Sinking

Even as the polar caps melt, floodwaters encroach on Singapore, and the Danube runs red with industrial sludge, I find the metaphor of really deep water an exceptionally profound and beautiful thing. Utterly wordless, sooo freaking vast, and respectfully resistant of even the most basic of human habitation. But it also allows much to run wild: near-alien creatures, shadowy coral reefs, and enigmatic forces that don’t recognise our laws or even our sometimes hackneyed aesthetics. Really, deep water is just freaking NUTSO – with all the beauty, wonder, and cruelty that term implies.

Now I’ve talked a lot about surf soundtracks here, but I’ve long since cast a wider net around soundtracks that get wet and wild, whether the surf’s up or not. Don’t surface too quick or you’ll get the bends . . .

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Discoveries Underwater LP (BBC Records and Tapes, 1988) Never seen even a clip from this; someone please tell me this wasn’t just another pedantic BBC documentary? Regardless, it’s clear that Howard Davidson’s soundtrack was typical of BBC productions from the time: mostly electronic in execution, situated somewhere in that vast pool of post-ENO/Michael Oldfield output, what was once termed ambient space music. No, you wouldn’t be remiss if you were reminded of Steve Roach’s Structures From Silence, or perhaps a better Jan Michel Jarre piece from the time.

And yet, and yet . . . there is a seriousness, a gravity at work here that speaks of deeper artistic vision. Moods shift subtly but with clear intent. The composer is not shy of exploring darker, less reassuring terrain when called to. This is actually quite effective stuff: when I close my eyes, the music quietly evokes the sense of awe that I imagine comes from floating weightlessly above the gigantic hull of some 100 year old sunken black vessel, 30 m. beneath the ocean surface. How the title track manages to segue effortlessly from veiled mystery into angelic brightness (shades of Vangelis’ Blade Runner score!) is something truly magical to behold. Yes: if only in the most late 80′s way, this is indeed something very special to behold. Hear here.

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Inner Space CD (Festival Records, 1973; reissued by Votary Records, 2007) Flat-out AWESOME Australian jazz score by Sven Libaek to an undersea nature TV documentary series apparently featuring the hammy voiceover of ol’ William Shatner. That Wes Anderson pinched a couple of Sven’s tracks for use in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zizzou (is their a more embarrassing name for a film? Sheesh) only speaks to the astounding beauty of these recordings. The melodies are haunting, the tone subdued, and the prominent use of reverbed flute and vibes conjure up the contemplative wonder that comes from snorkelling through flowing kelp forests whilst watching schools of brightly-painted fish dart for cover just out of reach.

Sven’s a really important name in the evolution of Australian surf & soundtrack music – he was an A&R man at CBS in the early 60′s, producing early tracks by THE ATLANTICS (“Bombora”) and recording a sleekly mod jazz soundtrack to the surfing flick “To Ride a White Horse” in 1966 – but it’s on the basis of this record that Sven should be crowned Sea King of the Southern Hemisphere. There are few recordings by this man you don’t wanna hear, but this is one you absolutely NEED to bend an ear to. Sample here.

ERIC VANN – Water World LP (Coloursound, 1982) Not a true soundtrack at all, rather a collection of library music inspired by aquatic imagery. Eric Vann aka J.V.D.B. aka Joël Vandroogenbroeck is best known as the guy behind hebephrenic kraut-rockers BRAINTICKET, but he also created some 20-odd LPs of this kind of electronic stuff for indeterminate production purposes in the late 70′s/80′s. Exactly how many of his aural squiggles ended up on TV, radio and film segments back then, I couldn’t tell you – your guess is as good as mine.

This rec is thematically focused around aquatic themes, and sonically perhaps similar to the Discoveries Underwater soundtrack discussed above. While I wouldn’t say it was better, Eric’s Moog flutters are more uncanny, the phased percussion more eerie, and the inspiration altogether stranger; this guy is diving a good 50-100 feet deeper than others are reasonably willing to go. Truly, smart money is on anything with Eric Vann’s initials on it, and more than anyone it’s this guy who’s got me curious about what kind of sunken treasure lays at the bottom of library sound LPs the world over. Clips here.

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Now if any of you wish to explore further, I do suggest you spend some time floating around with Michel Redolfi in his sub-aquatic sound exhibition. It’ll help elucidate the relationship between water and sound better than I ever could

No Longer Singing From The Same Hymn Sheet

It’s stating the obvious to say I don’t really do Pig State Recon anymore. But as I did do it at the outset of 2011, I figure I’d try to wrap up things, now that the year is toast. This past year saw so much large scale upheaval and horrific devastation around the world – politically, economically, environmentally – that my narrow ass perspective here seems sorta irrelevant. But that’s blogging for you.

2011 saw some really positive developments in my own life: settling into a new job/life up on the cobbled streets of North Yorkshire, watching my wife’s Etsy jewelry shop succeed beyond all reasonable expectations, and finally buying a house – a first for this no-longer young 41 yr old. All this without mentioning our newly adopted black kitty – Cherry’s her name. That little one has expanded our family dynamic here in subtle but wonderful ways, sorta like when Dave Swarbrick started fiddling fulltime in FAIRPORT CONVENTION. Well, sorta.

But if this year has meant something specifically musical to me, it has to reflect the distinct lack of new rock n roll tuneage filling my aural spaces over the past 12 months. This was a natural reaction to my new environs; I now live nowhere near the metropolitan strongholds of new rock action, and the North Yorkshire countryside I drive through to work each day is far too rolling to get me Kicking Out The Jams on a regular basis. So all of a sudden it’s non-rock instrumental sounds of the ambient electronic, soundtrack, and even classical(!) variety that have marked my hours most prominently this year. Go figure.

Now I’m not qualified to blog about folks with names like Gustav Mahler or Giacomo Puccini – even on good days I struggle to tell my counterpoint from my contrapunct. I did hear a few rock-related records released in the past year, and I might as well say a few words about ‘em for old times sake. But if some loudmouth American approaches you at the next London Philharmonic Orchestra performance asking you what your favourite SST LP was, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Way Of The Morris (OST, 2011) Delicately glistening soundtrack to a great documentary about an Oxfordshire Morris dance side. Reminiscent of the approach Ashley Hutchings took on odd 70′s Britfolk projects like The Compleat Dancing Master and Rattlebone & Ploughjack, here Adrian Corker mixes spoken recitation, traditional song, and ambient field recordings – church bells, bird calls, Morris sticks – with post-minimalist production in a way calculated to dislocate any pat temporal perspectives. Bits of this certainly draw the listener back down through lost centuries of English daily life, which is indeed a wonderful feeling. But other parts put me in mind of the last time I strolled through the English countryside listening to an early 80′s Cold Blue Music comp LP on my I-Pod (this has happened more than once). Such beautiful juxtapositions conjure up the spirit of modern Morris dancing way better that anything linear ever could.

Awesome work, Adrian. Really, the soundtrack ears of the fellas at labels like Trunk/OST and Finders Keepers need to be grafted on to some Hollywood types, so once again the scores of studio pics might overwhelm.

DARK BROWN – Miscellaneous, Vol. 1 (Memory Bulldozer, 2011) – Solo tracks by ex-BLUEBIRD gtrist Bryan Lee Brown, portions of which may or may not’ve ended up behind TV commercials I missed over the past few years. This collection is a natural progression from the warm, BLUEBIRD-like textures of his great first solo CD, moving into post-stoner CLUSTER & ENO strum and float terrain. And while this may hit you as just an indie take on incidental gtr/keyboard based music, I’m excited that someone who has played with the likes of FATSO JETSON’s Mario Lalli is actually taking his sonics into mainstream Hollywood studios these days. Yes I’ve got more than a few collections of mindblowing Euro library/catalogue music lurking around Chez Recon . . . but if you’re like me and can’t stop cloying advertising images from wallpapering the inside of your skull, DARK BROWN’s shimmering cues will help you recontexualise it all in far, far more intimate ways. At present, this one’s only available as an I-Tunes download, but totally worth searching out.

EARTH – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (Southern Lord, 2011) – I’m one guy who finds Dylan Carlson’s EARTH output in the new millennium infinitely more appealing than the infamous body of work he created for labels like Sub Pop in the 90′s. I like that he’s renewed his interest in melodies – particularly parched, Ennio Morricone-inspired melodies, but melodies they still clearly are. I like that he chooses to play them slow and clean, allowing the full weight of his changes to sink in nice and deep. I also like that recently he’s been taking the stage with an all-female band – a true rarity in the ubermasculine world of doom metal from which he draws so much of his fanbase. Because of the Pachyderm tempos employed, this doesn’t ever cruise the way, say, THE DIRTY THREE or YAWNING MAN can and do so beautifully – but dammit if EARTH isn’t of a similar ilk. The difference being: EARTH give you that much more time and space to really consider the groundsoil that’s churning beneath their feet. This one gets my full attention, every spin.

JJEMMEIII – Debris Cloud (No label, 2011) I spent most of my mornings this past Spring obsessively following news updates on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, an event so terrifying that it dredged up all manner of childhood Cold War paranoia I didn’t even know I still had in me. And this was only one of the very major weather calamities to slam our planet this year! While I’ve never fully understood how or why “doom drone” became a genre unto itself in the new millennium, I COMPLETELY empathise with this down-tuned aural reaction to Tennessee floods in May 2011. This was released exclusively online, with all proceeds going to the Tennessee Valley Salvation Army and Red Cross disaster relief funds.

“Debris Cloud” is an awesome 18+ minute solo bass/amp excursion that builds, surges, breaks free, and resonates in yr bones looooong after it’s over. The guttural thunderings JJEMMEIII conjures up feel like a very private but modern expression of fear, but also of strength in the face of overwhelming adversary. Like nearly everything else I’ve dug this year, it’s instrumental, so it’ll help score future eco-distasters in gloriously non-judgemental fashion too. Do sing along, you know all the words already.

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Oh and *MUSICAL HOPE FOR THE NEW YEAR* up in the North of England springs squarely from the promises of Manchester’s DEAD SEA APES new Lupus album, to be released on the Deep Water Acres label in the next couple months. For this recording, they’ve shifted gears away from full-frontal desert rock attack to introverted kraut rock meditation, a particularly awe-inspiring sidestep. This might be well be the album I play in perpetuity when I eventually nod into cryogenic post-life consciousness.

Hogin’ Machine

Though I’m quite happy puttering about town in my Volkswagen Golf and carefully obeying the Highway Code, I sometimes like to imagine jumping on a motorcycle, kicking it into gear, and heading straight for the open highway. I mean, I do like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, and the rest of it too. And if I ever did get on a bike, I’d certainly be the sneering, chain-weilding kind of biker, the fella with all the greasy tattoos who’s wearing the patched denim vest over the leather jacket, the one with the mouthy blonde riding in the saddle screaming bloody murder behind him.

Understand then that I enjoy watching non-biker, middle-class Hollywood actors pretending to be bikers in low-budget 60s/70s exploitation flicks. Better still though, is listening to non-biker studio hounds play their idea of biker music to score scenes of non-biker Hollywood actors pretending to be bikers in low-budget 60s/70s exploitation flicks. THAT’S fun. So here’s my take on 3 recently reissued biker soundtracks that have burned rubber in my CD player lately:

1) Original Soundtrack – Angels From Hell (Tower Records, 1968, reissued by Reel Time, 2011) Throughout the late 60′s/early 70′s, studio-wiz Stu Phillips worked this neat gimmick of peppering his exploitation film scores with a few vocal pop/rock songs. This was ostensibly to lend a bit more ‘hipness’ – and possibly chart positioning? – to soundtracks that sitar-led orchestral cues alone couldn’t muster. This led not only to curious but flawed soundtracks like The Name Of The Game Is . . . Kill (containing a wild ELECTRIC PRUNES number Stu co-wrote) but also the towering, rock-simlacra masterwork that was the Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls soundtrack.

On Angels From Hell, Stu gets down to quality exploito-scoring quick, making swinging cues that much groovier with the odd sitar and/or fuzz lead. But as usual, it’s the pop songs included that make this one: appealing studio flower-pop fluff from THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY but also feral garage psychosis from THE LOLLIPOP SHOPPE (Fred Cole we love you) and a talking-exploitation blues corker from actor Ted Markland called “Shake Off The Chains”. All total this makes for one schitzo soundtrack ride – exactly how a biker movie soundtrack should sound. Now where is that reissue of Stu’s Run, Angel, Run soundtrack we’ve all been dying for? I can hear the engines revving already.

2) Original Soundtrack – Hell’s Belles (Sidewalk Records, 1969, reissued by La-La Land Records, 2010) When the times they did a-change in the mid-late 60′s, established Hollywood soundtrackist Les Baxter knew he had to move things along musically speaking for his work on flicks like Hell’s Belles. But as he wasn’t entirely suited to this new-fangled, rock n roll thing, he did what so many others have done: he poached when he could. So Les’ upbeat title theme here is a tepid reworking of Bobby Blands’s “Turn On Your Love Light” – not something that wasn’t gonna set the world on fire. His love theme – even bikers need good lovin’ – is better, but it still feels like warmed-over Burt Bacharach. But hey, this was the state of play then, and Les is so skillful at deconstructing & reconfiguring themes you don’t realise until its over that you’ve heard the same damn theme repeated a half dozen times at least. Decently, he’s also included a couple of those still-startling drum/bass/harmonica breaks you DJs like to call “fat”. The least essential of these three but not worthless by a long shot, once you’re kneedeep into b-movie biker soundtracks as I am now, you won’t be able to tell a Harley from a Triumph anyways.

3) Original Soundtrack – Werewolves On Wheels (Finders Keepers, 2011) Country-pop songwriter Don Gere is responsible for this longgone, messed up collection of soundtrack music to what was certainly the first biker/horror flick, circa 1971. And my, what a glorious and frightening mess of a collection it is. The label says this sounds like guitarist Sandy Bull jamming with AMON DUUL I, and while this is record-nerd hyperbole, I do get the comparisons – Don maintains a pseudo-spiritual, near modal focus through most of this, even when sounds are at their most tribal and free-wheeling. The straight-forward bits get me thinking of a less sex-obsessed Simon Stokes, which means this has also got that all important shit-kickin’ redneck quotient that can so enliven a good film biker brawl. But really, the proof is in the pudding: listening to this as I drove, sans satnav or map, lost through the rolling Leicestershire countryside on a moonless night last month – had me literally CREEPED ME OUT OF MY SKIN. And turning Leicestershire into the set of a horror movie – man, that’s the highest honours I can give. Buy or die.

Jazz Fry

April 19, 1993, Austin TX: I remember sitting on the dirty carpet of my shitty apartment alone, sipping a warm Shiner Bock. I was done with classes for the day, and staring at a TV screen. I was watching David Koresh, his Waco compound, and 75 of his followers go up in flames on the screen.

With the TV sound muted, it was left to CECIL TAYLOR and his Unit Structures LP to fill the aural space around me. Between contemplating religious extremes, police states, and the extent to which the US media fucked everything up, my ears discerned occluded musical keys, sonic cabals, and harmonic connections. I’d been listening to this particular record for weeks, in some sort of silly attempt to get to the root of this free jazz thing, to really understand what a guy like Cecil was thinking when he was swinging. I loved and hated what I heard, simultaneously. The sheer depth fascinated me, the heady musical structure hypnotised me – but the fucking hard work it demanded to decode it all just wore me the fuck down. My ears were starting to ring.

By side two, the roof of the Branch Davidian compound had caved in, and I’d developed a splitting headache. I was seeing stars and smelling the acrid stench of sizzling flesh. I knew what was coming: my jazz receptors were burning out, bigtime. I’d listened too closely to too much difficult jazz for too many years. Quickly, I pulled the plugs on both my stereo and the TV. But the damage had been done.

Within a week, I packed up all my jazz LPs/CDs and traded em in to Waterloo Records for a grip of 60′s-70′s-80′s rock and roll vinyl. Except I kept these:

1. PETE LA ROCA – Turkish Women at the Baths (Douglas Records, 1967) – I was introduced to this recording in my early 20s via the repackaged 70′s edition credited to pianist Chick Corea, by a very wealthy, but slightly psychotic Tucsonite jazz collector. Said collector would invite me into his purpose-built, windowless/soundproof listening room, dim the lights real low, and just blast the heck outta this one. He’s then scream at me over the din that this was one great example of spatial recording: “check out Pete’s drumming . . . he sounds like they’ve mic’ed him down the fucking hall in the bathroom!”

This isn’t free at all, rather beautifully modern jazz in a forward-looking, bold print 60′s sense of the word. The gorgeous tunes and motifs all have a noir sensibility that’s really alluring, and christ what a special tone tenor sax player John Gilmore had. This was one of his very rare appearances away from his lifelong, primary gig in SUN RA’s ARKESTRA, and this small ensemble showcases his sound in a way rarely before/after. Sadly, the explosions of more adventurous recs from this year (Coltrane/Shepp/the early AACM guys) has meant this one is often overlooked. Too bad, it’s a lost gem.

2. CATALYST – A Tear and a Smile (Muse Records, 1976) I started searching for Odean Pope recordings after hearing UNIVERSAL CONGRESS OF tear up a Pope tune at the beginning of the 90′s. And since I never really found too many Pope tunes, it wasn’t until the 32 Groove reissued the full CATALYST catalogue in a handy box set that I actually heard this LP from ’76, featuring Odean on tenor sax. Other CATALYST records are more headily fusionoid and/or exploratory, but the soulful, jazz-funk directions taken here make this their most accessible rec. The opening cut (“The Demon, Pt. 1″) has a particularly dark, sinister vibe, sounding more like an early 70′s ATOMIC ROOSTER riff than any easy CTI bullshit. Also curious to note Odean employs some circular breathing herein, adding a bit of off-the-rails frenzy to an otherwise contained set of grooves. It’s the kind of subtle but important reminder that these fellas ain’t never gonna settle into any CRUSADERS-like pop fodder. No sireeboob.

3. HORACE TAPSCOTT – Thoughts of Dar Salim (Arabesque, 1997) Seeing the Horace Tapscott Trio was probably the first “serious” jazz gig I ever went to way back at the dawn of 90′s, not long after The Dark Tree CDs appeared. At the time he was playing with the great Roberto Miranda on bass – what a towering pillar of sound that man gave Horace’s piano glissandos! Dar Salim arrived late in life and features Billy Hart on drums and bassist Ray Drummond, doing what superficially seems nothing more than a set of older tunes mostly written by others. The thing is, Horace is a master of disguise, luxuriating in melodic beauty while simultaneously turning the tables on even the most mundane of motifs, with a cockeyed soul burning brightly throughout. My untutored ears never heard too many technical similarities between Horace and Sun Ra, but important parallels do exist: both drew inspiration from the entire, wild history of 20th century jazz/folk/beyond, both were comfortable superimposing lost aesthetics (gleaned by living through dozens of musical eras) over vital new ones, and both gave the middle finger to the Powers That Be nearly every step of their musical way. Couldn’t find a sample of this CD, so here’s Horace doing it live instead. Yeah.

Bali High Note

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Bali High VHS (Isomer Productions, 1981)

Breathe easy, all you extreme-sport surf nazis: this is the last of my posts about ye olde surf soundtracks from days gone by. But dammit, I’m ending on a high note here. The gorgeous 1981 video by Stephen Spaulding entitled Bali High had a totally hot, fusionoid score by Mike Sena recorded out on the Hawaiian island of Kauai that’s never seen an LP or CD release. Me, I’d never have even heard of Mike Sena or the film in question either, had not Ryan over at (Mostly) Blue Skies Above Us ripped the damn thing from a warped VHS tape and posted it on his blog, in all it’s murky glory. Thank god for obsessives like Ryan.

The hard rockin’ but tropical feel to this score puts me in the mind not of MERRELL FANKHAUSER, but of an instrumental KALAPANA spin-off trying on the early 80′s RUSH catalogue. And if this doesn’t sound appealing, well, that’s only cause you aren’t listening to it right now! The production has a nicely humid, low rent sonic aura, the riffs & motifs are consistently varied and strong, and the musical interaction kicks up righteous sparks at all key junctures. I like that these players acknowledge older, longhair aesthetics – CARLOS SANTANA for one, and maybe TOMMY BOLIN ca. Billy Cobham’s Spectrum lp – while welcoming KRAFTWERKian, new wavey ideas of beauty to their sonic palate as well. Anyone thinking this is hackwork need only to compare it to the proudly lackluster Band On The Run soundtrack by ex-TAMAM SHUD Tim Gaze from around this time; warmed-over Steve Miller Band, anyone? No thanks.

It is this soundtrack that made for the most perfect early 80′s rides through the last unspoilt parts of Indonesia surfers would ever encounter, and I’m glad it did. Listen to it now.

Good Days, Beautiful Waves

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Sea For Yourself (Rural Records, 1972)

Dennis Dragon was thee name in surf soundtracks during the 60′s and 70′s. He first cut his teeth working with THE DRAGONS on Dale Davis’ Strictly Hot way back in 1964, then joined his brother to score a series of Grant Rohloff films including Wild Surf, and eventually teamed up with FARM to rock George Greenough’s Innermost Limits of Pure Fun in 1969. But with the 60′s behind him, Dennis was finally free to indulge a more painterly – in the rockin’, wildass sense of the term – approach to surf soundtracking. A whole bucket of sonic goo gets dumped in here: southern fried twang, hippy-dippy folk hokum, nasty GRAND FUNK-like grooves, keyboard driven prog, orchestral pops, and more. Yes occasionally things catch a near-porno soundtrack rail, but the weird thing is that this crazy quilt actually coheres when the waves start a-breaking.

Dennis’ busy, jazz-inflected drumming is the common denominator linking up alot of the music in the film, but other talents rear their heads too: a bunch of Westside fellas called THE BOZONE who give us a great downer psych spiral called “Stone Crazy“; the I-can’t-believe-this-isn’t-Jimi-Hendrix of VELVERT TURNER, whose track in the flick (“Hear My Train A-Comin’”) was inexplicably left off this LP release; and best of all, ex-SUNRAYS Richard Henn who wrote the beautiful “Rain Ride” and arranged the more orchestral/jazz pop moments included herein. Those quiet bits break up the hectic pace of this collection, helping to mark changing tides, rising suns, and apocalyptic sunsets with the respect they deserve. Not everything here is instrumental, but that’s ok, ’cause the shitty rip from the vhs I’m listening to right now effectively muffles any meaning that may be hidden in them lyrics.

Budding record thieves take note! I don’t actually own this rare-as-hen’s-teeth double LP + 7″ 45 set. I’ve only ever watched the movie. But I’ve done so many, many times, and enjoyed it every time. While a couple of these tracks were unearthed on THE DRAGONS’ B.F.I. CD release and the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD surf comp. from a few years back, that still leaves like an album and a half of this stuff in the vaults. Here’s hoping the good folks at EM Records will see fit to re-release this, after they give us that CORKY CARROLL Laid Back reish in the ensuing months.

Until then, it’s back to my crappy VHS rip. Ah, the lengths we go to for a good ride . . .

A Bold, Beautiful, Stoked Whirl of Today

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Follow Me (Uni Records, 1969)

Hear me now: Groovy is not an adjective to be used lightly. No, it took quite subtle talent to create a studio smorgasbord of 60′s sound that straddled modern orchestral pop and psychedelia in a way that allowed parents to feel pleasingly hip while not entirely embarrassing their kids. And even if it did entirely embarrass, it was in a giddy, cannabis-induced way – one that left a big, stupid grin on the faces of everyone not made of stone. Quite difficult to achieve, that.

Composer Stu Phillips has rightfully earned Groovy Sainthood for giving us some of the most fabulous exploitation soundtracks of all time, including Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (a desert island disc IMO) and the less heralded but equally great Run, Angel, Run score. In this pantheon must lie his soundtrack to the surfing flick, Follow Me. Here the camp factor is tuned down, but late 60′s kaleidoscopic dynamism is in full effect, with tracks inspired by farflung oceanside destinations the world over – India, Morocco, Ceylon, Portugal, Hawaii. Not unlike how Les Baxter and Martin Denny reimagined ethnic sounds a decade earlier, Stu incorporates regional sound effects and instrumentation into his fanfares that were proto “world music” in all but name. And he always did it with a crazy glee that boring ol’ Peter Gabriel never knew existed.

Best of all, are the cuts here Stu wrote for DINO, DESI & BILLY. For the first and only time in their horrid career, DD&B gave us something worth telling mom about: a lushly produced, baroque form of soft beach pop that, for my money, surpassed anything Brian Wilson lent his name to that year. The ease with which those tracks – particularly “Thru Spray Colored Glasses” – have slid deep into my warmest thoughts is just, well, sick. It’s a darn shame they were left off Stu’s Surf, Sex And Cycle-Psychos comp CD that came out on Cherry Red a few years back.

So while nothing here really captures the thundering power of breaking waves or the awesome grace that is surf riding, it’s aok by me. What Stu has done is get me believing beach culture the world over really is one gloriously intoxicated, all-year-round swinging party. And that’s no mean feat.

Utopic Sounds

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – To Ride a White Horse (Festival Records, 1966)

Sublimely stated, utterly gorgeous surf soundtrack by the uncrowned king of Australian jazz, Sven Libaek. Flute, vibes, and bossa nova rhythyms dominate in a way that sometimes gets me thinking a less-campy Nina Rota, but the whole shebang configures in a way few others – aside from fellow Aussie John Sangster, who, not coincidentally, plays on this here record – were able to make their own. Mod style is nicely enriched by jazz depth, and the subtile timelessness Sven brought to all his recordings is on display, ringing ancient and mysterious. And then, there is that waaaay cool, recurring theme: smooth, glassy, and clearly inspired by the hot instrumental surf music then on the wane Down Under. But this makes perfect sense, since Sven had been the A&R man who signed THE ATLANTICS to CBS in 1963, the group who went on to record the biggest Australian surf instro hit of them all, “Bombora”.

Never seen even a moment of this film, but this record gets me imagining all manner of longboard riders slowing turning across perfectly formed waves along the still-unspoilt Gold Coast of Australia, under the sweetest setting suns you could ever lay eyes on.

Thanks to Pecks Spet Rips for the cover pic

Blown Out

Brian Chidester and Domenic Priore’s Pop Surf Culture (Santa Monica Press, 2008) is one seriously deep archival dig into the aesthetic flotsam and jetsam that has floated around surfing since time immemoriam. Tracing the sport from it’s prehistoric Hawaiian origins through the surfing zeitgeist that occurred in Southern California during the 60′s and beyond, their eyes & ears take in wacky bikini beach flicks, hand-drawn pre-hippie Rick Griffin comics, the slyly mod marketing that addressed the beach-going/imagining demographics, and all points between. The energetic writing style speaks of a decades-long contemplation of waves and those who’ve ridden them: the deeper meanings, the unique cultural values, and the solitary beauty of it all.

Teeming with evocative photos of infamous surfers, era-specific film posters & handbills, stylish sport mags and bitchen record covers, particular attention is paid to the subtle, bohemian-influenced graphic design sense that grew up around the sport. The authors succeed in making a clear argument: surf subculture should be seen as a clearly defined, suburban folk art style all it’s own. Me, I’m inclined to agree.

But then, there is their take on surf music. With all the love they have for surf rock/pop sounds ca. ’61-’64, there’s real distrust of music that has sought to expand on the narrow perimeters of original surf sounds in the years since. Yes it’s great that they’ve taken the time to sift through so many exploitation surf recs to separate the wheat from the chaff for us, but the little digs at the musics that followed surf – psychedelia, hippie, heavy rock etc. – just make these guys sound like fuddie-duddies. And while they’ve included chapters on the later revivals of surf music in the 80′s & 90′s, these chapters seem forced, with praise falling only on the most trad elements of these scenes. It’s a major bummer for a guy like me, who can handle his instrumental sounds not only twangy ala DICK DALE, but jammy like THE GRATEFUL DEAD, or spacey like HAWKWIND, or heavy & abstract like Ginn’s BLACK FLAG, or cruising indie like PELL MELL, or . . . well, you get the picture.

Which brings me to their discussion of surf film soundtracks. As with the rest of the book, analysis early on is spot-on, but as the 1960′s progress they start dropping the ball, missing out mentioning great scores like SVEN LIBAEK’s To Ride A White Horse and TULLY’s Sea of Joy. Talk peters out entirely around ’72 with meaningless blather about the BEACH BOYS reissues of the time. This, to a surf soundtrack lover like myself, was a tad disappointing.

So what’s a poor boy to do?

Well, PS Recon is gonna rectify this situation. Me, I’ve been listening to a grip of great surf soundtracks lately that dig deep into idiosyncratic, instrumental musical action – all without recourse to cloying surf rock cliche. And I’m gonna tell you about em here in the upcoming weeks. Consider yourself warned.

Tonight I’ll start with a some recent-ish ones:

1) BLUEBIRD – Stylemasters Original Soundtrack CD (Defend Music, 2006) BLUEBIRD were well-established in LA’s heavy rock scene in the mid/late 90′s; the singer used to hang around our record store with a young and pre-SUNN O))) Greg Anderson. But sometime in the early part of the new millennium, they gave up trite things like lyrics, songs, and chord changes, leading to the creation of a pair of hugely effective CDs: Black Presence and this here soundtrack. The sound was a groove-laden form of modal hard rock that might remind me of SPIRITUALIZED or GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR if I knew what them bands sounded like. But the jammed-out, flowing heaviness of the whole thing spoke more of their stoner rock connections, and trainspotters will note not only that desert-rock producer Mathias Schneeberger was on board here, but that FATSO JETSON’s Mario Lalli guests on gtr. Regular readers of this blog, take comfort: this soundtrack might well’ve been called Under The Influence Of Yawning Man. The film itself was compiled from surf footage from the North Shore of Oahu, ca. ’77-’79, and I’m gonna state BLUEBIRD nails the heady vibes and earthy physicality of that time and space, dead on. Check out the trailer to this film here.

2) MPHASE – Stylemasters 2 Original Soundtrack DVD (Sea Crown Ventures, 2007) Less gutpummeling, but still really effective is the score MPHASE did for STYLEMASTERS 2, the follow-up to the aforementioned STYLEMASTERS. This film documents the end of the single-fin era in Hawaii, right at the dawn of the 1980′s. True to the times, the foundation of this ain’t stoner rock but rather KRAFTWERKian synths and emotionally-detached vocals. That said, gtrs still figure in quite prominently, and a nice groove underpins the whole thing – not unlike what THE CARS once gave us early on, sans the hiccupy vocals of Ric Ocasek. Thus despite the new wave trappings, the flow at work here matches the footage of the waves in a nicely organic way. MPHASE has gone on to contribute to the score of another surf documentary about early 80′s surfing, Echo Beach, and more recently released a neat HUMAN LEAGUE inspired CD all their own . . . but it’s here where they truly shine like VISAGE playing a grip of BRANT BJORK riffs. And if you think I’ve got any bad words to say about VISAGE, well . . . let’s just say you don’t know me very well. Sadly, this was never given the separate CD release it was due. Trailer here.

3) RUSSIAN CIRCLES – Lavese Las Manos Original Soundtrack (Analog Films, 2009) Ok: so this score wasn’t purpose-built; it was compiled from previously released album tracks by the Chicago group known as RUSSIAN CIRCLES. But it’s an important sidestep for surf scores nonetheless. It’s the first time in a coon’s age that a surf soundtrack wasn’t made up of annoying snowboarding anthems, smug JAMES BLUNT wanna-be singer songwriters (Jack Johnson et al.), or boring indie rock twats. It’s instrumental, as it should be. And it fucking rocks! RUSSIAN CIRCLES play a tightly controlled form of heavy instrumental progressive rock, the sort of stuff that you wouldn’t be remiss in calling PELICAN-esque. They do it in a way that’s slick but intense enough to match footage of what’s commonly derided in more esoteric surf circles as “extreme sport bullshit”. Watching this flick the other day had me imagining how mindblowing a big wave tow-in video would be if STINKING LIZAVETA was rocking the soundtrack. I dunno, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here? But hey: this could be The Third Way in surf soundtracking, if more folks would just get a fucking clue. This was another soundtrack not given a proper release but don’t worry, you can watch the whole film for free here.

Dead Season

Very stoked to think that in a few days time I’ll be watching WOLF PEOPLE – the best gtr band outta England’s Southwest since THE SOFT BOYS were wading through ventilators down in Cambridge – bare their teeth on stage in Sheffield. But much closer to my new home here in North Yorkshire, lurk another great band called DEAD SEA APES. A trio based in Manchester, DEAD SEA APES play an awe-inspiring, desert fried form of instrumental rock that alternates between tightly-focused, modal droning and wide-open power trio sun worship at the drop of a hat. The gtr work has me thinking how THE BLACK SUN ENSEMBLE’s Jesus Acedo might sound soloing over old THIN WHITE ROPE riffs, and oh man: what deep rhythmations these boys get up to! They’ve got an ass-flattening new EP available for purchase over at their Bandcamp site, and if these guys keep developing, their jams will surpass the high lonesome vistas haunted only by the likes YAWNING MAN in no time flat. Can’t wait to see them tear it up live.