Bandcamp groups are weird. Here we have a group with a name and cover art that suggest nothing spooky, playing subdued Halloween songs with "jive" in the title, plus vintage sound clips of horror films. I know nothing about this band, but I'm digging it all the same.
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I've been bristling with excitement over getting my hands on another Krontjong Devils release. They've got a great, distinct tone, great energy and songs, great choices of covers and a few originals like "The Rafter" that are practically modern surf classics. So today is the offical release date of their Action! 10" record on Kuriosa Records.
Personally, I choose robot. I love robots. Urban Surf Kings have been churning out releases like clockwork for over 15 years now, including side projects from Rev. Hank, but I believe this one has been in the works for a good while (their recording diary starts January 1st 2013). The format here is a little different: 4-song 7" vinyl that includes a download code...Read more
Dirty Fuse's previous album Surfbetika was definitely worth a listen: it seamlessly gave a surf twang to Greek rebetika songs. They're back to business hittin the surf with Last Wave, though they're still clearly up for a challenge. In this quick listen as I'm posting this I'm hearing LOTS of interesting saxophone, a mix of fuzz, glassy euro-styled guitar, some good...Read more
Perhaps I'm missing their long and storied history, but I have a feeling that the "Best Of" here is by default, and that they're playing a joke like the Crazy Aces' Greatest Hits Volume 2 (their first album).
While my internet detective case didn't come up with anything confirming that, I have a bit of a hunch outside of that. You see, the Okay-Men bear a pretty strong musical resemblance to...Read more
Thee Imperial Royales have only released one Halloween EP, and they're back again with two Halloween songs. I can dig it. Their bandcamp page says "This is the latest communique from those inside The Black Lodge. It will start with one song, when we say it starts. When you've forgotten, another song may be added. Then another. Soon the story emerges"" Not sure if that means they'll be tacking a few songs onto this? As far as I know this is digital-only so it's a possibility. Give it a listen...Read more
I wouldn't normally post a single song (the other song on this EP is a vocal track) but this is an excellent Halloween song that never gets covered and WJLP released a pretty excellent instro album for free a while back. Enjoy!Read more
I always thought surf and noise rock should hang out more, and that's certainly the case here. ROMANTIC aren't normally a surf group, there's usually a lot more noise and a lot more goth and sometimes a few words, but underneath it all I can confirm that there are surf songs on this EP: especially Misirlou under "blacksurf ii". Check the bandcamp stream out and let me know what you thinkRead more
Lately I feel like I've been seeing more cassette releases than 7"s. Off the top of my head, there's these guys, Double Crown just released a comp, the Del-Vipers... OK that's all I got right now. Anyway, this one is a bit different from their last LP: I hear less MOAM? influence, and a lot of tempo changes and strange structures that make me think Shadowy Men. There's a few vocal tracks, but mostly instrumental. Also they get some props for being the only Iowa surf band I can think of. Give...Read more
I'm a little late on this one, the album was released September 27th, but it just hit Bandcamp today which is how I found out. Condor Gruppe released an excellent EP of otherworldly-though-kinda-groovy surf-tinged instrumentals last year, and this sounds like more of the same. Definitely on the out-there side but I love instro music because it's so different, not because it's the same. Click Read More for a streamRead more
It's been a slow week for surf releases, but Sao Paolo's Os Brutus have given us a three-song EP to help us out. For those of you that don't speak Portugese (including me), Google Translate says the album title means "Dirty City Clumsy". Eh, I don't know. Love the take on the Dead Kennedy's album cover. Great heavy sound on "Nabila", looking forward to hearing more from them.
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From checking out their facebook page, it looks like the Tiki Creeps tend to play with a lot of burlesque groups. Despite that, this isn't exactly a Las Vegas Grind sound, but instead reminds me more of French groups like the Irradiates, Taikonauts, and Demon Vendetta - aggressive wtih a big overdriven guitar sound, and great production. It can get a little creepy too, though I...Read more
It's important for your band to have a memorable name, and I think MILS has that on lock. Another way they're a bit of an oddball: very prominent cowbell. I think it works though, and the rippin' guitars and tight playing certainly help. Definitely worth a listen and I'm looking forward to hearing an LP.Read more
Marshall and the Martins hail from Australia and were very recently known as Slowpoke Rodriguez. In fact, they very recently released an album called The Purple Thing only two months ago under that name. Two albums in less than three months --- clearly not slowpokes. A pretty nice trad surf album. On a quick listen my favorite is "Dammit Ferricks...Read more
A bit of a quandry with posting new releases. Album is released on October 7th, but you can preorder it or stream it on bandcamp now. Should I post it as a new release? I decided that Smash Brothers comes out on Game Boy 4 days prior, I may not be paying enough attention on the 7th, so here ya go.
Er... anyway on first listen this is a good one! Nice fuzzy sound with...Read more
Welp, Google is completely striking out on this one with nothing for "Blairracuda" or their label "Moon Rock Collective". The only evidence of this group existing as I can tell is their bandcamp page. But for a band that hardly exists outside their 3 song EP, they've got a pretty mean surf sound.
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Admittedly I'm having a hell of a time finding out about these guys. I'm not even certain that this is a new release, but it only showed up on Bandcamp yesterday. Good trad surf from Valencia, Spain with a nice helping of reverb. Listen to a stream after the jump!Read more
Los Apollos have released a 3-song EP called Testflug 3
The band says you can find it on Spotify or iTunes though it looks like some of the songs are up on...Read more
If you don't think of Croatia as a surf hub, I think you're forgetting about the Bambi Molesters. Their countrymen The Pistolrays just put out their new album Corona Del Mar on their bandcamp page for free!
Click "read more" for the bandcamp stream.Read more
