What is Draculina?

That's been what I and I suspect many others have been asking about this project for a while now. Which is a different question than "Who is Draculina?", though that's a relevant one too. Polina Draculina is a bit of a mysterious character, a bassist from St. Petersburg, Russia, at one point a member of Messer Chups, who has a seductive look in her videos though from seeing her around at Surfguitar101 Festival, seems a bit shy. I ask "what", however, because Draculina as a band is an enigma.

Not to be a brat, but when I got an email about another Messer Chups record, my reaction was "oh ok, sure"

There's just a lot of Messer Chups. I think my digital collection spans 17 releases. And I can't really blame them, I once watched a guy walk up to their merch table and buy one of each album, which is when I realized that having a big back catalog helps you make more money! But aside from one record with a lot of harp, can I really expect a new Messer Chups record to be more than just more?

Actually, yes!

Cat Sith (or Catsith, they never seem to settle on that) have released 3 EPs and 2 LPs since April of 2018, and every subsequent release gets a little more poisoned.

Let me suggest that you skip the first track. It's a good song, but it's got a thin garage-surf sound that gets the wrong idea across.

Here's the latest from everybody's favorite Russian instro group. While their general sound isn't much different from their recent albums, it's not all draculas and coffins: you've got some pleasant steel guitar thrown into "Hula Drag-u-La", and you've even got a batman theme on "Chupacabra vs Batman". For whatever reason, we get another version of Popcorn with "Children of the Popcorn" (Zombie Shopping had "Popcorno"). I've listened to it a few times but all I really have to say is that it's Messer Chups -- you know what to do.

When I played the song "Out of Surf" on the radio show, a caller excitedly told me it was a cover of Max Romeo's reggae classic "Chase the Devil". So now I'm suspicious that the other tracks on here are obscure covers that I haven't figured out yet.

If your idea of Russian surf is steeped in B-movies and creepiness, Air Cats band are here to show you a brighter side with a more Shadowsy/Rautalanka guitar tone. Their songs are adventurous but cool, with a tendency to get bouncy rather than nasty ("Billy Bones Boogie") and mysterious rather than creepy ("Hours & Minutes"). It's a fun record to sit back and enjoy the ride, and your wallet can sit back too: free download.

The Terminators play fast, mean, and short surf instrumentals with what I assume is humorous Russian stage banter peppered throughout. It's extremely short, with each song coming in at less than 1 minute and 30 seconds when you skip the talking, but those instrumentals are worth it! They're well produced, well played, and full of energy.

I can't find much else on them, but I like what I've heard.

Apparently they've released more material this year so I'll embed all three. Each are pay-what-you-want.

Man, what a time to be alive. The Messer Chups (or in this case a side project of the Messer Chups) can release an album and you immediately have a chance to listen to it. You used to have to dig around for the one site that seemed to be holding them at the time. That said, if you're looking for a physical copy, that still may be the case as Trash Wax records doesn't have it listed yet.

The first LP from Operation: Diamond Bikini follows the example laid forth by their first EP: generally fast and forceful surf with dash of quirky sense of humor thrown in. That humor usually takes the form of sound clips, which compliment the music well and don't go overboard. Guitar tone is generally pretty clear and staccato and have the same frantic stumbling feel as their countrymen The Messer Chups.