Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email


2025 August 25 • Monday

What is this record? It's called Howzit Bradda! and it also says Outdoor Boys Vibration! Surfing Sound on it.

Apparently it features Shaun Tomson, Mark Richard, Eddie Aikau, Dan Flecky, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew "and the others". Some of these names are definitely well known surfers.

It's hard to find information about it but it appears to be the soundtrack to the first surfing movie made in Japan. So maybe it is. Let's call it the 871st Soundtrack of the Week. Some sources say that the music is by Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band so let's also say maybe on that, too.

The first half of the first track is "North Shore Morning" and is just the sounds of waves. Then there's a bit of synthesizer that would fit into a 1980s slasher movie, then some bird sounds, cars driving by, somebody says something. Then we get to the second part, "Shaping", in which you hear whatever power tool is used to shape surboards, then a guy talking about the process and the sound of sanding the board.

Then we get a Hawaiian radio station's ID, KIKI, followed by "Charly's Beach Report". This leads to "Speak Like a Bitch", the first proper song, that's more of a funk/fusion number than a surf tune. It features hand percussion and saxophone and guitar solos.

After that comes "Dan Flecky's Riding", which sounds like someone put a microphone on him while he went out to surf. You hear lots of water sounds and he says "It's a long paddle out here" at one point.

Side A concludes with "Skateboard", which begins with textural synth sounds, then more crashing waves. Then there's some percussive noises through some sort of delay, then some people talking, more cars going by. Finally some sounds that are most likely people riding skateboards.

The B side starts with "Shaun Tomson's Riding & Message", which is a lot of wave sounds again, and then Tomson talking about what his surfing experiences are like.

The second track is another two-in-one, beginning with "Eddie Aikau's Riding" (more wave sounds) and then moving on to a Kobayashi piece called "It's Raining", a mellow fusiony tune with lots of saxophone playing.

"'Stubbies' 1978 Surf Classic Gold Coast Australia" is, believe it or not, more field recordings of the sounds of waves and then the album wraps up in the same vein with "Carnival" (merry-go-round music and crowd noise) and "North Shore Sunset" (more waves).

So this is a pretty odd record. It has very little music, lots of surf sounds and occasional bits of dialogue. But of course I'm glad it exists.