Reading their facebook page, I'm having a hard time telling whether this is a farewell EP or if Sonic Nightmare is merely saying they're dead for the purposes of a Halloween EP. Either way, I do have things left unsaid: I never made a release notice for their split EP earlier this year. This is predictably some creepin' horror surf, but my favorite is the disjointed and surprisingly...Read more
Reviews
Post date: 10/23/2015 - 09:32
This is the second Messer Chups LP this year and much like The Incredible Crocotiger it's been hard to find. They made a post on facebook saying it's out and didn't respond to the masses asking "where?".
I have a policy of not posting about a new release unless I can tell you where to get it, and it looks like it's surfaced over at the...Read more
Post date: 10/19/2015 - 07:53
Genki Genki Panic may have already released an LP this year, but managed to squeeze in another small spooky one before Halloween. Two of these are covers: White Zombie's "Soul Crusher" and a Misfits cover (always appreciate another misfits cover) in "Return of the Fly". The title track "Vaya Con Diablos" is actually a creeping vocal track.
This one's a free download. They do have CDs for sale for a cheap $5. Release date says October 31st but CDs ship Oct 23rd. Yes, that's how you do...Read more
Post date: 10/19/2015 - 07:40
This is the second LP from The Silicon, and it covers a lot of ground. There's some shredders like "Mysterious Island" and the title track "Tiki Tohoa", and some western tracks like "Road to the Ranch", and I pick up a lot of rautalanka and shadows influence on others. They bill themselves on bandcamp as post-Soviet surf-rock and I can't help but think of the Surfbeat Behind the Iron Curtain compilations. Maybe they should feature on a modern equivalent of that!...Read more
Post date: 10/15/2015 - 07:50
Par Avion clearly love the surf sound, but don't let it get in the way when they have other ideas. "Unchained Melody" has a great Duane Eddy meets modern-surf twang to it and sets the tone well for the rest of the album. But then the song "Par Avion" has a less motivated, more post-punk melancholy to it. Then the next song features a cello, the next one has a great orchestral spaghetti western sound to it, but then there's a pretty straightforward cover of Misirlou.
Basically they're...Read more
Post date: 10/11/2015 - 22:05
I love it when a new release slides into my hands during my radio show. Without more than 3 seconds of screening beforehand, I hit play on "North Bank of Lost River", which starts with an envigorating swell... then loud prominent vocals. It's an instrumental radio show, so I jumped a bit, but I was actually pretty durn excited about the instrumental underneath. When I got a change to listen to the entire thing, I found that the majority of the tracks were still instrumental, and a great...Read more
Post date: 10/11/2015 - 11:07
Ace Records continues their "Birth of Surf" series with a brand new Volume 3, curated by Alan Taylor and Dave Burke of Pipeline Magazine. Like the others, it's a total mix of basic-level surf songs to nearly unheard-of rarities. I'm pleased to see Johnny and the Hurricanes' "Sheba" on there - pretty common if you're digging for 45s, rarely finds its way to compilations, and it's easily my favorite song of theirs. Ace's recent...Read more
Post date: 10/08/2015 - 07:27
A live album from the band that I can't help but think of as "that band with the boobs on the album cover". Great trad sound, really sunny and fun and well-played, with a few sound clips thrown on in-between songs. It definitely does sound live, but that really only becomes a factor on the few vocal songs, where the vocals dwarf the instrumental mix. Otherwise, there's a great energy and bounce to it...Read more
Post date: 10/06/2015 - 07:51
Las Olas may have a mostly trad sound to them, but they're not exactly going for a sunny SoCal vibe. Like the ashy cover art suggests, this is some dark, hopeless surf. Not necessarily slow and dreary - there are some frantic songs like "violeta", but definitely not smiling at you.
You can stream it on bandcamp, or just download it for free!
...Read more
Post date: 10/06/2015 - 07:33
It's been 50 years since Apache '65, the first LP by the Arrows, and Davie Allan has released TWO albums to commemorate this. He explained this in the interview I did with him the other day: he was working on the 50th Anniversary album and was worried that the people at Curb records were taking too long to clear the rights to those songs, so he went ahead and started working on...Read more
Post date: 10/01/2015 - 07:59
From what I'm gathering, "Cojonudo" translates to "ballsy", which I think explains the near-nude cover of this record. I say near-nude not because of the guitar, but because I think I spy the strap of his tighty-whities at his hip. Then I realized I was looking at this way too hard.
Anyway, if you're not familiar with Surfer Joe, he's the hardworking surf entrepeneur behind Surfer Joe Music,...Read more
Post date: 09/30/2015 - 07:34
I was a big fan of Die Krabben's Welcome to Surf Trash Island released last year, even giving it a Gremmy honorable mention. Mining the Gyre has the same weirdo creepy surf-meets-Beefheart thing going on, with a few good instrumentals, a few essentially surf songs with a deep trollish voice grumbling out lyrics. It's kinda like if Reverend Beat-man had more of...Read more
Post date: 09/27/2015 - 16:42
Post date: 09/27/2015 - 16:33
Iowa's biggest surf act (probably by default, but by merit too) just dropped a nice live record. The sound is clean, better than plenty of studio albums I've heard. The songs seem to be all over the back catalog, a great place to start if this is your first introduction to the Surf Zombies.
The digital download is nice and cheap, but they've also got a CD that you can buy.
...Read more
Post date: 09/24/2015 - 07:29
Before we do anything here, I'd like to recognize The Special Edisons for calling an 8-song album an EP. I feel like 8 songs is becoming the norm for an album this year, and they're acknowledging that that's short!
The Special Edisons (not a typo) hail from Calgary, which is funny because the first thing that came to mind was Huevos Rancheros. No shared members, I checked, they're a 3-piece with a ragged, dry, and distorted guitar tone. It's rough and tumble ranch rock, and there's...Read more
Post date: 09/22/2015 - 07:43
At this point I've been doing this radio show in New Orleans for about 5 years, and in that time very few listeners have come to the obvious conclusion that they should start a surf band. So I was overcharged with excitement when I was shown a youtube video from a frequent listener of their new band Ghost Coast. A few days later, there's even a demo up on bandcamp!
Ghost Coast is a 5-piece (2 guitars, bass, keys and drums) and their sound is definitely surf, but on the pretty side,...Read more
Post date: 09/20/2015 - 08:13
The only surf band I can think of with America in its name is from Madrid, Spain. Sure, why not?
Surfing Way is a light-hearted walk through many different familiar sounds in the surf world: straight up surf, drag racing, spaghetti western, fuzz, etc. It's easy-going and sounds nice and vibrant.
From what I gather, this is a solo project from Sergio Leon. He's also released a number of less-surfy instrumentals under his name full of ukelele and pedal steel. I say bring those...Read more
Post date: 09/19/2015 - 10:16
Should I post demos as releases? Yes, because I'm digging this. Blackball Bandits clearly have a Western angle to them evidenced in their (great) medley of Ennio Morricone classics, but it also evokes the west in that wide-open-road way on "Azteca Verano", AND in the Roswell, New Mexico way on their opening track. It's got a great mean edge to it that sometimes reminds me of Speedball Jr, though maybe that's just name association. A lot of disparate sounds coming together naturally and...Read more
Post date: 09/19/2015 - 10:02
The Stingrays aren't hiding it: they're proudly heading straight for a trad 60's surf sound. They even named their album "The First Wave", which I assume to be a reference to that era as much as it is pointing out that it's their first release.
I haven't been able to find any previews directly from this album, but the videos and songs that they've posted are upbeat and energetic as a first wave band should be. You can get an idea from the soundcloud and videos below, or you could dive...Read more
Post date: 09/19/2015 - 09:03
Holy misdirection Batman! Not that I think all instrumental groups should religiously adhere to the agreed upon surf style guide, the cover of this album looks like it could be going for an El Perro Del Mar vibe (and a lot of guitarist Jeffrey Bützer's other work makes sense in that realm). Even...Read more
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