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Star Demon & The Sky Goddess Jimmie’s in the Basement SPEAKUPRECORDS.BANDCAMP.COM/ ALBUM/STAR-DEMON-THE-SKY-GOD-
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kinda-stoned whisper. Melodicleaning guitars and cosmic-keyed synths provide the landscape, the fuzzy consistency lending itself to a tonally diverse set of tracks. It’s all in here, from the prog-punk of “My Spaceship,” to the drifty campfire folk of “Moon With No Sun” and “Song For Earth Girl,” to the late-’90s Americana revivalism of “I Know Your Love.” The faux-sitar melody that holds “Land of A Thousand Eyes” together is that good-natured type of gaudy, like keeping that A Christmas Story lamp burning in your living room window all year long. “Midnight Queen” is as sinister as this collection gets, but even it, by the end, pulls itself into a theme from some space western soundtrack. When the “Sky Goddess” finally arrives, it’s clear that Jimmie’s in the Basement thinks that the
Strong Like Bear In the Future Only the Rich Will Live Forever STRONGLIKEBEAR.BANDCAMP.COM
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he dystopian cyberpunk delight of Carmen Cerra’s cover art is the first thing you’ll love et’s just accept it. Not one of about Strong Like Bear’s June us is going up to space this release, In the Future Only the summer on some billionaire’s Rich Will Live Forever. The world untaxed vanity spaceship. That’s is more organic than the man; the why last month Jimmie’s in the walls have tendrils or veins, the Basement were kind enough to land is made of bodies—but he give us their record Star Demon stares out with & The Sky Goddess. Put an organic eye out by the Ottumwathat’s distracted, based label Speak Up THE FAUX-SITAR MELODY THAT and a bionic eye Records just over a HOLDS “LAND OF A THOUSAND EYES” that seems better month after Vol. 1, their TOGETHER IS THAT GOOD-NATURED able to see. expansive 20-song deThe album but, Star Demon & The TYPE OF GAUDY, LIKE KEEPING THAT tracks will leave Sky Goddess continues A CHRISTMAS STORY LAMP BURNING you just as their honest work of IN YOUR LIVING ROOM WINDOW ALL twisted, with a imagining what it might California lope sound like to be able to YEAR LONG. that sounds inortravel the cosmos at will ganic, yet necwhile standing beneath music on Mars swirls. A lot. And essary for survival. The band told a shrinking American sky. Too far that the guitars there are capable the Ames Tribune that they turned a reach? This band doesn’t really of deep, bone-shaking distortion. to a heavier, stoner rock-tinged think so. Also, they shred there. The album, sound initially as a joke, but as We are given little information at times, reaches for the heights they processed the pandemonium about this record, except that of a cassette tape that has returned of the past couple of years, it it was recorded in “a basement after travelling great distances on turned out to be the best way to somewhere on planet Earth.” And a spaceship’s dashboard. Do they get those heavier emotions out. from its liftoff on “Star Demon,” ever reach it? What are Bezos Still, the instruments—the drums, this album burns a different kind and Branson really looking for up especially—sound like they’re of fuel. The only crystal clear there? Can there really be love in trying desperately to escape, like objective the group seems to be space? You can just forget about this isn’t the world they signed up after is capturing that ever-elusive asking your Alexa. for, like they’ll do what it takes and fatally pedantic “sonic mood.” With Star Demon & The to survive, but they don’t have to (“It’s rock & roll for the basement Sky Goddess, Jimmie’s in the like it. of your soul” reads the album’s Basement is pretty damn sure that Track three, “Three Wizards,” Bandcamp description.) when the sky is already falling, teases this. Lyrically and musiThe tour guide throughout Star it’s best to just roll the tape. You’ll cally, it’s exactly what you would Demon & The Sky Goddess relays expect a track of that title would their messages of love and satellite be glad they did. —Avery Gregurich be. But there’s an impatience, communication with a breathless,
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something unsettled and anxious. Not bored, but bound. It becomes incredibly evident on track five, “The Queen of Halloween,” a deliciously on-point tune where the vocals are impeccable and the vibe is pristine. Right around 4:20 (yes, I know, but really), the drums kick up a fuss. They are just not having it, and it’s perfection. Who are these Ames-based Iowans who list themselves on Bandcamp as “pop rock” but have the temerity to get angry and serious and then call themselves out on it musically? Not who you expect them to be, that’s for sure. This is at its core a fun album. Strong Like Bear is as silly as they are serious, layering wacky vocals on tracks like “Kiss the Sunshine” and “Blinkin’ On the Curve”; playing with sounds as though stoner rock is a new toybox they just opened that they’re determined to explore every corner of. They get the tone, and they’re not insincere, but they’re adventurers, not locals—and they’re constantly in conversation with each other as they navigate the territory. The weirdly experimental closer “C.M.N.S.” raises a million questions about where they’ll turn their skills next, and its hairpin turns are a testament to the band’s years together and its members’ deep synchronicity with each other. It’s wonderful writing, angry and eerie, sounding for all the world like the protagonist on the cover come to life—stitched-together pieces from myriad sources somehow able to join into a viable whole that has learned to survive. If you’re a fan of stoner rock (raises hand), you’ll find something familiar here. But ultimately, it won’t put you in the mood for more. It’ll make you want to listen to more Strong Like Bear, however different yet subtly the same. And that’s the best any band could hope for. —Genevieve Trainor
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