The Metalunas - X Minus One

Mark Brodie's specialty has been--more or less-- traditional instrumental guitar surfing music. Why mess with a good thing by adding neo-modern reinterpretations? X-MINUS-ONE is his 3rd album, and to date my fave of his. With The Metalunas he's plowing the same field as Man Or Astro-Man-- mixing guitar instros with 50's sci-fi space schlock. It's a fun mixture, and brings up memories of watching exciting (and often tacky) space films on Saturday afternoons. A few times on the album there are surprisingly long passages that could have come straight from even earlier RADIO shows, all adding to the effect. Among the highlights are "Shields Up!" (a cover of "Space Race" by The Hodads, also done by The Space Cossacks), "Blast Off!", and "Satellite Of Mystery", a quiet, moody piece that shows off Brodie's beautiful use of organ-- probably my favorite track here.

X-Minus-One 2. Blast Off! 3. Satellite Of Mystery 4. Enemy Aproaching 5. Shields Up! 6. Moon Relay 7. Interlude 8. It Came From The Nebula 9. Meteorite Mambo 10. Celluloio Planetoid 11. Jupiter Doo Dah 12. Twilight City 13. Ballistic Bikini

blastoff

The Supertones - Modern Surf Band Spotlight

Why would 15 bands from across the globe cover songs composed by The Supertones? Contrary to what you may think – this is NOT a tribute album. This album IS a showcase of some of today’s up and coming bands in the modern surf instrumental scene. It displays a slice of the vast talent of the surf instrumental phenomenon that has spread throughout the world and continued to grow unabated since the early 1960s. The concept behind this release is to strike a contrast between the bands’ interpretations of a body of modern surf music with the bands’ own original compositions. The songs and performances are a testimony to the quality of The Supertones’ music and the tremendous talent of today’s hot new surf bands. KILLER all the way ‘round.

1. Torque Wrench - The Nebulas
2. Fooling Around Playa del Rey - The Bitch Boys
3. Media Nocturne – VonRippers 4. Last Ride - The Cocktail Preachers 5. Side Slippin' - The Diamondheads 6. Dr. Yes - The Retroliners 7. Avanti - Monsters From Mars!
8. Flamenco Surf - The Sharkskins 9. The Wet Set - The Metalunas 10. The Sweet Ride – ZPS 11. Harbor Patrol - Estrume'n'tal 12. Ted's Twist - tsmf 13. Sand Pumper - The Brainwashers 14. Moonshot Part 3 - The Mighty Surf Lords 15. Wingnut - Bustin' Surfboards with Ralph Rebel 16. T-16 - The Nebulas 17. Did You Bring Your Brass Knuckles? - The Bitch Boys 18. 00 1/2 – VonRippers 19. Margarita Meltdown - The Cocktail Preachers 20. Dented Fender - The Diamondheads 21. Rumble In The Stratosphere 2002 - The Retroliners 22. Happy In A Cage - Monsters From Mars! 23. The Mild Bunch Rides Again - The Sharkskins 24. The Curse of Pier 13 - The Metalunas 25. Estampida – ZPS 26. Vacalgada - Estrume'n'tal 27. El Duelo de Chiuauas – tsmf 28. Bawunga Bob - The Brainwashers 29. Spanish Fly - Ralph Rebel

thesuper

modband

The Breakaways - Time Surfin'

The Breakaways are a traditional classic instrumental surf band. These Fender playin' guys have a knack for a softer brand of surf instrumental that is very attractive and very traditional, yet lush and round. Most of the arrangements are with lead guitar supported by two rhythm guitars, one dry chords and one damped and heavily reverbed, not unlike the Astronauts'. Time Surfin' is a fine CD of well done surf instros.

Review from surfrockmusic.com:

I must confess that my first choice of surf styles is traditional. I prefer its overall sound and feel much more than the modern styles. Maybe it's the equipment. Maybe it's the way it's played. Whatever the reason, it's my preference. Sad thing is, finding traditional surf music is very difficult these days. Let me rephrase that a bit ... finding good traditional surf music is very difficult these days. So, I consider the day I was asked to review The Breakaways Time Surfin' CD to be one of my luckiest. This is a really fantastic collection of classic style surf rock.


1 North Shore Rumble 2 Ride the Crest 3 Hotdoggin' 4 Waves of Change 5 Pray for Surf 6 No Surf 7 Journey to the Stars 8 Storm Surf 9 Baja 10 Diamond Head
11 Island of the Sea 12 Out of Limits 13 Shark Breath 14 Longboard Lesson
15 Penetration 16 Apache 17 The Curl's Revenge 18 The Crusher 19 Percussionator
20 Surfin' Sam

solid

surfsoundz

Waitiki - Rendezvous in Okonkuluku

The world’s only performers and drinkers of exotic tiki-tainment from Polynesia and beyond have released their second album featuring 14 tracks of Polynesian Pop and tiki-drink accompaniment! Produced by the inimitable Brother Cleve of Combustable Edison and DelFuegos fame, WAITIKI’s newest - is subtitled “A Fresh Retrospective of Classic Exotica.” Rendezvous in Okonkuluku (R.I.O.) brings to mind the classic sounds of Martin Denny, Les Baxter, and Arthur Lyman (they cover Denny’s “Tiki” and “Voodoo Love” on this album). “We have brought you the finest available recorded sound, so that you can reduce it to compressed mpeg files and listen to it with little earbuds while you’re sipping a Rum Barrel on some faraway beach…or even Minneapolis, ” adds producer Br. Cleve. Hey –they know the score!

1 Okonkulu, Okonkuluku 2 Rendezvous in Okonkuluku 3 Plamingo Merengue 4 Cave of the Tarpon 5 L'Ours Chinois 6 Wadada 7 China Clipper 8 Tiki 9 Choko Chunichu 10 Voodoo Love 11 Sumotori Sumopop 12 Stirring Cocktail Journey through Okonkuluku 13 Pineapple Lilt 14 Haole Beach Sunset

deleted at band's request

The King Dexter All Stars - Greatest Hits

COOL! That's how you describe a band that, according to the ORLANDO FREE STAR, "moves easily between the musical worlds of South American b-movies, New York jazz haunts, surf parties, New Orleans hoodoo havens, Mexican tourist traps, Jersey punk clubs, Miami prono flicks and dot com grip & grins". Whether they're playing rock'n'roll, jazz or lounge schmaltz, these cats are operating on "all-systems-GO". TOKYO TODAY called their concerts "a meeting of the Atomic Age, the Beat Age and the Digital Age".

"The King Dexter All-Stars is basically a 60's band," says King Dexter, "we never lost our early spirit and still try to put a touch of that bravado in everything we play". That statement holds true over the entire collection of 15 songs that showcase their talent for injecting psychedelic fun and a party attitude into rock, jazz and lounge music. Great spy fi.

1 Brujo de Loco 2 Third Floor Man 3 Johnny Pronto 4 Shark Tank 5 Tortuga 6 Knee Lock 7 Samurai.org.jp 8 Skyscraper 9 Casa de Denero 10 Blue Sidewalk 11 Crymia River 12 Calle Duro 13 The Big Bean 14 Miami AM 15 Spy Spy Girl

kingy

wingy

The Ultralounge - Tiki Sampler

The Ultralounge series -- in addition to being great collections of music that straddle the line between irony and good music -- also have commendable art production, with the best examples being their Fuzzy and Tiki samplers.Some really great tracks on this one: Billy May's "The Look of Love" is probably the very best song on here. The brass sounds so full and robust (especially at the end), and the bossa beat only adds to the magic. The same brass feeling goes for "A Taste of Honey." I couldn't stop humming this one, either, especially the cool decrescendo part. Love those muted trumpets! I also liked Peggy Lee's cool take on "The Boy from Ipanema." I was happy to see that "Brazil," a favorite tune of mine since I saw the movie (also great!), and was intrigued by the odd melody of "The Inch Worm." I've always liked the "Get Smart" theme, and who doesn't love "Just A Gigolo?" Every time I hear it, I laugh and think of David Lee Roth's video. I was also fascinated with the almost hallucinatory "Light My Fire." I was very pleased to see that Martin Denny and Les Baxter, who helmed my two favorites from the Fuzzy Sampler, were back again. And, of course, they offered up equally intoxicating selections (if anything can compare to Baxter's brilliant "Voodoo Dreams," on the first Sampler). I can't wait to buy Denny and Baxter's sets! Perhaps my very favorite on the disc, though, was Mel Torme's truly outstanding cover of "Happy Together." Quite possibly one of the world's catchiest songs, Torme conquers the tricky-yet- simple melody and swings it out of the universe. He especially shines toward the end, when he really jazzes up the melody after singing it relatively straight. The Tiki Sampler was just another example of the gems the Ultra-Lounge has to offer, and you should mine them all as soon as possible.

1. The Munster's Theme - Jack Marshall 2. My Three Sons - Nelson Riddle
3. So Danco Samba - Wanda De Sah 4. The Look Of Love - Billy May
5. The Boy From Ipanema - Peggy Lee 6. Just A Gigilo/I Ain't Got Nobody - Louis Prima 7. Theme From The Apartment - Tito Rodriguez
8. Moon River - Henry Jerome 9. The Inch Worm - Jack Costanzo
10. Brazil - Tino Contreras 11. Oh Honey - Gloria Wood
12. Guys & Dolls - Terry Snyder 13. Light My Fire - Zacharias
14. Happy Together - Mel Torme 15. Go Chango - Les Baxter
16. Cubano Chant - Martin Denny 17. A Taste Of Honey - Jackie Gleason
18. Come On A My House - Julie London 19. Wives & Lovers - Lena Horne
20. Wave - Nancy Wilson 21. My Baby Just Cares For Me - June Hutton
22. I Dig Chicks - Jonah Jones 23. Get Smart/Casino Royal - Pourcel Agents
24. Untitled - Various Artists 25. Untitled - Various Artists

ultras

loungitude

Ben Rogers - Welcome to the Instrumental Asylum

When electric guitars ruled the earth. Surf/gypsy/Tarantino rock solid pulp guitar truth and fiction. Reverb drenched guitar, bass & drums that echoes some of the best work of the Shadows, Ventures and Surfaris, but with an extreme left turn towards the surreal. All done up with an Aussie accent.

There are 18 tracks on this album, seven of them originals - and all the tracks are guitar driven and played with passion, style and skill including a monster version of Shake ‘n’ Stomp and terrific adaptations of House of The Rising Sun, Geronimo and Apache (think: Hank B. on acid).

Original tracks feature the formidable and fabulous KangaRoux, Surfing the Synchrotron and Gol Gol Tip - a feast of metro influenced bush tucker for guitar lovers.

“…a majestic reading of the Shadows’ Geronimo…”“glimpses (and sometimes songs) of Django Reinhardt, Peter Green and J.J. Cale poke through Rogers' Strat...” and “A welcome addition to the cowabunga club.”
Dan Forte, Vintage Guitar Magazine (USA), May 2006.

“You don't need a vocalist ...when the music is driven by a guitar player as extraordinary as former Perth musician Ben Rogers”. “If you love guitar, buy this album.”
Billy Pinnell - JB Mag (Melbourne, Australia), March 2006

"Against the hard-driving rhythm section of Nikki Scarlett on bass and Denis Close on drums, Ben fires salvo after salvo of tastily aggressive licks which enliven even such well-worn numbers as Apache and Walk Don't Run" and "Kangaroux is a mighty meaty, catchy pounder which thoroughly deserves its slot as opener".
Alan Taylor, Pipeline Magazine (UK) Issue 70, Spring 2006

"(Ben Rogers' Instrumental Asylum) paints from a varied and witty palette: a House of the Rising Sun that bypasses Hilton Valentine's signature arpeggios, a Nuages that transports Django's reverie beyond the clouds" and "Nods to past masters...sit happily with driving "guitar noir" originals".
Ken Williams (The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age) March 31, 2006

1 KangaRoux 2 Apache 3 House of the Rising Sun 4 St James Infirmary Blues
5 Surfing the Synchrotron 6 Sandy Feet 7 Medina Wedding Blues 8 Nuages
9 Shake 'n Stomp 10 Incident at Docklands 11 Geronimo 12 Gol Gol Tip
13 Stomping at Steve's 14 Fleetwood Mac 15 Loved Another Woman 16 The Ninth Wave
17 Walk, Don't Run 18 Sleepwalk

insane

instrosbuddy

Waitiki - Charred Mammal Flesh

WAITIKI is a Boston-based band playing "Exotic Tiki Entertainment from Polynesia and Beyond" - like nobody else can! It’s modern "Exotica", a style of music that they loosely define as a mixture of jazz, Latin, and contemporary Asian sounds under a tropical umbrella. Exotica is sometimes referred to as "tiki", jungle tiki, lounge, or space-age-bachelor-pad too. WAITIKI is one of only a handful of bands performing live Exotica in the world.
WAITIKI decided to embrace the "space-age bachelor pad" sounds of the late great Juan Garcia Esquivel. Esquivel's knack for zany antics and wild instrumentation struck a dominant-7 chord with WAITIKI, who was already sacrificing live watermelons to the founder of lounge Exotica, Martin Denny. They do traditional Exotica hits, original compositions, and anything else which permits frequent use of bird-calls, the guiro (chi-yah chih chih chi-yah chih chih) or the melodica. Yummy fun.

1 Bwana, Bwana A 2. Cave of Uldo 3 Manila 4 Primativa 5 Satyritar
6 Fuzzy Mammoth Breath 7 Dew Drop Inn, If You Please, My Humming Flower
8 Plamingo Flagoda 9 Flower Humming
10 Merry Adventures of the Sleepy Space Kadet
11 March for Chief MauMau 12 Mr. Ho's Yummy Hut Yee-Haw
13 Pan-XOTIK-Da 14 China Fan 15 Sweet Pikake Serenade

deleted at band's request

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters - Hope Radio

Ronnie Earl is as good a blues guitarist as I have ever heard. Hope Radio is a return to the instrumental format that is all Ronnie. If you especially enjoy slow extended moving blues jams that touch you to the core, you'll love this album. It is a retrospective compilation of Ronnie's music catalog done live in studio in front of a small audience. It is audiophile level recording from a four-piece band, including hammond organ support throughout. Ronnie's sound is full and sweet as he hits just the right note each time. Much of what is featured here is from "Language of the Soul", a favorite of mine. While it is true that this album hits some slow spots, his sound and overall ability make those moments more tolerable to listen to than most other bluesmen who are stuck in the same rut. Johnny Winter comes to mind. Opening track "Bobbys Gospel Groove" is an exciting jam beginning to end, with a healthy dose of organ that brings to mind classic Santana. "Bobbys Bop" keeps the flow going. From here, Earl experiments with some mellow, tasteful "noodling". How you feel about these tracks largely depends on how you feel about guitar/jazz music as a whole. The first 3 songs are faster, then he and the band get bogged down playing slow song after slow song. For some it can be a bit tedious, for others it can be sultry. Things don't pick up again until the last 2 songs. Overall, a marvelous dose of blues on the slightly mellower side for those hot steamy summer evenings.

1. Eddie's Gospel Groove 2. Bobby's Bop 3. Blues For the West Side 4. I Am With You 5. Katrina Blues 6. Wolf Dance 7. Kay My Dear 8. Blues For the Homeless 9. Beautiful Child 10. Blues For Otis Rush 11. New Gospel Tune


LINK REPAIRED> Sorry.

myguy

ronniee

Ok Computer - MOJO Compilation

Fun comp of new wave/synth/electronic pop for Mojo Magazine. A few well worn hits and lots of variety make for a decent sample of the scene.

1.The Human League / Circus of Death
2.Gary Numan/Tubeway Army / Down in the Park
3.The Knife / Silent Shout
4.Fujiya & Miyagi / Ankle Injuries
5.Matthew Dear / Fleece On Brain
6.John Foxx / Burning Car
7.Arthur Russell / Place I Know/Kid Like You
8.Xela / Afraid of Monsters
9.Tangerine Dream / Rubycon (Part One)
10.Clouddead / Dead Dogs Two (Boards of Canada Remix)
11.Severed Heads / Dead Eyes Opened
12.Farley Jackmaster Funk / The Acid Life
13.The Peppers / Pepper Box
14.The Gentle Rain / Plastic Man
15.The Sounds of Tomorrow / Space Child

removed by request