Daiistar: Good Time 2023

 

Over the last few years we’ve become wary of surprise. When the unexpected comes along, it’s not unwise to duck. Yet not all surprises are bad. Take DAIISTAR, a band that was on pretty much nobody’s

radar before the release of their thrilling debut album, Good Time.
"Good Time" out now via Fuzz Club. Except DAIISTAR (pronounced ‘day star’) seem to have already gathered a psych rock pedigree. The album is produced by Black Angels frontman Alex Maas, engineered by White Denim’s James Petrali, and is out on the influential London label Fuzz Club. They’re about to embark on tours with the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. 
                           

The debut album from Austin’s Daiistar blends hook-laden psych sounds from across the decades to

joyous results. The earth may be scorched but new Austin band Daiistar are kicking up a psych party on their debut album Good Time. The album is a swirling and grooving affair filled with great beats, hooks, and melodies to delve into as the band bring together psych-influenced sounds from across the decades, fusing their classic Texan musical heritage with twists from the 80s psych revival and blasts of Hacienda-born dance.
                                         

The blend is served up perfectly right from the very first track, Star Starter, mixing Madchester-shuffle

drum beats with My Bloody Valentine sonic blasts underneath glorious vocals, coming together in celebration, imploring us to raise our arms high and around those with us as we move in unison. It’s a hell of an opening to an album that shifts through dense guitars, modulating synths, and blissful vocals that hammer home their intention to stand up against the world we are served from above. “Fuck the world, this is our time”, they sing on the wonderful LMN BB LMN before they drift off on the waves of recent single Repeater, a woozy guitar looping around four notes to cast an irresistible spell.
                      

On songs like Tracemaker and Heathens Gate, the band flit deftly between darker grooving riffs and crystalline undercurrents, sonic blasts of thunder that give way to clear skies under which they shine. It’s no mystery how they caught the eye of Alex Maas and his work producing the album has brought out the

best of all that Daiistar have to offer. When they put the guitar pedals to one side for a moment we get songs like Purified, simple yet beautiful in its approach, one that sees them sidling up alongside Stoned And Dethroned-era Jesus And Mary Chain. It floats along, saving itself for the surging guitars that lift the vocals further, not overpowering but coming from within to add a subtle underlying power; a tranquilising dose that releases us momentarily from the acid-hinged noise-pop that surrounds it, shoegazing were its head not held high and looking up at the stars.
                                     

As they fly through the following triplet of Say It To Me, Parallel, and Speed Jesus, the band grab you by

the hand to spin tripping through the desert as the sun goes down. As the party dies out and the night gives way to a new dawn, final song Velvet Reality seems to find the band realising that there is still a truth that must be faced.
                                   

“Mother help me. 
I could walk but they took the world from me… 
Mother help me.
I was so bright by they took the light from me,
Mother help me
I had dreams
But they took the streets from me.” 

                              

sings frontman Alex Capistran over soft strumming, a plaintive end perhaps, but one on which he still

reminds us of our enduring strength in unity. “Together we’re free and they can’t stop us now,” he reminds us. Good times are ahead and Daiistar have arrived just in time to remind us of that fact. Drop a dose of their debut album and soak up all they have to offer.

                             

DAIISTAR – Good Time
Label: Fuzz Club Records – FC205
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 2023
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, New-Psychedelic
                                

TRACKS

                     

01. Star Starter
02. LMN BB LMN
03. Repeater
04. Tracemaker
05. Purified
06. Say It To Me
07. Parallel
08. Speed Jesus
09. Heathens Gate
10. Velvet Reality

LINE - UP

                            

Guitar, Vocals – Alex Capistran
Bass – Misti Hamrick
Drums, Percussion – Nick Cornetti
Keyboards – Derek Strahan 
Written-By – Alex Capistran

Flac Size: 241 MB