Pandemic-formed act DAIISTAR seems to have fallen from the sky, crash-landing its layered neo-psychedelia into a record deal three years later with London label Fuzz Club (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, the Black Angels). The shockwave continues on the quartet’s 10-track debut, produced by Angels bandleader Alex Maas. Good Time deals in familiar revelries, fleshing out traditional counterculture ethos (“Fuck the man/ This is our time“) with shoegaze lilts and gritty, industrial guitar tone. Distortion whittles guitarist and vocalist Alex Capistran’s voice down to sweet rock candy, melding a Damon Albarn whine with inflection-averse nonchalance. Melodies delightfully swim through gooey reverb – layers so thick that the project is at risk of bleeding together. But loose embellishments rebut that first-listen assumption: Infectiously warped bongos sit right in the pocket on “Star Starter,” a pedal fragments “Repeater” into sonic speed bumps, a luminous synth line steers through the noise of “Parallel.” Closer “Velvet Reality” diverts from the album’s playful powerhouses in its romantically devastating slow burn. Dual-threat Capistran bald-faced begs, “Mother, mother, help me,” between stretches of melancholic lap steel twang. Hope remains, however. “Together, we’re free/ And they can’t stop us now,” Capistran croons on the chorus, carrying forth the momentary ecstasy that DAIISTAR champions right there in the album title.
DAIISTAR
Good Time (Fuzz Club)This article appears in September 22 • 2023.