For Man...or ASTROman?, music begins and ends a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...Redondo Beach, California, in the early 60s. It is as if the last 30 years have completely passed them by, which, although an overtly cultivated and artificial foundation, makes for a rather entertaining album.
In their fantasy world, cheap science fiction movies occupy the hours after dark - but only because they can't see the waves well enough to catch one. One day it occurs to them that blasting off in a tail-finned rocketship might feel like surfing and they decide to make an aural description of the sensation, double-picked staccato guitars careening through instrumental depictions of the fiberglass jungle, or, alternatively, space travel.
Such wanderings of the mind are taken entirely seriously by Man...or ASTROman?, or at least seriously enough to have spurred them to make a record based on the concept. It is as if the heyday of surf instrumentals is upon us, and Dick Dale or the Surfaris have yet to be discovered by the world outside the LA region. Recording in the 90s rather the 60s means that they can even more explicitly lay out a few of their favorite things by sampling dialogue from old b-movies or newsreels.
Your Weight on the Moon opens with a countdown sequence for a rocket launch as "Rocketship XL-3" hurdles back in time, galloping and lurching along like all the great (real) surf bands. Other songs bring to mind highlights of the era, "Tasor Guns Mean Big Fun" sounds like the often- covered "Rawhide" and "F=GmM(moon)/r-squared" veers towards the Bangalores "Penetration" or the Chantays "Pipeline." And just as the Surfaris had their vocal song, "Surfer Joe," Man...or ASTROman? serves up "Destination Venus," though the garbled lyrics make it difficult to tell whether they have taken full advantage of the purile rhyme possibilities.
There were only two notable surf bands from outside the LA area, and the continuing presence of the Trashmen's "Surfing Bird" has garnered the midwestern band a place in the rock canon. Recorded in Elmore, Alabama, the space references on Your Weight may be a tip of the hat to Colorado's original 60s surf band, the Astronauts. But as the surf craze began to fade, other bands also took to this imagery; the Chantays, for instance, issued an album in 1965 (Another Side of the Chantays) with titles like "Space Probe" and "Beyond."
In any event, few surf albums from the 60s managed to sustain the intensity and originality of the hit single over the space of an entire album. Originality may be questioned on Your Weight, but intensity and consistency will not be. Every song is basically formulaic, with a ridiculous sample - a Martian voice saying "we interrupt this supersonic program to bring you this message," for instance - spliced into or before a hearty, bouncy instrumental. If you can't get enough of the Rhino records reissue catalogue of instrumental rock, add this to your shopping list.
