Sunday, June 25, 2023

Starkicker - Beach Music (1996)

Contrary to what the cover might project, Starkicker, in fact, are not a twee conglomeration, and the music involving the half hour that is Beach Music rarely lives up to it's title's sunny aesthetic. An all male trio with a correspondence address of St. Catherines, ON, Starkicker seemed to have more in tandem with fuzzy, amped-up contemporaries Transistor Sound & Lighting Co., and Australia's often grand and affirming Jebediah and Pollyanna, than say, Sloan or Matthew Sweet. Bittersweet yet hook-savvy notions including "Baby's Comin' Home" and "Careless Driver" will easily allow you to forgive these gents for not delivering on the straight-up power-pop the band's superficial hints (again, the deceptive album sleeve and title) often suggest. A very promising record that sadly didn't receive the push it deserved from the very established Epic Records. Three years on the group tweaked their formula and rechristened themselves as Dunk, monikered after the surnames of frontman Ben Dunk and bassist brother Nick

01. Get Up
02. Neil Armstrong
03. Baby's Comin' Home
04. Pitter Patter
05. Merry Go Round
06. Pick Up Truck
07. California's Cool
08. The Letter
09. Careless Driver
10. Going Downtown
11. 360°

1 comment:

Bruce Brodeen said...

GREAT FIND! I forgot about this one...Not Lame imported to the US when it came out and it was one of those, "Crap, this is expensive but it sounds like it's cool as fuck' releases worth the risk...".

GREAT FIND!

Yeah I said it already but ya know...job well done, sir.