Earlier this year, entire neighborhoods of the Los Angeles area were burned down from wildfires. You know this, I have nothing particularly insightful to add to this, but I am from a very disaster-prone area (New Orleans) and I can relate. There's a lot going on in the world and particularly the US right now, and it feels like the news has moved on to more recent matters. One thing I know from previous hurricanes, oil spills, etc. that I've seen, is that gestures of care and attempts to help, particularly after the national eye has moved on, are very appreciated. So I'd imagine to a lot of people this compilation is a very meaningful thing.
What we're looking at is FIFTY TWO surf tracks (and from what was shared with me pre-release, that's with a few that didn't make it on the final release), from surf bands all around the world, all of them instrumental. All proceeds go to the American Red Cross California Wildfire Relief Efforts.
Behind this record are Jim Abrahams (The Breakers), Marc Lockett (The Breakers), Rick Deliz (Secret Agent, Triple Agent Records), and Jet Sterling (Surfabilly Freakout), all of whom are from the Chicago area. Jim has done this before, with a great compilation he made in April 2020 supporting Chicago COVID relief efforts. That was a cool comp, especially because it highlighted Chicago surf groups active at that time (well, I guess it was 2020 so "active" is maybe not the word). This has a much larger scope with bands from all over the world, legendary groups and lesser known. With 52 tracks I'm not going to sit and try to corrobrate what's brand new and what's been pulled from existing releases, though I do recognize a few favorite tracks from these bands. I will point you towards a fanastic cover of Dick Dale's "The Victor" done by The Manakooras that I don't think I've seen elsewhere.
Considering that this is a benefit comp I don't want to say that you're getting a "deal", but this does come out to less than 20 cents per song for digital purchases and less than 40 cents if you buy a CD. Two hours and 35 minutes total. I think this is a no-brainer, if anything maybe this is a rare instance to actually consider paying more than the list price, as bandcamp allows. I believe CDs haven't been made yet. I think it'll have to be at least a double album on CD.
Hats off to everybody involved. This has already rocketed to the top of the bandcamp best-sellers using the surf tag, dethroning four records by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, which shouldn't be there but it's pretty impressive to beat them anyway.
