Shannon Drew (drums), Brendan Gamble (vocals/rhythm guitar), Matt Golosinski (bass) and Chris Rogers (lead guitar/vocals) are Stark. The band originally formed in Urbana-Champaign in fall 1988 which is where I happened to go to college. They had quite a buzz about them and even played with Smashing Pumpkins.
The band's self-titled album Stark was recorded back in 1989-1990 and was eventually remixed this year. I love listening to older albums for many reasons and this one felt contemporary in a lot of ways. There was a good amount of sound design that would have been hard to achieve all those years ago. The band has a nice mix of energy. There’s a good amount of garage rock as well as post-rock. In a lot of ways this band sounded ahead of their time. The opening song “Every Day” feels like a mix between a noir-like spy theme and post-punk. I loved the darker and cladenstine type of energy. The atmosphere was on point but there’s also some very catchy melodies. I thought the chorus was memorable. “Take It with You” has some great energy. The band rocks out hard on this in similar spirit to The Stooges or the lesser well-known Television. I loved the Joy Division-like aesthetics on “House of Rats” while “Now” hints at elements of post-rock before post-rock was a word anyone was aware of. As the album progresses I thought there were a couple of stand out songs. “How to Behave” is one of the more dynamic songs and I loved the vocal melodies on this song. There’s also this driving and dark quality to the song that hits the mark. The most kinetic song might be “Retro Visionary” while “City’s Insane” contains some exceptional guitar melodies. They close strong with “Better Class of Living” which is the most single worthy song on the album. I love the band's story but more importantly I love their music. It holds up quite well and in my opinion is more real, raw and honest than what you will hear on the Billboard charts today. Recommended
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