We were quite surprised to learn that Stardeath and White Dwarfs AREN'T sci-fi geeks, nor do they leap about their bedrooms, dressed in synthetic live-roleplaying garb and waving plastic swords at fictional ogres with names like Gzarrrgonor. From their band name, we sorta figured they might be. But no, they're not at all. In fact, they picked their band name by randomly stringing words together on a whim.

But they're certainly unique. At least, they would be if it wasn't for the existence of The Flaming Lips, but frontman Dennis Coyne makes no bones about the similiraties between his and his uncle's acclaimed mob of eccentrics. "We don't mind comparisons, because we do sound alike," Coyne the younger admits. "We even jam together now and again. And of course, we used to to work as The Flaming Lips' roadies!"

SAWD's debut album 'The Birth' is a planet-orbiting, space oddyssey, that flits between quivering psychedelia and quirkified Sabbath/Led Zep riffs - with those typically soft, fragile, slightly unsure Coyne-ian vocals (it must run in the family). It does also sound a lot like unc's Flaming Lips in places, but if Dennis doesn't care, neither do we. We don't care because we think it all sounds rather good. Spacey time!

HEAR CURRENT SINGLE 'NEW BIRTH' - RECORDED ACOUSTICALLY FOR MAXIM - IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE!

CLICK ON THE BOTTOM LINK BELOW TO HEAR 'COUNTRY BALLAD' ACOUSTIC - EXCLUSIVE!

We test all our albums on a NaimUniti stereo. If we were testing for sound quality, every album would get five stars. But we're good little journalists, so we can't. Check out more at www.naimaudio.com. They make good stuff, believe us.