My Coco – Stellastarr*

In the early days of the iPod I used to travel to work listening to all the hot new alternative sounds of the underground, on the underground.

I had a huge white glass brick in my pocket and little white headphones in my ears. I’d scroll through the wheel from Bright Eyes to The White Stripes via Cat Power and The Postal Service and I’d marvel at the LCD screen telling me I had hundreds of songs in my pocket at my disposal.

“Cool my brains and sift my head, stimulate me my Coco Co, slip into my empty bed and educate me my Coco Co”

Not many of those bands make it onto my daily playlists these days so when I hear The Rapture or Yo La Tengo post the cloud, they seem like time capsule bands. The same way Garbage sends me back to college and The Jam puts me back in junior school Stellastarr* are an iPod with a scroll wheel band.

“And when I was down and failing life you came saved me my Coco Co, and when they said I’m telling lies, you believed me my Coco Co”

My Coco is (in my mind) their biggie. The only corroborative evidence I can think of to support this is I know it had a video. I never saw the band live, I never heard them on the radio.

I had my well documented work buddy Milko to thank for hearing them. There’s a taught Talking Heads-yness to the tune and a yelpy singer (Shawn Christensen) who wouldn’t sound out of place playing alongside bands of today like Bodega or acts from the 90’s like The Flaming Lips.

“I sat alone and I didn’t care I sat two years in the same old chair I saw three roads and I didn’t know which way to go, go, go, go”

Having moved some crates of CD’s from this era so I could renovate the spare room in our house recently, I’m reminded of bands like Hot Hot Heat, The Bravery and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Bands who really dug themselves into the era and refused to go along with the calendar into double digits with the bigger names.

Looking back it was a lot of fun but all quite samey. Stellastarr* did something here and on their self titled debut long player. They managed to stand out for a bit. This and the title track from their debut EP Somewhere Across Forever are superior emotional indie anthems.

“I won’t forget you Coco”