Idolator
Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we raid our archives in search of a lost gem.
Artist: Starflyer 59
Song: "Loved Ones," 2003
What happened: Even though Old was the seventh album released by this Riverside, Ca. group—essentially a revolving-door outfit led by songwriter Jason Martin—it was the first to land on at least one of your Idolators' radar (probably because the band is on Tooth & Nail Records, a label that, whether fairly or not, we often align with bad pop-punk bands).
Why it should have been a hit: The chugging "Loved Ones" came out in a season when everyone was trying to ape Kevin Shields' hazy guitar sound, but this is one of the few songs that found an actual melody underneath all the fuzz; the rest of the album is almost as good, and will send you, starry-eyed, to the band's back catalog.
Starflyer 59 - Loved Ones [MP3, link expired]
Starflyer 59 [MySpace]
Comments
Man, if this band wasn't playing for Team Jesus on the god-approved Tooth & Nail, they would be incredibly huge. Instead, whenever they come through Portland, they play some church out in the suburbs and get exactly zero amount of press. Too bad: they really are criminally overlooked in the late 90's shoegaze revival.
The chugging "Loved Ones" came out in a season when everyone was trying to ape Kevin Shields' hazy guitar sound
I got news for ya -- they've ALWAYS tried to sound like that. (Nothing against them but they're not so much part of any revival as they are in the general continuum. Hell, I think they were starting up when Closedown was still releasing records on Silent.)
When you head to that back catalog, start with "Leave Here A Stranger." Fantastic album.
"Leave Here A Stranger" is indeed great. All their stuff is good, though.
They definitely would be the Tooth and Nail band most likely to get indie blog mention, though. If only people would catch on to these guys and mewithoutYou... maybe then T&N would start signing more decent bands.
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