No Place Like Home

Florian Rainer

Chicago's musical wizard Mike Kinsella is back with a new full-length record, continuing his solo endeavors as Owen. Ghost Town, out today on Polyvinyl, is the singer-songwriter's sixth studio album. It expands on the new territory and expanded sound introduced in 2009's New Leaves. Owen looks to an upbeat and pop-centric direction, and it definitely feels more polished this time around. It still retains the overall mentality of what Kinsella's been doing as Owen since 2001, which translates to: It sounds damn good.

No Place Like Home highlights Owen's knack for beautiful instrumentation and witty lyrics. The track feels so familiar even as it displays such a different style for Kinsella, which is what I find so charming. There's a lot going on musically for an artist I normally consider to be pretty bare boned when it comes to his songwriting. The song feels a lot fuller than past efforts with a lot more to offer than anything on New Leaves. Once the electric guitar kicks in toward the end, it's impossible to mistake the track for anything but one from Owen. It's awesome to see the evolution of an artist, especially when it can sound like this.

Listen to No Place Like Home and be sure to buy Ghost Town. You can even do it in person on Thursday night as Mike will be performing at Hailey's in Denton.

No Place Like Home by Polyvinyl Records

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Photo by Agustin Casasola

With everyone up in arms about the new Starfucker album (which really is quite good, stream songs on their bandcamp here), I think this is an appropriate time to ask a question that’s been plaguing me for ages. What is with that name, guys? You aren’t a metal band, you make spirited and accessible indie pop. Hearing your music I’d think more “StarCuddler.” It’s not that I have a problem with curse words—clearly, as I use many of them—but how am I ever supposed to reference the band in public? For example, when my dear old grandma asks me, “What are you kids listening to these days?” am I expected to respond with, “oh, just this awesome group called StarFUCKER”? Or when my dad reads this post because he thinks it makes him hip (hi dad), is he supposed to go into work telling the office they have GOT to listen to these StarFUCKER guys? And does the band really think I’m going to take the time in conversation to spell out their more politically correct abbreviation, S-T-R-F-K-R? Answer: I’m not.
So what am I to do?

I’m going to have to figure it out soon, because Starfucker are rising higher and higher on my radar and I’m finding myself itching to tell everyone I know about them. Their new album Reptilians comes out in March on Polyvinyl, you can pre-order it here and get instant mp3 gratification. It sees the band embracing a more electronic sound while staying true to their glorious pop rock roots. I’ve had a few of the songs on near-constant repeat (note this week’s L!P ST!CK), so despite the troublesome name I’ve got to give credit when it’s due: These guys are great. Let’s hope they remember where they came from (Oregon, yes, but I mean musically), as their past work was just as fun. Released in 2009, their cover of Cyndi Lauper via Robert Hazard’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun is one of my all time favorite covers-of-a-cover. Their version subtracts the 80’s, adds a funky bass, and is all-around genius. I want to hate you Starfucker, but I can’t. I guess grandma is just going to have to deal.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper Cover)--Starfucker