Album of the Week: Stardeath and White Dwarfs’ Wastoid

It can be a daunting to be related to a music superstar. Enter Dennis Coyne, nephew of Wayne Coyne, the insanely enigmatic frontman of acid-punk act The Flaming Lips. Dennis’ band Stardeath and White Dwarfs have a new album out called Wastoid and you can see the influence of his uncle throughout each track. What sets this act apart is the heavy fuzz from the bass and guitar distortions that can make your head spin. It can be tough living up to someone else’s fame, but Wastoid shows that Stardeath and White Dwarfs are looking to forge their own path.

If you have heard the Dark Side Of The Moon cover album Stardeath and White Dwarfs did with The Flaming Lips, Peaches and Henry Rollins back in 2009, then Wastoid should show a lot of similarities. There’s a great psychedelic presence on the album with each song taking you from one place to the next. Each track provides a different experience but each is a pleasant one. Staying true to their crazy and weird Oklahoma roots, Stardeath and White Dwarfs never cease to astound from start to finish with their new album. It’s groovy, fun and trippy with a taste for the abstract that comes together to form something unique and wonderful.

So the World Cup is finally over. Since a portion of your day is all the sudden freed up, dive into my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week. Maybe it’s not as fun as watching a bunch of dudes run around for 90 minutes, but it surely won’t be boring.

The jungle beats and the raw riffs of “Frequency” make it a funky number at the start and then it gets all acoustic with Dennis strumming on his six-string. It reminds me a bit of mid-90s era Blur. A wonderful example of the fuzz is “Guess I’ll Be Okay;” the guitars hit you like a stick of dynamite over a nuclear power plant and it’s my personal favorite off of the album. Cool psych-jazz goodness is all over “Sleeping Pills and Ginger Ale,” a very entrancing song that features piano chords giving it a full body.

Stardeath and White Dwarfs will be performing at The Wichita Psych Fest in Wichita, Kansas, on July 19 and at The Center Of The Universe Fest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 26. If you’re willing to make the road trip to one of these festivals I highly suggest you do. Hopefully they make it up to New England soon, but until then grab yourself a copy of Stardeath and White Dwarfs’ Wastoid. It’s the perfect album for the person who lives in another state of mind.

Stardeath and White Dwarf’s Website:  stardeathandwhitedwarfs.com