The Chinese Stars, Heaven on Speed Dial

I saw The Chinese Stars — formed out of the ashes of Arab on Radar in 2003 — play about five years ago at Mary Jane’s Fat Cat, with The Mean Reds and The Blood Brothers. I remember them being a loud and heavy dance-punk band, and their third studio album, Heaven on Speed Dial, finds the band just as I remembered them being, only much more polished and sounding fantastic on a recorded album. As far as noise-rock goes, this album is great!

The Chinese Stars mix the heaviness of bands like The Blood Brothers with the high-pitched vocals of Q And Not U and even former Blood Brother himself and current Jaguar Lover Johnny Whitney, creating an overall dance/experimental sound very similar to Moving Units. I haven’t listened to this type of music in years, so it was very refreshing to listen to Heaven on Speed Dial and let it bring me back to my high school days.

The use of the synthesizers is extremely fun and danceable on “Body,” and very reminiscent of indie post-punk band Action Action (formerly The Reunion Show), and “Lick it Clean” is one of the album’s catchiest tracks. Lyrics on the album are all over the place, like these also from “Body:”

I believe I found your hand in between my girlfriend’s legs.
And I believe I saw your eyes rolling down the sidewalk.
You’ve been leaving pieces of yourself all over the city.
You’ve been looking like a jigsaw puzzle; it’s kind of scary.

The album flows well from one song to the next, and although many all the tracks have the same general sound and feel to them, it’s so loud and fast-paced that it doesn’t even give listeners a chance to get bored. From start to finish, Heaven on Speed Dial is one trippy, fun, messy experience not to be missed. This album makes me want to bring back more noise-rock music onto my iPod, and seeing The Chinese Stars play again is definitely on top of my list of shows to see.

Feature photo by Ashleigh Carraway.