Search - Starflyer 59 :: Old

Starflyer get better with age

kbarth17 | Luckenbach, TX | 05/29/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After the release of the underground masterpiece LHAS in 2001, the band had finally created their Pet Sounds. What direction would SF59 take on their new album? Jason Martin has got a little older in the nine years that SF59 has been around but the music and songwriting has gotten smarter. The album "Old" is even better than LHAS because unlike the sleepy hymns found on the previous album, "Old" stays up tempo and even rocks. The opener "Underneath", could the best rock song that the band has done. "Old" could have come out after "Americana" because it is more of a progressive rock album than the pop influenced latter releases. Jason Martin can write pop melodies in his sleep leaving most bands in the dust and creating a mood and atmosphere that can only be described as Starflyer 59. It could be the Pink Floyd influenced "Heart attack", that would have found a niche somewhere between the "Dark side" and "Wish you were here" era, or the awesome mellow goodness of "Passenger" as album song standouts but it's all good. Old is the combination of all Starflyer albums only hinting at what is to come. What are you waiting for? It's time you learned what the underground already knows, Starflyer 59 are at the top of the music hill. "Old" is brilliant and once again shows a band improving."

Best sf59 yet. no, really.

kbarth17 | 10/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What's that? Never heard of Starflyer 59? Wondering who all these reviewers are talking about, referencing albums you've never heard of? Well, sadly you're not alone. SF59 gets the award for the most unappreciated band. Starflyer is a rock band that incorporates influences from brit pop to shoegazer to indie noise rock. Most of their stuff has a slow to moderate tempo, with either big distortion or vintage clean tones on their guitars, and a hushed style of singing. Amazon/CDNow has samples you can listen to, so just go check them out. (They also rock out live.) Starflyer fans have a habit of saying "this is the best Starflyer album ever!" as we will fight to defend our band, (while, as one critic put it, we secretly hope that we can mention Starflyer in casual conversation and have the other person know what we're talking about). Well, I honestly was a bit disappointed in the direction they took after 'Americana' (the 3rd album), but even as Jason Martin's new style improved, I still had mixed feelings to whether I liked the newer stuff or not. 'Leave Here A Stranger' (6th album) definitely was a major step forward, and I really enjoyed it, but I thought that the some of the synthesized orchestrations' poor quality hurt it more than it helped it.Enter 'Old' (7th album). It has the songwriting style of 'LHAS', but improved. It re-embraces the rocking-out-ness of 'Americana', but is fresher-sounding. The production is very well done, with very nice sounding guitars, old-school synths, various strings, etc. The album has a consistancy to it, while still having catchy songs that stick in your head. "This is the best Starflyer album ever." No, really, it is."

Return to the Guitar

J A W | Norman, OK United States | 07/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Starflyer fans know what this band is about and know what this album is about. For those of you stumbling upon this album from some sort of Amazon recommendation, this is the bands return to a more rock-oriented sound. Almost every song is saturated w/ throbbing guitar strums or pronounced harmonic picks that form the skeletons of the songs and pull you into the constant head-nobbing groove of this album (this is noteworthy because their previous 3 or 4 albums were more experimental, retro-esque, and probably not even considered "rock"). What separates Starflyer from the average annoying rock band out there, is A.) Starflyer has talent, B.) they come up w/ some strong melody lines for their guitars, strings, electronic what not, and they lay them on top of the throbbing guitars C.) Jason Martin has a unique voice that is both strong and soft and D.) they do this without bursting your eardrums. Their early albums played a lot w/ noise and distortion, in this the volume is turned down a notch. Underneath, The Lights On, The Kissing Song, Unbelievers, First Heart Attack are all strong songs, and that's half the album.If there's one weakness of the album, is that in Underneath and Major Awards, there's this stinky backing vocals that comes out of nowhere halfway through the song, sounds like RuPaul bursting through one of those paper gates that cheerleaders hold up at pep rallies for the football team..."JUST WHEN YOU RE-UH-LIIIIZZZE", out of place and disturbing."