In our Now Hear This column, we highlight up-and-coming bands that you should be paying attention to. It’s pretty straightforward: we do the thinking, you do the listening. Deal? You’re welcome.
It would be easy to dismiss Brooklyn trio Dead Stars as another ’90s throwback picking at the bones of the past. After all, the band does strike many of the familiar touchstones—the hypnotic fuzzed-out guitars, the discordant wails of feedback, the tongue-in-cheek, world-weary slacker vibe. And, yet, spend just a few moments listening to the textured space rock psychedelia of “Break the Tide” or the propulsive pop thrust of the sprightly “The Party’s Over” and you’ll discover a band capable of delivering dynamic songs that are energetic, confident and, above all, catchy. For all their love of thundering riffs and their unabashed grunge era co-opting, Dead Stars’ music begins and ends with solid, honest to god, stick-in-your-head hooks.
Formed in 2008, the band currently has a single self-released record to their name, but it’s an excellent one. The nine-song Break the Tide manages to conjure everything from Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr.’s snarling pop-noise to the spaced-out odysseys of Failure and Hum. It is available now through iTunes, Amazon MP3 and several other digital distributors. If you like what hear above, I highly recommend that you pick this record up because it flat-out rips. The cover art and track list can be found below.
Break the Tide Track List:
01. Break the Tide
02. Fade Away
03. The Party’s Over
04. What It It
05. Slow Motion
06. The Ride
07. The Light
08. Stupid Town
09. The Black Swan
More Info:
Web: www.deadstarsmusic.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/deadstars
Twitter: www.twitter.com/deadstarsmusic
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