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LP
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TW 1066LP
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Limited vinyl version of the eighth full-length studio album by this long-running Massachusetts ensemble; CD version is on Important Records. What to say about a band who continuously claims Otis Rush and Buddy Guy as its primary influences, but usually finds their records filed in the "noise/experimental" bin? Any mention of Major Stars tends to send some scurrying for the most obscure psychedelic references, but one need look no further than The Who or Cream to find the primary ingredients of melodic songwriting combined with an over-the-top instrumental assault. As a few noticed, the title of their last album Return to Form wasn't entirely intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Their music seems to be more "psychedelic era" than "psychedelic," and they themselves like to just be thought of as a Rock group (early '70s capitalization intact). But there has always been something different about their arrangement of common influences compared to their contemporaries, and over the past 15 years they have developed a loyal base of followers who seem to quite like the way they put things together. So Major Stars continue to put it together, like on this one: Decibels of Gratitude, from them, to you.
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CD
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IMPREC 371CD
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"Eighth full-length studio album by this long running Massachusetts ensemble. What to say about a band who continuously claims Otis Rush and Buddy Guy as it's primary influences, but usually finds their records filed in the 'noise/experimental' bin? Any mention of Major Stars tends to send some scurrying for the most obscure psychedelic references, but one need look no further than the Who or Cream to find the primary ingredients of melodic songwriting combined with an over-the-top instrumental assault. As a few noticed, the title of their last album Return to Form wasn't entirely intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Their music seems to be more 'psychedelic era' than 'psychedelic,' and they themselves like to just be thought of as a Rock group (early '70's capitalization intact). But there has always been something different about their arrangement of common influences compared to their contemporaries, and over the past fifteen years they have developed a loyal base of followers who seem to quite like the way they put things together. So Major Stars continue to put it together, like on this one: Decibels of Gratitude, from them, to you."
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CD
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DC 418CD
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"When you've got a love for music, there's no time to spare. The band called Major Stars all got other gigs that take them from place to place without room to converse much. That's okay, because they're about playing music, not small talkin'! So what's been going on around the practice space then? Major Stars have a new one that might lay it on you all at once like a plank of solid stone, and they're calling it Return to Form. Starting with a mid-fight schoolyard threat like 'Better Stay Down' (what, no exclamation point?), Major Stars do definitely seem to be returning to somewhere on this new new album, maybe even perhaps somewhere adolescent where the rock and roll was never better? But really, titling the whole damn thing Return to Form has some humor in it. Mirror/Messenger wasn't out of form; all Major Stars records have been a part of a vision and even if some shit said he or she (probably he) didn't like it, that doesn't really call for a response title on the next album. We read it like this: it's you who's returning to form! Major Stars atomized you to fucking bits on the last record and only now are you returning to a fully formed entity. And here Major Stars are to blow you to pieces again. You're fucked up. Return to Form's got eight pieces, all heavy rocks, a few of them come with power jams. There's also a few just under three minutes, but distinguished by riffage that lifts 'em up. The guitars trio of Wayne Rogers, Kate Village and Tom Leonard is into their third full album as such, allowing them to have fused into a wall of distorto with a myriad of identities but singular purpose. Behind their ubiquitous combination signal, the drums trample with pummelous authority. Still, they can't help but sound a bit crushed by the din, glorious din. This is Major Stars' signature rock of the easties -- more likened to the sounds of Motorpsycho than any of that psych-rock these days! Again, this is organic growth, home territory. Could it be that the space you know is better than the space you don't know? Major Stars got answer, and it's Return to Form."
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LP
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DC 418LP
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CD
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DC 355CD
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"Now giant-size and louder than ever, Major Stars plunge further down the path of their second, larger life with Mirror/Messenger. Their new sextet record features the same triple-guitar frontline and fervid vocalizations from Sandra Barrett as did 2006's Syntoptikon -- but with more songs then ever before found on a single Major Stars album (as many as two albums, in several cases). Mirror/Messenger is an assault on popular music, with considerable muscle exerted to create a jukebox-ready duck-and-shuffle -- if the needle don't get tossed out the groove, that is. From their Massachusetts aerie, Major Stars have rocked the world six albums over during the past decade. On this, their sixth album, the signature guitar union of Wayne Rogers and Kate Village (first immortalized in Crystalized Movements and later in Magic Hour) is further emboldened by Tom Leonard, whose prior tenure as Major Stars bassist ensures that he knows of what Major Stars rock. Sandra Barrett's lead wail gives every song an unshakable foundation from which the screaming solos depart with fearless frequencies. If the new sound of Major Stars sound is wider and more vivid than known, it's because this time, there's twenty-four tracks of rockness blaring at you through the mix. Plus, the relatively new lineup have an album, a tour and another year of life under their belt. And ultimately, ten years have done nothing to mellow Major Stars, for which they must be congratulated. The devious interweaving of the psychedelic with the rock is, as ever, a delight, to consistent yet somehow changed ends. They keep the craft surging forward, maintaining sufficient heat to ensure that nothing gathers on them as they beat it down the line."
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LP
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DC 355LP
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7"
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IMPREC 124EP
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"Two brand new burners (including a Hendrix cover on the B-side) recorded during the same sessions for The Major Stars' next full length album for Important."
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CD
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IMPREC 089CD
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"Syntoptikon features the new lineup of the Major Stars now with a third guitarist added for extra heaviness. Syntoptikon is the newer, heavier Major Stars who have been dumping amp loads of heft upon Boston stages and now they're bringing it to your home audio system."
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7"
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TW 1062EP
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The story from where we left off: Major Stars play their most recent tour of the USA in May of 2003, return in June to make their definitive studio record (Major Stars 4), and then head to NYC a week later to record the Live In Europa split LP with Comets On Fire. All good so far. They unexpectedly lay low for for the next eighteen months, losing longtime drummer Dave Lynch along the way and ending up with an empty bassman spot when Tom Leonard joins Kate Village and Wayne Rogers in the guitar frontline. But then Major Stars mark two starts to come together. Casey Keenan (drummer-turned-guitarist of local pop heros Carlisle Sound) is roped into resuming his place behind the drumkit. Dave Dougan, already a veteran of the band as bass understudy (he was the unfamiliar figure on stage at their Terrastock '02 performance), returns to claim the position permanently. The new sextet is completed by the arrival of lead singer Sandra Barrett, formerly of local art-punk legends LA Drugs. By the time Major Stars 4 finally appears to universal acclaim in April 2005, the new band is awake and pummeling the locals with renewed fervor. The future: a new LP is due to appear in the fall 2005, and Major Stars will be playing select east coast dates with Japanese psych titans Miminokoto and Uptight this October 2005. But why wait the summer in silence? Here's a two-track taster of heavy things to come.
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CD
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TW 1059CD
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4 is the fourth full length release from Cambridge, MA-based Major Stars.This release was recorded in summer '03, after an intense period of touring (which also resulted in the Major Stars/Comets On Fire live split LP) and just before an intense period of reflection (read: inactivity). Somewhere during the latter they realized they had made a record, and finally we bring it to you. Calls for increased fidelity have not fallen on deaf ears: 4 brings them to the world of 24-track recording for the first time, finally getting their studio sound close to their live onslaught. Musically they continue to hit all points a little harder each time,
with open-stringed folk melodies getting pummeled on the Who/Cream/Hendrix anvil 'til you think modal and heavy have always coexisted. Their best yet? You bet. Should they go deaf, it was all for you.
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CD
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TW 1048CD
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"Space/Time is the Major Stars second full length attempt to explode the boundaries of Rock-with-a-capital-R. Side one features two songs with pickin' and singin': 'Apples To Grapes' is a moody folk rock number that gets blown apart in a hurry & subjected to several improvisational deconstructions in the course of it's 14+ minutes, and 'Runout' is done up short 'n' pretty to set you up for the all-instrumental Side Two. 'Getting Air From A Stone' is a riff heavy cruncher, while 'Dream Of The Accidental Bird' follows it's brief opening revolving door with a massive & exhilarating one chord jam that'll twist your insides just right. The CD adds one track from their now out-of-print debut 12" Rock Sounds Of People -- the pounding 'It's A Blessing, Brother, I Cannot Lie', a song so relentlessly single minded that the band was asked daily who the hell it was a cover of (Wayne, in fact, wrote it...in far less time than it took to play it). Major Stars aim to take higher-key improvisational wizardry and clobber you on the head with it while simultaneously caressing your mind. Space/Time does just that."
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CD
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TW 1044CD
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"Major Stars, men (and woman) who have made many records, up the pile one more with The Rock Revival. Guitarists Wayne & Kate come to Major Stars straight from Magic Hour, whose quick ascent from snarly West Coast-influenced rock band to all instrumental thugs brought many a tear To helpless Galaxie 500 fans. Bassist Tom Leonard has been at one time or another a member of every non-Magic Twisted Village ensemble, and Dave laid down the big beat in Vermonster. Now that these four have reconvened, they are taking their LOUD polystructural ROCK to the people. The Rock Revival consists of four songs. The first, 'Rock Revival Theme,' is a purely free bit of tape captured at one of their bi-weekly recording sessions. 'On' follows, a lovely little tune that then gets masterfully deconstructed for 13+ minutes. 'Strange Reaction' is the token short song that sets up the epic 'Deep End,' their live instrumental tour-de-force. Throughout the disc they jump in and out of structure and freedom like no other post-Isle Of Wight rock ensemble can. And they're that loud. Really. Go see them fuck up the upcoming Terrastock in SF."
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