killer star

howdy pop pickers

yes, then, another vibes (music) related post for this month, look you see. a surprise in some way, but a pleasant one, it has been, to have a number of albums (and a gig) to write of. but, to be fair, this is one what came out earlier (rather than later) in the year and some how passed me by. 

for clarification, then, as the title goes this concerns Killer Star off of Killer Star. or, if you prefer such wording, the eponymous debut record off of the band Killer Star. which, considering the members, be it permanent to the band or significantly contributing, i am quite amazed did not pop up in or on any of my social media. no matter, it did, and here we are. 

i am not sure when or where i first heard of Killer Star, but shall (or will) assume it was on some sort of sponsored post on facebook. the name, of course, immediately piqued my interest. as cool a name as it is for a band in its own right, the way my mind words was to immediately assume a reference to New Killer Star, the not as celebrated as it should be Bowie song. on investigation, sure enough, names like Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey and Mike Garson turn up in association with the group. as in exceptional musicians who happened to (frequently) work with Bowie. 

this whole thing, the album, the band and what have you, seem quite deliberately low key. when i finally worked out where i could purchase the album from, i did, and was surprised to find it arrive in packaging with a hand written address on it. no, i don't think one of the band actually wrote it out. so, arrive it did, and with interest yet trepidation i played it a few times.

rather good, it is, to be sure. a taunt eight tracks spread over a tight time south of 40 minutes, the emphasis was clearly on creating an album proper, no filler or extending things for the sake of it. in this digital era where things are measured many expect an album to exceed an hour in play time. quite a few of the classics, the greatest albums of all time, run for little over thirty minutes. it's not how long it is, it's what in it that counts. 

little in the way of surprise that one would define this as (very much) a rock and roll album. what kind of rock and roll is, however, a bit more tricky to classify, should classification be needed. the remarkable level of talent here has created something which at once sounds like it has the atmospherics of decent, proper stadium rock (rather than, say, the plastic fabricated sh!t a band like The Killers peddles and gets away with) yet retains an intimacy you would associate with a club or smaller venue style performance. 

and i think, or it would seem, in respect of the latter aspect there, it could have been that i would have been able to see them do their thing at the fabled 100 Club. i just wasn't aware of them existing when they did a launch gig for this record. oh, bother. 

perhaps the easiest thing in the world for this band to have done would have been to simply go gone done a whole bunch of Bowie covers for we, the devoted. it would be wrong to say that these tunes are either influenced by he or that they have diverted away from sounding him. just eight great tunes. but, that said, there's a bizarre pattern of Bowie references or "homages" to find. so far i have found three direct musical references, and they are all "a" songs. one can here clear bits off of Ashes To Ashes, Aladdin Sane and Absolute Beginners in songs. no, i won't spoil the fun, find them yourself. one cannot call this "stealing", really, especially as when it is so, at least for Aladdin Sane, it's him what played that music on the original doing it here. now i really want to see (or rather hear) them do a second album, if for no reason than to find the Bewlay Brothers, Blue Jean and, if it is not too sacred, Blackstar references. 

would i care to highlight any tracks in particular? yes, actually. having given the album a dozen or so plays the one that "sticks" in the mind is Go (Hold On Tight). very much a "wow" tune, with a brilliant hook and some sensational lyrics. back when we had proper singles, to promote and to buy, i would like to think that one would have been a decent hit. but there's no "bad" here, not once has a track been skipped. as point of fact, as often as i have played the tape (disc) already, i still stop it so as not to miss anything when i have reason to go outside for a cigarette (sorry). 

my statement on this album is that it has "must buy" status. they do appear to have made it difficult to track down where you can order it from, at least for those of us with no interesting in "streaming" or what have you. perhaps one day their official site will make it a bit easier to give them money in exchange for some really, really excellent vibes.

quite a decent year so far for tunes then. in order of preference, the best tapes (discs) so far have been the brilliant Death Song Book, this one, the James album and that apparently quickly forgotten collaboration between Liam Gallagher and John Squire. whilst i am not that confident the imminent releases from Crowded House and Kasabian will be life changing, there remains the small matter of a Nick Cave record later in the year..........

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!