Here's another great surf record—a new record by a band active right now!
Are we in a surf music golden age? Whatever the case, we highly recommend
10,000 Ways To Die by The Delstroyers.
The new record consists of fourteen instrumentals and they are all great! You should definitely buy it!
2022 May 18 • Wednesday
Wow, here's an amazing CD: Reverb Nation: Live at the 2017 Surf Guitar
101 Convention.
What you get is two songs from twelve different bands plus one song from three
additional bands. It's all recorded live so you hear audience applause in between
tracks as well as the occasional song intro from a band or band intro
from whoever is emceeing. But what matters here is the music. Every single band is great,
and staying true to the spirit of the music as it was more or less
sixty years ago. No fancy effects or anything and the guitar playing
generally trends toward the power side of things, Dick Dale
being sort of the Charlie Christian of surf guitar playing. There are, however, quite a few slow, pretty, atmospheric
numbers. Whatever song it is, the playing is impeccable
all the time. It's kind of astounding that there were this
many great surf bands in one place back in 2017. And now, in 2022, are there still as many? Maybe more? No idea, but this particular collection is a must-have.
2022 May 16 • Monday
The 726th Soundtrack of the Week is the music, mostly
by Philippe Besombes, for a movie called Libra.
It's on blue vinyl!
First up is "La Plage", layers of synth sounds creating a strange
atmosphere, eventually joined by the sound of a woman laughing and vocalizing
wordlessly and gasping. Then there's another female voice singing
a melody kind of far off in the distance while the electronic noises
take the foreground. Blues-rock electric guitar with drumas and upright bass start off "Rugby".
At first it's sort of a meandering jam with lots of reverb on the guitar
but then it unexpectedly starts an energetic groove with lots of
synth freak out noises and some weird male vocals, maybe in French, maybe
electronically manipulated. More weird synth noises introduce "Theme Grave", which also
has a keening, siren-like line running through it. Eventually
there's a sort of bass line played on what sounds like one of the
synths, organ plays a sort of melodic thing and there's a smattering of drums. "Ballade en Velo" is a normal, easygoing pop song with a familiar
structure and instrumentation, very laid back and mellow. This piece isn't
by Besombes but by bandmate Alain Legros. There's some fuzzed out electric
guitar in it too. We return to ambient layers of synth sounds in "Les Diapos", which
also has some stabbing keyboard statements and various other weird
stuff and vocalizations scattered around. It's not too far off from
some of Sun Ra's stuff. Hearing an organ play a familiar descending harmonic line in "Ceremonie"
is definitely a contrast. Eventually added to it is kind of an electronic
wind sound and then a vocal choir. After that comes "Jaune", an acid rock freak-out with pounding
drums, groovy bass line and just kind of whatever happening along
with it, mostly from keybaords and synthesizers. "PJF 261" starts with organ playing freely, snippets of dialogue
and then a lone female voice singing a slow, soaring but descending line
while fragmented echoes of unintelligible voices whiz by, along with
occasional spasms of keyboard playing. It's another one that sounds like it
might have been influenced by Sun Ra. The interestingly named "Raggacountry" starts with sitar
and low drones. It eventually finds a country blues-ish
groove, with acoustic slide guitar, but keeps the sitar going.
I guess the title merges country with raga, despite the "ragga" spelling. The A side concludes with "Boogimmick", an explosive blues rock
number with electric guitar soloing all the way and a much higher
energy level than anything else so far. Side B starts with "Hache 06", which itself begins with electric
bass laying down a groove, soon to be joined by drums, for another
kind of trippy jazz/rock number. At first it's really
a feature for organ and other keyboards but then there's plenty
of electric guitar in there. "Apple de Libra" and "Pursuit" are two short cues, the first
being a synth drone under female vocals, one singing an ethereal
line, the other speak-singing in, I guess, French—I hear the word
"Libra" a lot—before getting stomped on by organ. The second
has reerb percussion, more electronic, lower-pitched synth
sounds and what sounds like creaking floorboards, before
bass and drums come in with a groove that supports some
keyboard soloing, which might include clavinet. The record then takes us to "La Ville", which starts
with drums and quickly finds kind of an old-fashioned
and easy-going groove. There's a lot going on here, sitar
playing and various other fuzzy and floating sounds as
well as maybe tape manipulation or other kinds of musique concrète. "Les Cosmonautes" is a very spacy cue, with some high-pitched
synthesizer swoops that are maybe meant to sound like a theremin,
thick blocks of sound from the organ and ethereal female vocals
flying around. Later on there are some real space invaders-like
sounds that come crashing in. An organ drone, keyboard freak outs, a distant female voice
frenetically uttering words and sounds: that's "Avecandista". The record ends with "Tis a Song", another more familiar
rock/pop song, this one even with English-language vocals!
It's somewhat enervated, to be honest. After all the weirdness
and go-for-it rock/jazz jamming, it's a bit of an anticlimax.
2022 May 13 • Friday
Bill Frisell's guitar playing is so extraordinary that it's possible never to
get past it and give equal time to his compositions. One way to do it is to get his compositions off by themselves.
There's no better approach than this record: Unscientific Italians
Play the Music of Bill Frisell Volume 1.
It's brilliant. Crucially, there's no guitar on it. It's an ensemble
of eleven people, mostly wind instruments with bass, drums, a bit of
piano and electronics. This first volume takes seven tunes in beautiful arrangements
with lush textures and sonorities as well as a strong sense of swing. The record itself has drawings by Frisell and so presumably has his official
blessing. I have to assume he's very pleased with the result!
2022 May 11 • Wednesday
Here's a record that just came out and I'm very proud to be on it! Cool, instrumental jazz/ska from Ireland courtesy
of my old friend Patrick Carayannis, aided by the musical wizardry of
another old friend, Jay Nugent! The other musicians are new friends and great players! The band is called The Piseógs and the record is
Take the Gods Bowling.
You can get it here!
2022 May 09 • Monday
Inspired by the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis concert we attended
last month, we picked their score for The Road as the 725th Soundtrack of the Week.
It's on what appears to be grey smoked vinyl!
The record starts with "Home", a peaceful and meditative cue with delicate piano
and what sounds like celeste or glockenspiel or possibly xylophone
responding to the piano's call, while flutes
create a soft background. Then there's the title track, a gentle 3/4 piece that starts with
piano alone, presumably Cave, eventually joined by violin, presumably
Ellis. It's a simple and plantive piece with subtle support by
some other string instruments that gradually thicken the atmosphere. This is followed by "Storytime" another cue with violin and piano
talking to each other as strings give them restrained support. Swirling, swooping and sizzling strings and didgeridoo-like drones start off "The Cannibals", soon to be joined by pounding percussion for a dreadful and ominous
cue that flows seamlessly into "Water and Ash", melancholy violin
accompanied by a single note drone. This also leads directly and organically
into "The Mother", a touching and lyrical piece for string ensemble. "The Real Thing" is a gently hypnotic piano and violin feature in 6/8
with sensitive support, once again, from the strings. Another drone, but a higher pitched, more hopeful sort of drone,
starts off "Memory" but the music then shifts to some gorgeous blocks of
chords from the string ensemble, one melting into another as
Ellis's violin sings beside them. Side A concludes with "The House", an eerie piece that has Cage generating
sounds from inside the piano and Ellis's violin playing in ghostly high
registers while the larger ensemble builds tension, eventually
exploding into a rock art groove with pounding drums and what could
be distorted electric instruments or acoustic instruments being
pushed to their limits. Or both. There's definitely something
electronic going on in here. Side B kicks off with "The Far Road", essentially a reprise of the title track
but with the melody presented less as a solo violin feature. This theme then gets transformed into the similar but much sunnier
"The Church", which is all lightness and major chords, still subtle and delicate. Don't get comfortable, though, because "The Journey" then takes us
to shadowy, horror-film type landscapes, low rumbling doom-laden
piano playing with drums remorselesssly poundind away in the background.
When the other instruments come in, it's to solidify the feelings of dread,
terror and sadness. A melody emerges from this, mostly
from Ellis's violin, but it's suggestive of grief and loss. "The Cellar" returns us to ominous drones again, this time with
some low booming percussion and eventually a solid scream of sound,
strings and drums for sure but who the hell knows what else going on in there.
It fades out quickly and bleeds right into the eerie wailing of "The Bath",
which eventually adds some poignant piano playing to its air of despair.
Also making an appearance here is the harmonica, blending with the violin
and creating a strong Americana feeling. Higher-pitched droning strings and lower-frequency throbbing
piano and percussion start off "The Family", another cue that
seems to indicate extreme disturbance of one sort or another. But it
effortlessly relaxes into a much calmer, peaceful, healthier-sounding
musical landscape, where the drones feel like blue sky and Ellis's
violin suggests the fulfillment of aspirations. "The Beach" picks up right where this leaves off, but with Cage's
affecting piano playing and Ellis's violin starting out with nothing
but space, no drones, and when the other strings join them, it's
in a comforting and supportive role. And then it ends with "The Boy", in which multiple soft drones
create a foundation for quietly shining wooden flute lines,
presumably played by Ellis.
2022 May 06 • Friday
This haunting new release of old recordings by a guitarist named Branko Mataja
is just stunning.
It's on white vinyl!
Mataja was born in what is now Croatia and grew up in Yugoslavia. He ended
up in California where eventually he recorded the music on this record. I think it's all Yugoslavian folk songs and it seems to be all Mataja,
layering tracks on tape recorders and creating echoey effects by playing
parts in different octaves and double picking. It's gorgeous and occasionally melancholy but always fantastic. The Numero label
has really hit it out of the park with this one!
2022 May 04 • Wednesday
Who's playing surf music these days? A lot of people, it turns out. And a lot of
them are really good. One of the best of today's bands is undoubtedly
Toronto's The Surfrajettes. We've been big fans of them for years
and immediately pre-ordered their first full-length LP. And now it's here!
It's on pink candy floss vinyl!
They're a traditional surf band: no guitar effects beyond reverb and vibrato or some
other echo effect. While the recording quality is clearly of this century,
the palying could be from sixty years ago. They've written several superb originals and also do some
great covers, including "Train Kept a Rollin'", The Beatles'
"She Loves Your" and Blondie's "Heart of Glass". The inclusion of such familiar songs is a reminder of the versatility of
the genre. You can do almost anything as a surf song. But can you do
it well? The Surfrajettes can and do! They are really fantastic. When will
they play New York or Chicago? In the meantime, buy their new record here!
2022 May 02 • Monday
The 724th Soundtrack of the Week is the music from
Edgar Wright's documentary The Sparks Brothers.
It's on pink vinyl!
It's actually on four pink LPS beautifully packaged by Waxworks. So this is essentially a career retrospective or Sparks. There are a few
movie-specific tracks, such as the amusing "Sparks Documentary Film
Fanfare" and Neil Gaiman's reading the lyrics of "Amateur Hour",
which I assume you won't find on a Sparks album. But really it's just a lot of their songs with a few live versions thrown
in at the end. Part of what's interesting about Sparks is how they seemed
to anticipate directions pop music was about to go in. They
always seemed to be there first and whily they themselves
were never exactly famous, a lot of famous people sure sounded
like them a lot of the time. I had never heard of Sparks before this documentary but I liked them
enough to buy a few of their records. My favorite songs on the soundtrack are "Never Turn Your Back on
Mother Earth" and "When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'".
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