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At my university we had music shows in the cafe below our student union a few times a semester. It was the highlight of my freshman year, going to shows, discovering new music, and just hanging out with friends.
I found some interesting bands, have a few demo CDs and a few albums from bands! One of which is the subject of this post!
The Frontier Brothers were one of the bands that would occasionally tour up in NYC and make their way out to school. I never knew why some Texas band would come to a random university on Long Island but that's fine with me, they were always a blast! More often we'd get some NYC/NJ based band which made sense, but they made there way up a few times and I loved them every time they were here.
They're an indie rock band that was very late 2000s. Twangy guitars, synths, keyboards, quirky songs! What's not to love.
Their keyboard/synth player had an Alesis Micron (in blue!) and I loved all the sounds they got out of it, and since I wanted to make synth music I picked it up and loved it! Thanks guys.
They also played our end of year concert which was really exciting. I remember being so happy they made their way up for that show, since I wasn't too thrilled with the headliners. Matt and Kim was the big name we managed to get and that was really fun but like I'm not the biggest fan; though they put on a great show. I mostly liked the side stage stuff we had during the day. There's some bonus trivia that made it extra special but I can't share that here.
During one of the shows they were either selling or giving away their CDs after the show and I grabbed their latest (and only album?) "Space Punk Starlet". This 2008 album really just hit different for me. Back then, this was a departure from my usual listening habits. It was light, fun, and … casual? I don't know how to describe it. But it wasn't heavy, or angsty, or like intense in anyway? It's just pleasant. And it was during this time in my life where I really started to broaden my music tastes.
They lean on some musical genre tropes for a few songs. One of the standout tracks for me was "Starry Globes and Stereos" which has an interesting groove and twangy guitar and piano rhythm that feels very... classic R&B in a way? It's just so sad. I'm honestly struggling to describe it. It's so obvious when you hear it what I feel and why I like this track so much; I just can't really put it into words. This song is way up my alley being so sad, of course, and it was always my favorite besides this next song.
"Technicalelectronicsupersonicrobot" aka "T.E.S.S" is probably the best song on the entire album. It is a really interesting synth-pop song. And listening to it now I realize how much this inspired some of my other listening. Its also a song about falling in love with a robot and like... mood. Between the crunchy guitars, blaring synths, high-energy, and silly lyrics you can imagine this live was always a blast. Everyone dancing around, and by the 2nd time they came around, singing along. It was amazing and inspiring.
This entire album was a great listen. I brought it home and shared it with my brother who also really enjoyed it. This was always one of the CDs I'd grab for a road trip and I really need to buy a CD player so putting it on is a bit easier. I have it ripped to my computer and listened to it through the entire time writing this post and really wish I put it on more. Every now and again I'll remember it exists, throw it on, and enjoy my self to no end. It's like a time-capsule that transports me back to school and just makes me feel 18 and having an absolute blast. I really wish I was still as in the local scene as I was in middle school/university, it was some of the best times!
Honestly, beast me? I'm not sure? They might be on iTunes or Apple Music somewhere? But frankly, its one of the biggest bummers. Besides just sharing the digital files or the CD I don't really know the best way to share this album with folks. It's ... oh gosh... 16 years old now... so for now I've uploaded a blob here but I'll look into maybe uploading it to the internet archive? Not sure the like etiquette there? But yeah let me know!
Also here is the discogs release if you wanted to see more about it!
https://www.discogs.com/release/13177724-The-Frontier-Brothers-Space-Punk-Starlet
[tar.gz 307MB] the-frontier-brothers-space-punk-starlet.tar.gz