Ever since the Barbwires put "Playa Del Muerto" on their Myspace I've been checking obsessively for a new song from or at least a release date on their new album Searider. While that wasn't announced until recently (December 4th... but hold on about that) they did mention a CD release party in Sweden... with legendary New Orleans garage combo The Royal Pendletons, who I had assumed to be a done group since they hadn't put anything out since the 90s and all.
Well whaddaya know, last night I caught the Pendletons opening for King Khan & BBQ. The Pendletons were a little before my time, especially the time that I would end up appreciating garage rock, and it was all great. Not only them: King Khan & BBQ, and DJ Pasta, it was all great. It's comforting to know that though the 90's garage rock revival has come and gone and now Garage Rock has become Garage Punk, but New Orleans retains one of those that still revere Rock & Roll in the proper sense... especially now that I'm not in 6th grade and can appreciate them, whereas I thought I would never have a chance to see them.
It turns out they're not just back though, they've released a new album! It's all live material, but most (all?) songs are new and sound great live. Well, I guess you'd expect that from a live album. Anyway, it's great, just listen to one track (not sure if it's my favorite yet, I've only listened to it 1.5 times so far).
So I was kind of hoping to have a quick chat with one of them about the Barbwires, their new album Searider and all that. Well, I couldn't find them when I went to look for them after the show but it turns out that's OK because Wild Records didn't wait for that whole December 4th thing and I found myself with a copy of Searider the next day in the mail. I think I ordered it like 3 days before that.
Well I've only had it for a little more than 24 hours now, but I can pretty squarely say that despite how obsessed I was, checking Myspace every day for friend updates from the Barbwires, my anticipation was well warranted. This is a FEAT. Not for the small surf scene, not for garage rock today, I mean this is a MEAN surf album. Extremely ambitious, beautifully produced (from what I understand they have friends in The Hives that gave them a hand) and all-around impressive from any standpoint. Previously I was a fan of their 7"s over their last LP "...Sounds Like Trouble" because despite Trouble's impressive musicianship and variety in instrumentation, the 7"s were better songs with better feeling. Searider's got them both. And unlike other big-budget big-sound multi-instrument albums from surf bands (such as Laika's Global Warming) this is definitely certainly surf rock by anybody's definition.
OK I don't really want to write a full review but I'll leave you with this: this is an album that can put surf back on the map. Not like North America on the map in terms of popularity, I don't think Surf can achieve much more than something like Madagascar, but with our dear Laika & The Cosmonauts calling it a day, the Barbwires are worthy enough to take that place.
Since the Barbwires have been sooo secretive and only putting Casa Del Muerto on their Myspace, as a sample I'll stick with what Double Crown put on a compilation, but I don't even think this is one of the best songs. So you've got the song on their Myspace, this song and my promise that other (all, really) songs are just as good... BUY THE ALBUM GO GIT IT
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