Music Blog

Once upon a time, there was a band who made us feel good in a dance-all-around-the-room-in-a-sublime-state kinda way. The music was the thing and that part was for real, but they had a tricky name. They were hooky, they were catchy and they were sort of just kidding around (hence the name in the first place), but people liked them almost in spite of their name except for the ones who also liked them for their name because it made them seem just a little bit dangerous.

Star-f-er we called them around these parts, both on air and in print, because we wanted to play them, see, and we didn't want to refer to them as "the band whose name dare not be uttered" or some such nonsense. Nevertheless, even the band seemed unsure what to do about the moniker they'd bestowed upon themselves, finally relenting with a curious switch to the contest-driven choice of PYRAMIDDD. But a funny thing happened on the way there: it didn't stick, and they decided once and for all to stay with the name what brung them (or at the very least, the vowel-challenged STRFKR).

Now back to the music: the band is set to return with their second album and debut for the Polyvinyl label with Reptilians due out in March (that's the Trekkie + pterodactyls cover art up there, dreaded censor-swirl our own). It sounds outstanding, although lyrically it's mostly "about death and the end of the world" according to the label (cue mass numbers of birds falling out of the sky). Thing is, you don't have to wait until March-- if you want to hear the new stuff NOW you have a couple of options: pre-order the actual release and get an instant MP3 version here; or take the taste test and get the bouncy "Bury Us Alive" for free. DEUTSCH LIEBT!

In case you missed it, the Star-f-er gents stopped by our studios way back in November of '08 to talk about Japan, PDX Pop Now, Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second, and (yes) their name.