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ALBUM REVIEWS
Album: The Death Via Satellite Ep
Source: Aversion
By: Matt Schild
At this point in the game, the chance of any band that calls on punk and new
wave influences to form its style sounding truly unique – as in one of
a kind, didn’t see this coming music – is a far-fetched notion. We’ve
had more than 20 yeas of both styles, and that’s a heck of a lot of time
to get accustomed to their sound.
TheStart picks up heavy punk and synthy new wave influences on this EP, a combination of a couple previously released efforts by the band. While it lacks the vision to put them together in a way that’ll redefine either genre, Death Via Satellite at least sounds fresh and honest enough to make the Start one of the more interesting new wave/punk throwbacks to surface lately.
Where champions of the New York disco-punk scene meld Gang Of Four guitars with self-consciously outdated drum machines, Los Angeles’ TheStart approaches its music from a different angle. Instead of art-punk, it lays down gooey pop-punk guitar melodies and So-Cal influenced punk rock, and adds layers of vintage synths to underscore its new wave fetish. While keyboards run freely around on this EP, it’s a far cry from the cheesy synth-pop sounds of Weston that dominated the power-pop world a few years back, as TheStart buries its synths under a heap of punk power chords in a sound that’s the missing link between synth-driven power pop and New York dance punk.
Led by Aimee Echo’s crisp vocals that fall somewhere between the coo of Gwen Stefani and Tilt’s Cinder Block’s roar, TheStart plows through rowdy punk that draws liberally on everything from The Creatures and The Cure to Depeche Mode. Make no bones about it; the band’s not reliving the ’90s no matter how much waver lip-gloss it smears across these tracks. “Death Via Satellite” unleashes a bit of savage pop punk, complete with spirited guitars and fiery rhythms tamed with a breezy, rhythm less synth in its background. Echo’s complaints about a holier-than-thou snob in “Big Shot” are 100 percent punk, but the waves of ’80s keyboards tie it into the me decade’s musical heritage. Other tracks one-two punch of buzzy guitars and synth atmospheres, such as “Los Angeles” and “Trinity” downshift into the cobwebs and fog of classic Goth.
TheStart’s sound is anything but groundbreaking, but it’s got style, that’s for sure. What’s even better, its new wave obsession bears out in ways radically different than the legions of New York dance punks, making this a refreshing blend of styles.
