Superdrag
In the Valley of Dying Stars, 2000
Superdrag was one of those bands that just never got the timing down. Early on, when they were firing on all cylinders — the stretch from 1996 major-label debut Regretfully Yours to this album — the band could never quite drum up the attention needed to make a real splash, MTV’s embrace of the “Sucked Out” video aside. By the time they’d been around long enough to be missed they were already gone, and when they did finally come back with 2009’s Industry Giants, well, it was clear more than the industry had changed. I’ll posit that despite the tendency in later years to wear their influences on their sleeves, the band’s early sound was truly original: shoegaze guitars, Zombies-worthy songs, snarl on loan from God-knows-where and the inimitable vocals of John Davis. “Bright Pavilions” is one of the finest examples of the band’s craft, arriving late enough to know exactly what it’s doing and early enough to be truly great.
[audio https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14312140/07%20Bright%20Pavilions.m4a]
The Best Song You'll Hear All Day 