It's absolutely beautiful today in New Orleans and I've got the material to match it. Brand new stuff from Mike Barbwire and Tsunamish as well as some un-spun 45s. A good chunk of oddball stuff too!
Here's what I played last week
3/7/17
the journeymen - surfer's blues (rare surf vol 1)
watang! - sing sing singapore (miss wong)
hang-ten hangmen - shark bait (destination saturn)
los straitjackets - bobsleddin'! (jet set)
the kanaloas - boneyard reef (surf a go go)
The Apaches hail from Arizona and a bit of open-air desert sound definitely creeps into this. Sure, it's definitely surf and not spaghetti western or anything, but it tends to deal in solitude more than it does in adrenaline. I believe all of these are original compositions and they have a good sense of when to play pretty ("Grim Fandango" is a good example) and when to punch ("Space Chase").
As many of you are aware, Davie Allan has not exactly been hibernating: he's been pumping out new material on a steady basis since the 90s. However, they're usually self-released and on CD. So thanks to Joel Grind he's not only seing a vinyl release, but it's on the legendary metal label Relapse. While tribute albums don't usually feature the artist that tribute is being paid to, it does feel like that's what's happening here and it's all very fitting.
Tsunamish have been on a steady one-EP-a-year release schedule so far, and this should please if you've been a fan of them this far. For the most part it's upbeat modern-traditional surf rock, though there's a bit more of a punk sound on their Bad Religion cover of "We're Only Gonna Die" and they have vocals on their cover of Holly Golightly's "There is an End".
I've always enjoyed Tsunamish's album art and though the woman on the cover is certainly not showing Amish modesty, this is probably my favorite so far.
The Record Store Day Official List came out yesterday, and as much as I feel that Record Store Day is a great way to make record collecting a lot less fun, there ARE a number of surf-relevant releases this year. So if you're heading to the stores on April 16th, here are some things being released that day that you might be looking for.
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