Stereoflower: It’s Alright, It’s OK, Satellite Commander
Stereoflower is a four piece band from Australia. They list their names as Alexander Peter-Pander, Marko Remarko, Rufus Marmaduke, and Doctor Blythe. I’m willing to guess that these aren’t their real names, but stage names. I wasn’t sure what to expect from their 2010 debut album It’s Alright, It’s OK, Satellite Commander, but I did fear that it would be a bit of a joke. I can honestly admit that I was very wrong.
The opening track “Satellite Transmission” is merely an intro that lasts about 40 seconds. Once the band starts, with the second track “Cocaine Bepop”, you’re introduced to a southern rock feel, weaving acoustic and electric guitars together. The song was quite appealing, even with Alex’s whiny singing. I found it a good song and wondered what else the band had to offer.
“Always On The Run” threw a harmonica into the mix that gave the song a country feel. ore than that, the sound of the music with the whiny lead vocals just shouted The Rolling Stones to me. The mellower tempo of the song, and slight somberness of the song immediately brought to mind The Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” sans the upswing in tempo of that classic song.
The rest of the album follows suit as song after song I couldn’t help but feel I was listening to a modern day version of an Australian Rolling Stones. Lo-fi guitars, distortion on the vocals, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was listening to music recorded back in the 70’s. All the while there was just a groove to the music that worked. In fact, I found it hard to find one song that I considered to be the best as I liked them all.
I recommend It’s Alright, It’s OK, Satellite Commander highly. If it weren’t for the “Satellite Transimission” and “Marko Remarko Arrives at Ruby St.”, two tracks that served as filler and failed to add anything positive to the album, I’d have rated it higher. Still, two slight blips on the radar don’t do anything to diminish the quality of the album. Stereoflower have something good here, let’s hope they can keep it going.
Rating: 7.8/10
MP3: Stereoflower “Always On The Run”
Buy: iTunes