Indie Music Chatter

My new Amazon orders arrived a few days ago. I ordered the new albums from both Spoon and Pinback as well as Superdrag’s In The Valley of Dying Stars.

Listening to Superdrag’s first album after their disastrous relationship with a major label (yes, I’m looking at you Elektra) the first thing that will strike you is the quality of the songcraft in this album. This is one of the qualities that I love about Superdrag — it’s the masterful construction of their songs. You never get bored listening to their songs and each one sits well in the album, even the fillers sound like they have a definite purpose in their placement in the track listing.

But back to John Davis’ amazing song sense. Superdrag songs are an entertaining pastiche of different musical styles. Davis really puts his musical influences to the forefront but not in any way that would make it sound derivative. On the contrary, he manages to pull a distinctive Superdrag style that revolves around catchy pop hooks, witty lyrics and an obvious love for melody. This is the kind of music that would not only make you want to rock out, you’d want to sing along with it, too.

I was really disappointed when I heard that Superdrag disbanded a few years ago but with their reunion tour this year Superdrag fans are hoping that a new album would be released soon. Consider a public appeal to John Davis and company to make a new Superdrag album.

Superdrag, John Davis, Elektra