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Starflyer 59 - I Am the Portuguese
Blues |
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I Am the Portuguese Blues opens
on a very promising note with a one-two hotshot of druggy fuck music driven
by some monster riffs—“Wake Up Early,” which lopes along hungrily on its
benumbed bass line, and the T.Rex-fueled “Unlucky”—and sticks
with that vibe for the majority of the album. It’s the kohl-eyed,
drink-spilling, sloe-eyed club creature cuts—the musical equivalent of that
spooky/sexy chick in the little black dress and combat boots that keeps
popping into your field of vision at the other end of the bar and meeting
your sidelong glances with a toothy smile while she grinds blandly against
some well-coiffed nitwit. Starflyer 59 gave up this sorta thing after
their self-titled debut album back in ’94 in favor of exploring
introspective indie pop over the five or so albums for Tooth and Nail;
whether their return to the rock is a strategic move calculated to tap the
garage rock vibe or a nostalgic effort on the part of frontman/mastermind
Jason Martin (who handles most of the instruments, writes all the tunes
and produces all his stuff) is up to more cynical or generous minds than
mine; all I know is that Portuguese delivers Starflyer’s
traditional mope rock with a heaping helping of grinding guitar and
saw-toothed hooks, which should go a long way to quell that stupid
“sell-out” vibe you might feel by giving this record a spin (and that goes
double for checking out a disc from Christian label Tooth and Nail—grow
the fuck up and right quick if you “can’t” listen to an album on that label
‘cause of the Jesus angle). A couple of cuts dip too deeply into the indie-bummer
waters—“Not Funny” and “No Revolution” smothers their guitar
lines with draggy melodies—but kicks right back into play with the sinister
twang of “Sound On Sound” and “Destiny”. Pretty ballsy stuff
for a buncha popsters, I think, but you be the judge. |