Albums are graded on a five-point scale of "Awful-Eh-Good-Great-Classic". I'm highly biased, so don't take it too seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Starflyer 59

[#] She's the Queen (1994)

Extras, extras! Read all about 'em!

Reviewed June 16, 2024

A little thing to tide the more hardcore fans over while Jason Martin spent 1995 killing himself for his art, She's the Queen is the often-forgotten companion EP to Silver, compiled of album outtakes and novelty reworkings of a handful of its tracks. (Of course, when I say little, I actually mean only six minutes shorter than its parent LP.) She's the Queen is fun. Some of the outtakes, like the title cut, were cut for a reason, but a couple rock in spectacular fashion, and the reworkings prove Starflyer's interests and inspirations lie a bit deeper than the Swervedrivers and My Bloody Valentines they're often pegged to be. It's a neat curiosity!

Among the cut tracks, I can't help but love "Canary Row"'s mind-numbing simplicity, and "Salinas" is a big favorite of mine. Starflyer would become quite well known for their lonely mope rock with Gold, and "Salinas" is lyrically cut from that cloth, but with Silver's sonics. (Put it next to "Indiana" and you'll hear what I mean.) If you're not just interested in Silver cast-offs, though, cast your gaze towards the reworkings. "Monterey" goes lounge with an arrangement that puts the groove on the bass (sadly, no Jason lounge lizard impersonation), "Droned" gets transformed into a forlorn slowcore track, and Jason's brother Ronnie gets in a bleepy-bloopy Joy Electric synthpop rendition of "Blue Collar Love"! If you loved Silver, you'll get a kick outta this one—but for non-fans, I'd start with one of their less esoteric, in-jokey records.