Last week I strolled in with a ton of 45s... this weekend was the Record Raid and I've got an ENTIRELY NEW batch, plus I picked up those fancy Shadows and Atlantics LPs. Some great brand new stuff from Dirty Fuse, The 427's, Khruangbin, and Black River Manifesto as well! Gonna be one of those weeks where I have so much to play I'm going to end up winging a lot of it. That's often a good thing!
Here's what I played last week: 11/2/15
This EP is Dirty Fuse's first with their new guitarist after their previous guitarist went Back to Brazil. I'd still say this sounds like the Dirty Fuse we're familiar with, but I can only say that because they're an adventurous group and change is expected. There's still prominent saxophone, there's a great sense of depth to the sound - partially nice recording, but the bass definitely rounds it out as well. "Evolution" starts it out as a pretty aggressive number, but you get a lot more chilled-out with "Back to Brazil" and "Wonderland" which are nice-n-easy sunny day tracks.
I'm under the impression that The 427's EP Surf Noir got a bit of a attention in surf circles, and I don't doubt that they'll find an audience with their first full-length Mavericks. They've got a pretty trad sound with two guitars, bass, and drums, but the arrangements and riffs are all very catchy and memorable. On one listen, "Fake Betty", "Night of the Living Surf" and "Urchin Stomp" were standouts. On "Yellowbelly" and "The Blue Cactus" they stretch out a bit with added instrumentation for a spaghetti western sound.
This one has been available for streaming for a while, but like so many others their vinyl 10" got stuck in an enormous backlog. But the wait is over, and you can now spin these songs on your turntable. Balu & die Surfgrammeln have a pretty trad, upbeat surf sound interspersed with a lot of vintage audio clips. I love the bounce in "Der Zerfall Von Backerbsen" and the percussion in their version of Comanche.
And of course, gotta love that great Shawn Dickinson artwork.
You can order it from Green Cookie or through bandcamp.
Here's something a little different. Black River Manifesto take a slow, noisy approach to surf. It's pained and dischordant, at times maybe even a little jazzy (the upright acoustic bass helps there), and sometimes bluesy (their last EP was a lot bluesier).
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