New Old Content!

New content coming soon. Until then, here's a review I posted on Myspace a while back.

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CD Review:
The Starrs - Silhouette.
8/16/06

The Starrs (Derek Rice, Jon Tyler, Ryan Matthias) emerged out of the ashes of the breakup of Kung Fu Record's Antifreeze. Originating as an Antifreeze side project, the members began concentrating heavily on The Starrs after the untimely demise of Antifreeze. Since then, this group from Appleton, WI has slowly emerged as one of the Midwest's premier up and coming acts. Signed to Snapdragon Records, a Wisconsin indie label, The Starrs released their debut LP, Silhouette in July, 2006.

From the beginning, this album evokes memories of blink-182, mostly due to the vocal work of lead singer Jon Tyler. Tyler's vocals nicely compliment the groups instrumental work, which in itself is a well-constructed blend of punk, pop, and alt-rock melodies. Although this album seems destined for mass consumption, it doesn't come off as forced or fake, as so much of todays music does, and the pop stylings contained within the record blend quite well with the slow, melodic alternative rock stylings carefully crafted by Tyler and co.

At first listen, some may walk away feeling that the album comes off as monotonous. However, the congruity and cohesiveness of the album is actually one of its strong points. It only further helps to set this work apart from those who would strive to write similar music. Often times in modern punk/alt-rock music, an album will seem to shift from one sound to another between every song, and often times this may disorient a listener, or worse yet, prevent an artist or group from developing their own, unique signature sound. By shying away from quick time signature and tempo changes often found in modern punk music, The Starrs have come that much closer to developing their own unique sound, one easily recognizable by both friend and foe alike.

Those who would be quick to directly compare The Starrs to Antifreeze would be wise to reconsider. It is quite obvious that Tyler and cohorts have matured quite a bit since the (admittedly abrupt and arguably premature) demise of Antifreeze. Is it enough of a difference in sound to deter fans of Antifreeze from checking out Silhouette? Hopefully not. It is, however, enough to set The Starrs apart from their prior work, and place them in a category all their own.

Silhouette is an excellent debut album, and only speaks volumes about this act's talent. The future holds bright things for The Starrs, so jump aboard the bandwagon early.

(****)
Four out of five stars.