I’ve been a long time surf obsessive, but I’ve actually never been on a board and i’ve not been to Malibu, surf movies and especially the music on the other hand are RAD!! Over the years as I’ve bought foreign 60’s/70’s records the more I’ve been able to see the far reaching influence of bands like the Shadows, from the Asian Surf boom in Thailand and Singapore (where the Shadows had a sold out tour in ’61) to the Eleki scene in Japan (Ventures still out sell the Beatles), onto places like Peru who have a wealth of surf bands. The east has not been left untouched by the surf influence, or should that be the other way round as probably one of the biggest surf anthems by Dick Dale, who was a Lebanese/American, Misirlou or Miserlou to give it’s a traditional Greek name, was first recorded in 1927 by Michalis Patrinos and supposedly comes from Greek refugees from Turkey. This crossover influence can also be heard in the electrification of traditional players such as Omar Khorshid, Aris San and Arif Sag, all bad ass by the by....
So as the Summer starts to kick off i’ll do a few posts about some of my favourite records and from different countries, taking in exploitation records and soundtracks
First up are the Aussie Surf legends The Atlantics, signed and produced by legendary composer Sven Libaek. Libeak’s production adds an incredible experimental edge to the Shadows influenced surf sounds. Check out these few tracks and let me know what you think...
no not half of Cathal Coughlan returning to his 90's outfit (great and all that they where) But new release from Floating Points label Eglo . I really dig on FP's stuff and some excellant deep production here on the new EP for the most wonderful Fatima Bramme Sey, holy crap can this girl sing. my Mrs is goona play this to death....
another, yes another new release from Not Not Fun out on download/cassette i'm digging these kids though, like a cumbria record played slowly backwards through an acid dipped synth....or something like that
Dylan's 'Masters of War' gets the dub treatment courtesy of Anika. This features on her fantastic self-titled debut album which was produced by Beak> (feat. Geoff Barrow of Portishead). It was released on Barrow's Invada imprint (Europe) and Stones Throw (USA, Japan) last year. There is also a 'dub' version of this track on the record!
every so often i go through an Arthur Russell kick, and everytime there's a different record or style that gets the most airing....loving this great disco track of late, co-produced (uncredited) with Nicky Siano
Really digging on the goth synth sounds of Staccato Du Mal, possibly more than his other alter egos like Opus Finis, Xeno And Staccato....over the last few years there have been a whole spat of acts looking back at the whole dystopian 80’s sounds, which is no bad thing, it’s a sound i like and this is the best i’ve heard in a while, great stuff, and just out on Weird Records If you like dark concrete electro this could be your bag