Starflyer 59 - Old
Published August 11, 2003
For those of you who are new to the Starflyer 59 music (I am fairly new myself) let me do my best to describe it for you. Starflyer 59 is a combination of soft listenable rock, spaced out effects, and soft, laid back vocals. They have a bit of a Radiohead flavor circa OK Computer. Can I get most people to kind of agree on that? Hope so.
The major flaws I have with most of the other Starflyer 59 records are the production (especially of the drums) and the thickness of the music itself. See, most of the songs that are in the Starflyer 59 catalog are very dense songs that you can't find your way out of. There seems to be some sort of noise or note or something at every frequency. On Old the music has room to breathe. It is still has lots of layers, but this time you can find your way out. Now to address the production. I can't stand it when drums sound bad on records. I just can't listen to it. And if your snare sound is bad, then it's all over. Old's drum sound isn't great but it is much more listenable compared to the other Starflyer 59 records I have heard.
This review has been fairly positive so far... but this paragraph will even it up. No matter how great everyone tells me Starflyer 59 is I will never get into them. Why? The music, the songs, everything seems to be mediocre. Sure they will have their moments, like the backing choir on the first and last tracks or the keyboard that makes the tracks much more interesting then what I would imagine otherwise. For me this is music to study to, because it's just really easy to tune out.
If you were into Starflyer 59 before, buy this album. If you want to get into them, this is their best full length yet. But I will always recommend that you buy the Can't Stop Eating EP and then never expand your Starflyer 59 collection.
Mark Brandt
www.buzzgrinder.com
- Starflyer 59 - Old
- Published: August 11, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock
- Writer: Mark Brandt
- Mark Brandt's BC Writer page
- Mark Brandt's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
I stumbled upon this review, because I use to write some stuff on buzzgrinder, before I became a famous author on my own right (joke). I think that you need to put on "Gold" and listen numerous times. Old is a great album and your review gave it justice, besides a review is an opinion anyways. I think with repaeted listens of Starflyer, and start with Silver 1994 and work your way to TVVSSV 2005, you'll see why this band is so good.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/7515)
that was THE worst SF59 review i've ever read, period. besides your own personal opinion, the analysis of the music is so inaccurate. their music is too "thick" and "dense"?? i'm sure that excludes a lot of good music from your taste. that was an asinine comment, and shows you haven't listened to much of SF59 as you claim. ever heard of "Leave Here a Stranger"?? at first impression, a person will notice the minimalist characteristics of the music. you claim this is SF59's best album. you will be very hard-pressed to find someone that will agree with you.