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wednesday, july 21, 2010, 6:59 am saving the world from bad music since last wednesday. WEDNESDAY | ARCHIVE | PEP SQUAD | MAILING LIST | GEAR | REQUEST LINE | ROCK DOC | CONNECT |
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stars (originally from toronto, then
new york, and finally montréal) is made up broken social scene members torquil
campbell (vocals) and chris seligmano (keyboards). other members include amy milan
(vocals), pat magee, and evan cranley (multi-instruments). you may recognize torquil from the television shows sex and the city and law & order, and their music from the tv show the o.c. the group cites marvin gaye, outkast, new order, the smiths, brian wilson, and broken social scene as influences. stars released their debut lp nightsongs, in 2001 and broke out with 2005's critically acclaimed set yourself on fire, which was eventually remixed/remade by their friends and titled do you trust your friends? "there's a very high level of expectation in this band for each other's work," torquil said. "there's a sense that you have to come to the table with things that are very interesting and good, or someone will tell you that they're not." stars released their fifth studio album, the five ghosts, on june 21, 2010. according to the label, the five ghosts is “simpler, sparer and more confident (in its own quiet way), it also trades some of the band's previous dramatic flourish for the sort of direct, heart-bearing communication that comes from hard-won experience.” their "beautiful, eloquent indie pop” is characterized by “lush instrumentation, nimble production and mixing, narrative lyrics, and soft but nuanced vocals.” click here to watch a june 22, 2010 set and interview by kcrw for morning becomes eclectic. click here, here, here or here for a bunch of older morning becomes eclectic episodes. click here for an october 20, 2007 live concert recorded by npr. click here and here for world café episodes, recorded by wxpn on november 29, 2007 and august 17, 2005. click here for their beautiful old website. don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website. check here to see if stars have any gigs scheduled near you. as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand). incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states. that my friend, bites. stars are out of sight. if you agree, please spread the word (about the band and this site). don't worry if you missed the ariel pink's haunted graffiti profile from last week: here it is.
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