Starbody

Having broken up with KEXP for their overuse of the Puss Rock™, I’ve been indulging in summer nostalgia with WOXY Vintage. Playlists include songs like The Cure’s Harold and Joe, Dead Can Dance’s The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove, My Bloody Valentine’s Only Shallow and Siouxsie & the Banshees‘ Cities in Dust. Ahh the good old days. When new wave was not dark or cold and modern rock was still modern.

Picked up The Knitters The Modern Sounds of The Knitters and was happy to find it as good as expected. After a whopping 20 years, they’re back with new material and a little old as well (Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild and restyled versions of a few X songs). I’ve never been a huge X fan, not for dislike, but due to lack of familiarity. That’s all about to change. I love that. Music that’s been around for ages and although you might be late to the party, it’s a whole different way to discover it. While others may have worn it to the bone, lamenting new material and the glory days … you are just at the beginning.

And although it has a mere four songs (how do you say … EP), I don’t seem to tire of Wolf Parade’s self-titled teeny tiny release with a big, big sound. Along with many others, I am expecting great things of their first fill length release on Sub Pop on September 27th. Montreal is the new black.

Speaking of new bands, Radio 1’s unsigned bands section has given a bit of airplay and prominent spot on the website to My Luminaries single Mad Dog. Their site prominently displays a quote from NME,”Prepare to be punch drunk with the future hits of Rock & Roll, My Luminaries. And soon to be yours.” I’m not sure I agree, but I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with in the future. The several songs they have for download on the site are each quite different and I’m not sure whether they are catchy or too pop-py. If anything they are all over the board, but I’m not above sticking with a band to see where they’re going to go.

Something I’m certain of is that if I learned anything from Dig!, it was that Brian Jonestown Massacre was putting out great music regardless of any psychotic episodes. Okay, perhaps psychotic is exaggerating, but pretty f#$&ing crazy. The music is psychadelic, mesmerizing and charged, but not in a nostalgic way … in a completely sincere way that doesn’t turn hokey. Not one bit. Much of their music is available for a big fat zip download on their site. Check it out. Please. I’m asking nicely.

And from the Detroit front, a band that doesn’t begin with ‘the’ or want to revive good old rock and roll. There was a whole space of time in the 90s chocked full of shimmering guitars, layered vocals and angelic voices. Lush, Curve (and even little known bands like Lulabox) took this sound to places we all loved to go. Bringing the sound back is a band called Ether Aura, just on the cusp of releasing their debut album on Gaia Project Records titled Crash. Set against precise drum beats and shimmering swirling guitars, the vocals are layered to create an ethereal sound. Check out their site for a couple songs from the forthcoming album (they have promised me the site will be redesigned soon). And if you can’t seem to get enough, visit their My Space page to listen to a third. Not to jump forward, but I am looking forward to what lies in the future for this band.

This just in … I can’t decide if je deteste où j’aime Stellastar