There's been a torrential downpour of surf releases lately including TWO releases from Arno De Cea within 48 hours. They've teamed up with Demon Vendetta (whose last LP won my coveted Gremmy award) for a split cassette of classic surf covers.
Demon Vendetta are a bit more modern with a Jon and the Nightriders and a Shadowy Men cover next to Surfaris and Link Wray. Arno de Cea picks chooses two of what I consider to be the most vicious surf classics out there: Baha-Ree-Ba and the Original Surfaris' Bombora, as well as a brtual cover of The Astronauts' Surf Party and the Surftones' Cecilia Ann.
For both bands I'd say that they never quite bring these songs entirely into their signature style. And for both bands I'd say the closest is with the last songs of the bunch: Demon Vendetta's Switchblade with horror movie clips and some surprisingly enjoyable tamborine, and Arno De Cea with an unnaturally slow but hulking interpretation of Cecilia Ann. That said, every song has a great, powerful energy that finds a new way to enjoy a classic.
The only physical copy of this is a cassette tape limited to 100 copies. You can get it on either of their bandcamp pages.
Each half is on each band's respective bandcamp page and each half is purchased separately when you purchase digitally. Each half is equally worth it.
