Earlier this year we got a surprise album dropped on us by Swami John Reis of Hot Snakes (backed by the also excellent The Blind Shake). Pounded by the Surf aren't as outward about their alter-ego, but there was enough here to be suspicious: their album is exceptionally well-produced, came out of nowhere and they're touring both the US and Europe...
Turns out Pounded by the Surf is a project from the guitarist and bassist from the band The Bronx (and more recently Mariachi El Bronx). If you're not familiar with them it's kind of hard to pin them down... their first album was an absolutely killer loud and vicious punk record, then somewhere along the way they turned into a Mariachi band. From there it's not terribly surprising that they would take a detour in a surf direction, and I'm glad they did.
Definitely plenty of Spaghetti Western moments on this one, though finding time to swing into more of a traditional surf song here and there. It's diverse, punchy, sounds fantastic, and is surprisingly well-studied for a group of guys lodged in the punk world for so long.
They've got vinyl on the way but I don't see anywhere you can buy it just yet. In the meantime you can stream it (and purchase it) on bandcamp. But first, watch dis video.
