REVIEW: Various, Surf Monsters (Del-Fi)
- Michelle Aguilar
The runaway success of Quentin Tarantino's film "Pulp Fiction" in 1994 was perhaps both the best and worst thing to happen to surf music in the last thirty years. On the one hand, it elevated a whole archive of excellent surf instrumentalists from subculture status straight into the mainstream. On the other hand, this meteoric revival ensured that within a year surf would be dead on arrival for your average twentysomething, who was already casting it aside for the more fertile ground of gym shirts and bell bottoms. Before long, surf was a suspect fad.
The genre deserves better than that. The lengths to which '60s surf musicians went trying to recreate the sound of a surfer caught inside his perfect wave are still as impressive today as they were in 1964. Guitarists may have gotten speedier these days and may be able to play more notes at once (though Dick Dale's dexterity is still a force to be reckoned with). Yet, for the most part, the sonic atmospheres of '60s surf bands (like the Tornadoes, etc.) have remained elusive to many musicians in the past decade who discovered their parents' surf records and began trying to emulate them.
The problem is this: Instrumental Surf was a fairly short-lived, indie label phenomenon, meaning that the techniques of its artists were poorly documented. For the most part, the answers to the mysteries of the elusive surf sound remain only in the cheap, rushed recordings that small, singles-oriented labels could produce.
And even today, Dick Dale knows better than to give up any of his secrets.
While the Tarantino surf craze may be over, there is still a goodly number of bands out there playing around with the surf mythology, as there were several years before Amanda Plummer ever uttered the words "I love you, pumpkin" on celluloid. Seventeen of those bands, old and new, appear on Surf Monsters, a summer compilation by Del-Fi Records. A handful of the more interesting new surf artists out today are featured here, although none owned by Del-Fi, the grandaddy of '60s surf which was recently resurrected by its 76-year-old original owner, Bob Keane.
Whoever put together Surf Monsters was wise to open the disc with Man or Astro Man? Their "Flotation Devices For Frequencies Yet To Be Detected" is a contender for the most innovative of the modern tracks on this album. Computer effects, odd uses of keyboards (like the Moog, the Arp, and God knows what other wonderful gadgetry) get very equal time with vintage sounding surf guitar and '60s production values. The result is an almost unclassifiable hybrid that uses the surf genre as a touchstone, rather than getting bogged down in exact mimicry. Another modern surf band, The Tiki-Tones, take a similar approach to the genre with their lounge-exotica inspired "The Island of Lost Soul." The band uses authentic-sounding surf guitar, in combination with sampled bongos, bird noises and keyboard loops, to create what is essentially a dance track.
Of course, the compilation has its share of exact mimicry as well, such as the second-generation surf bands The Bomboras ("Plant of the Apehangers"), Satan's Pilgrims ("Harem Nocturne") and The Space Cossacks ("The Apes of Wrath"). These bands all do a fine job of figuring out the elusive alchemy of cavernous reverb, distorted instruments and vaguely Middle Eastern-sounding tonality that defines the surf sound. (Satan's Pilgrims are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, in fact. They sound quite at home alongside the next track, by an actual '60s surf band, The Original Surfaris, who contribute their seminal "Bombora.")
However, the problem with going down the mimicry road is that only a select few bands today can manage to get out of a modern studio the je ne sais quois that makes a traditional surf record sound authentic instead of stilted and postmodern. With a whopping 20 tracks, Surf Monsters goes against the odds and loses on three or four occasions.
But that's still a pretty good ratio, when you consider the nine vintage tracks that are on this album. A few are repeats from the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack/Rhino Legends of Surf Guitar compilation. But there are plenty of other nuggets to enjoy, especially if you're a relative newcomer to the surf catalog; check out the two excellent tunes each by Dave Myers and the Surftones and The Sentinals. For those of you in the past who have relied solely on Quentin Tarantino and your local oldies station for your surf music needs, it may interest you to hear what other '60s bands like The Lively Ones and The Impacts were doing with "Miserlou" and "Wipe Out."
Then, shuffle the disc player and find out what the next generation is up to.
