Productions Impossible

Bandcamp Friday Roundup: September 2022

Les Robots - Exploring the Boundaries of the Multiverse

It's been forever since the last Bandcamp Friday roundup I've done and there have been a whole ton of excellent surf releases. Unfortunately this one lands in the middle of a vacation with little internet or even time availability. But I've got a bit of a window to do something here, so I'm going to highlight as many as I can before my son finishes his nap or this laundry gets done. I'm really going to try to focus on quantity of reviews over quality, though the whole point is that the music itself is all something I'd recommend. Inevitably I won't get to mention everything I'd like to, but this is better than nothing.

I don't even know when the last one of these bandcamp fridays were. I'm just going to start from now and work backwards-ish.

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Gremmys 2019: Best "Rad" Instro Record

Best Rad Instro Record

Arguably, surf was the first type of rock & roll to really focus on a feeling of power and aggression, playing songs faster and louder. As punk and metal rolled around, a lot of bands absorbed those influences into surf to really ramp up the ferocity. For the sake of categorization and rhyming, I've called these bands "rad" instro groups.

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Arno de Cea and the Clockwork Wizards release Retro Futurisme Volume I

Arno de Cea and the Clockwork Wizards - Retro Futurisme Volume I

A new album from Arno de Cea and the Clockwork Wizards is a stop-what-you’re-doing thing. He’s on top of his game and delivering a surf sound that nobody else has. But admittedly, two tracks in I found myself a little apprehensive about writing this review. What more is there to say about his nearly-perfected, patentable Brutal Surf? After two albums of the stuff, are there any worlds left to obliterate? 

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The Irradiates release Lost Transmissions from the Remote Outpost

The Irradiates - Lost Transmissions from the Remote Outpost

It's been 4 years since The Irradiates' last LP Revenge of the Plants and though we've had some Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards albums to keep us happy in the meantime, it might be a little disheartening to see that this is a collection of rarities, unreleased tracks and live cuts if you were expecting an album.

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Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards release Flash Freezing the Sun

Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards - Flash Freezing the Sun

With no releases from Arno de Cea in either the Clockwork Wizards or the Irradiates, 2016 felt kinda... safe (though did his best). He's back though, with another album of impossibly huge guitars and apocalyptic panic.

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Gremmy Awards 2015: The Best of the Rest

Gremmy Awards 2015: The Best of the Rest

While I'm busy cooking up these other awards, I find a few more things I want to recognize. So here are a bunch of smaller awards. No honorable mentions, only one runner-up if that.

Best Record Label

Double Crown Records

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Gremmy Awards 2015: Best "Rad" Instro Record

Best "Rad" Instro Record 2015

This is my own terminology here, but the rad category is for the instro bands that thrive on adrenaline. Moreso than the other categories, a lot of these show punk and metal influences. It also rhymes with trad, and I like it more than "aggro".

Honorable Mentions

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Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards release Bug Terminal

Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards - Bug Terminal

Throughout his work in Stef & Arno, Antena Tres, The Irradiates, and Arno De Cea & The Clockwork Wizards, Arno de Cea has proven himself to be one one hell of a psycho, frantic, and all around excellent guitar player. At some point calling it "surf rock" sounds too leisurely, not desperate enough, no matter how big the imaginary wave. From the very first note of "Bug Terminal" it's loud, huge, bold, and so hyperactive that I struggle to come up with some sort of activity that this would be suitable for. Catastrophe rock? Apocalypse rock?

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