Spume from The Velvet Underground's "Ocean" gave birth to a frightened yet luminous universe confined into a Galaxie.
One dives in the phosphoric sea of this late 80's trio and digs out three halter pop masterpieces that explode in slow motion: Today (1988), On Fire (1989) and This is Our Music (1990).
Kramer (a Phil Spector with no gun), the producer, made Galaxie 500 the fiery flag leaf of atmospheric pop music, with its heavy and delicate bass guitar compositions, the overall simplicity of songs and a sax that flirts with the night of Dean Wareham's almost esoteric chants, incantations of the daily life of a young man who waits for his girlfriend to come home (When Will You Come Home) or the hysterical wail of an overly lyric adolescent who goes out to get a soda and describes the eeriness of the world in a song (Strange).
The heavy magic of Galaxie 500 resides in the instrument's urge to make a sound, in the band's urge to compose simple lullabies or make existing songs galactic, their beyond the grave and over the sky version of New Order's Ceremony is one of the most touching homage a band could have made to the Manchester group. Also, their rendition of The Red Krayola's Victory Garden is a masterpiece that leaves one speechless and horny. Both songs are included in the 1997 CD reprint of On Fire, which was one of the most well kept secret of the 1980's for a while. It now can't escape the light.
Strange - Galaxie 500
Ceremony - Galaxie 500
Victory Garden - Galaxie 500
