 |
For a while there, the fun and humor was blasted out of the rock room by the giant vacuum featuring the likes of Creed, Nickelback, and Seven Mary Three. Other than Scott Weiland, no one seemed to really be enjoying him or herself and his was a party none of us were invited to attend. Thankfully, times did change and bands like The Frontier Brothers appeared (from outer space, no less!) to brush away some of that self-important seriousness and invite us to the fun times. On their debut full length, Space Punk Starlet, the Austin-based trio puts together 14 tracks of glammy indie rock, crisscrossing the universe of rock genres to create a sound that would have been completely alien a decade ago. Part Bowie and Bolan, part sprawling indie rock a la Arcade Fire, the intergalactic party shop is back open and ready for business with Space Punk Starlet.
“Space Punk Starlet” opens the album with Marshall Galactic shouting “Space! Punk! Starlet!”, a swell of strings, and quickly rips into the tale of searching the stars and looking in bars for the starlet of his dreams. The song (named after the album or vice versa) succeeds as it walks the tender crack between being a campy concept and a genuine opening tour de force. The Frontier Brothers, sounding like a bunch of Bowie loving nerds who overdosed on equal parts Randy Newman, Billy Joel, and Queen, spin smile-inducing tunes that never sound campy regardless of the elaborate and campy orchestration. This kind of space themed glam rock has been kicking around since Ziggy Stardust, but the Frontier Brothers not only have the chops, they also can write a hook. Or – by best count across their debut – thirty-four hooks.
On “Everyone’s A Neutron Bomb” and “The Future Is”, the 1970s AM radio shines through a haze of 1990s musical education. For every piano-man-meets-show-tune part, the band tosses in two strong rock and roll cocktails that save the entire thing from going completely overboard in the way only show tunes can possibly go (ie, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother is embarrassed). Across the album’s universe of influences, the piano and other instrumentation deftly swirl around some Joey Santiago style guitar work. Horns and harmonicas battle with guitars with infrequent missteps. By the time the synths start sounding like The Cars and Weezer were beamed into The Frontier Brothers’ helmets, the dance party is fully underway.
On “Jump Suit”, perhaps the album’s most glorious moment, The Frontier Brothers sound exactly like what would happen if The Flaming Lips smashed Brandon Flowers in the face: awesome. Galactic rasps and gasps a tale of misguided love (interplanetary or maybe just between the band and the fans) that is twice as fun as anything The Killers ever did and equally as bouncy as whatever Rancid ever did. As the rest of the band barks “Hey Hey Hey”, and the drums sound like asteroids exploding, Galactic is completely dead-on: “Oh/ You’re getting under my skin/ Oh!”
Throughout the album, Galatic and his two partners in crime – Brett Moses and Travis Newman – sound exactly how you’d imagine three guys who walked around SXSW 2008 in skin tight vinyl red, gold, and silver jump suits: absolutely absurd, audaciously over the top, and anything but cranky. And, because their songs are pulsing with tight melodies and talented musicianship, the space shtick doesn’t feel like the gimmicky shtick that your earnest-yet-cynical indie rock heart wants it to be. It remains to be seen if The Frontier Brothers can continue their trajectory to the stars, but Space Punk Starlet is a brave debut that’ll appeal to earthlings across the board.
Websites:
http://thefrontierbrothers.com
Myspace
