Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

Reverb on high and the let the sound echo through your house and head: here’s another new American band which has looked into the long history west-coast surf, garage and beautiful Beach Boys melodies, even though they Surfer Blood hails from Florida. Where the Soft Pack (earlier reviewed) stray more towards the dark garage and the Drums to pop, Surfer Blood is more adventurous.

That they like a dare is evident from the first song which believe it or not is actually about surfing. The surf sound is continued in the single, and Explorer #1, ‘Swim’ with its multitracked guitars and vocals to give it a spacey sound. The break in the middle is absolutely brilliant. The same recipe is used in ‘Twin Peaks’ which is almost a copy of ‘Swim’. But if you copy something great, it’s still very good if you do it well.

That they can go into other styles is evident in ‘Take it Easy’ which could easily have been on the latest Vampire Weekend record. ‘Catholic Pagan’ has the funny lyrics working for it and is the most Weezer-like song and the instrumental ‘Neighbor Riffs’ would not be out of sync on a Pixies/Breeders collection of B-sides or even a Pavement throwaway album (and I mean that with the greatest respect).

There are a few songs that are forgettable and will make you press skip sooner rather than later like ‘Harmonix’, ‘Slow Jabroni’ or ‘Anchorage’.

Best song on the album might be the shoegazing ‘Fast Jabroni’ which evokes Santogold’s ‘Lights Out’. The extra instrumentation and supereasy but effective solo make it a song to be remembered.

It’s an album to be remembered. If you delete the forgettable songs you will still end up with a great album. (4,5 stars)

Return of the Surfrock

Good to hear that some young dudes in the US are listening to some good old garage rock with their guitar amps turned to 11 on the treble/reverb. Guys who like music but could probably work with you in the office doing some boring desk job, but with a side that not everyone at the workplace knows about.

The Drums have had some success with their phenomenal single "Let's Go Surfing". Album is good, but at times too poppy. Surfer Blood will be discussed in a later post about their great "Astro Coast" album. Their "Swim" single is currently riding high in the Explorer 23.

Two weeks ago the Soft Pack played a very short and energetic show in the Paradiso upstairs room. 40 minutes, almost no breaks, loud and fast and with no encore. That is rock and roll like it should be.

Their self-titled debut-album is a wonderful collection of garagesurfrock. Starting with the single 'C'mon' (sing along everyone!) and 9 other great tracks the album clocks just over half an hour. Perfect length for this type of music. There's great rhythm and some nice twangy guitar riffs. And of course the surf-organ is present adding some authenticity to the record.

Garage Rock and surf rock prop up about every 15 years and it's good to see that a music style that is based on just a few chords and an abundance of energy still lasts and is still reinvented to fit the 21st century. Drums, Soft Pack and Surfer Blood are certainly doing that. Going to be the summer of surf!