28, 2022

Recently-posted album reviews

Sexfaces

Bad Vibes OST
Slovenly (2025)

Best thing about writing reviews is finding out about new stuff that I otherwise might not have heard. Also writing reviews for bands that aren’t friends of mine is pretty cool but when I hear a band I really like, like Sex Faces, it makes me want to be friends with them, I can't help it! I’m not even halfway … Read more

Unseemlier

I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere
Sell The Heart Records (2025)

What does Unseemlier sound like? I've been mulling that question as I listen to I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere for a while now. As I listen to more and more Sell The Heart releases, The band is from Boston, but seemingly influenced by late '80s DC. It's heavy, but more with hardcore-like vocals shouted over moving, building guitars and … Read more

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more