eMusic

Start Your Trial

Do You Trust Your Friends?

by

Stars

 
Do You Trust Your Friends?
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 3.5 (164 ratings)

  • We Say...

    How do you follow up an indie-pop classic? You let your friends destroy all the hard work that you did in a remix extravaganza, of course. Or that’s what happens on Stars’ Do You Trust Your Friends?, at least. Luckily, those aforementioned talents are both delicate and brutal in varying measures, taking the group’s originals into unexpected places. Metric takes “He Lied About Death” and reimagines it as a Philip Glass scored pop song, while The Most Serene Republic put an acoustic twang on the previously electrified “Ageless Beauty.” The Dears, meanwhile, take two cracks at “What I’m Trying to Say” and emerge with a classic on the second try: finding gold in Amy Millan’s angelic vocals and looped synths.

  • They Say...

    The concept behind the Stars album Do You Trust Your Friends? is a simple one: how trustworthy are your friends? If you gave them the chance to repaint your apartment, would they choose a standard shade of grey or a nauseating neon green? Stars turned over their album Set Yourself on Fire to their rock star buddies and studio-dwelling, knob-twiddler pals to see how they would remix their tracks. In this case, the risk pays off. Songs that were straightforward indie pop jingles are meticulously reworked into more atypical, wonderfully exciting compositions. Metric, Apostle of Hustle, and Junior Boys blow the original versions away with newfangled spins on the original takes. "One More Night" is re-created into a computerized flamenco number with splatters of Pinback and Wilco. "Sleep Tonight" is transformed into a keyboard heavy video game anthem reminiscent of the Knife's fabulous "Heartbeats." Of course, when you have 13 remixers working separately on a project that involved six musicians, the wide variety of personalities result in a drastic range of styles. This makes for a scattered listen that feels more like a mixtape than an actual album, but it's a fun one nonetheless. The liner notes include comments from all of the artists involved in the project to give insight on what inspired their manipulations -- whether it be hopes of making the Stars sound gangsta, like Queen, or like they were riding in a spaghetti western.

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: Stars

    Album: Do You Trust Your Friends?

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.