My radio show has a podcast

OK I swear I have real stuff to update this blog with, but I finally went ahead and podcasted my surf & instrumental radio show. It's here.

http://worrrd.com/hunter/podcasts/SSOR.xml

This post left intentionally bare to anticipate a real update this afternoon

Another SSOR tomorrow... do you want to keep seeing these?

I post Storm Surge of Reverb updates on my myspace, surfguitar101.com, facebook and here. While it doesn't really hurt the site in the sense that it makes it oh so much more googleable, I feel bad when half of these are radio show posts. Do people enjoy seeing these playlists or should I stick with the real posts? By the way, I've got at least two more of those comin' up.

Anyway, if you don't know the drill

NOON - 2 CST

WWW.WTULNEWORLEANS.COM

------

And the playlist:

Estrume'n'tal - vacalgada
Impala - The Scratch
Los Banditos - Kalaschnikow
Fifty Foot Combo - Dimitrius
Husky & The Sandmen - Malibu Run
Bitch Boys - The Breeze & I
 
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Frank Slide Song
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Hangin' tree
The Ultras - Rocket Boy
Sandy Nelson - And Then There Were Drums
The Ventures - Exploration In Terror
 
Messer Chups - Mr. Hyde & Mr. Hyde
The Emporers - The Breeze & I
Pandoras - Haunted Beach Party
Man...or Astroman? - Transmission from Venus
El Ray - Jack the Samurai
New Dimensions - Avalanche
 
Frantics - Oh yeah
Gee-Cees - Buzzsaw Twist
Johnny Guitar - Mon Du Dow
The New Dimensions - Wild Wave (Didn't mean to play that)
The Pagents - Big Daddy
Reeker - Don't Call Me Flyface 
 
Crimson Ghosts - Where Eagles Dare
Archers - Hybrid Moments
The Staggers - Eagles Surf
Tremolo Beer Gut - OK Boys
Hangee V - Batman (the 4 of us)
Torquays - Pit Stop
 
The Panasonics - Kaiser Pan
The Bedwells - Karate Again
Tornadoes - Moon Dawg
Johnny Devlin - Red River Rock
Routers - Washington and Lee Swing
Scramblers - Mister Hot Rod 
 
Lively Ones - We Got A Thing In The Groove
Cavernarios - El Bravo
Surfites - Mercurian Surf Stomp
Johnny & The Shamen - Dick Tracy
Phantom Surfers - Buy High, Sell Low
A-Bones - The Fez Man Walks
 
The Atlantics - The Boys
Sea Lions - Hevenu Shalom Alechem
Link Wray - Hold It
Treble Spankers - The Model

Storm Surge playlist from last night

Straight from the Hi-ho's surf night to WTUL. A little notice here: I now have a regular-ish slot. First two weeks of the month at 2AM CST. Not ideal but whatev. If you have any thoughts on the show, even if it's about how you can't listen, please let me know and I might use them for the show's benefit at a later time.

The Sentinals - Exotica
Wild Sammy & The Royaltones - Road Runner
CC Adcock - Beaux's Bounce
The New Dimensions - Taming of the Tube
Telekrimen - Fra Diavolo
Dr Frankenstein's Laboratory - She-Devil's Stroll
Galaxy Trio - Lynch Mob

Atomic Mosquitos - Hand Scorpio
Nite Caps - Wildcat
The Fathoms - Flaming Arrow
Deuce Coupes - Hayburner
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Rat Creek

The Bills - Breaking and Entering
The Frogmen - Underwater
The Boogie Kings - Boogie Chillun
The Weisstronauts - Banana Suit
Enoch Light - Raunchy
Dex Romweber Duo - Cigarette Party
Los Plantronics - Hang 'em High

Piltdown Men - Night Surfing
The Originals - Sleepless Hours

Storm Surge of Reverb Tonight

ARRRRG No more messin' around, it can't be stopped. I'm going to march into the studio with some surf music tonight and play it, hopefully you might join me over the internet waves. And look, I've got a fancy new poster to tell you everything

Sandy Nelson - Drums A Go Go

We've seen Sandy Nelson on this blog before and due to how prolific he is and how few of his albums are reissued, I wouldn't be surprised if we see him again. I don't think these albums are particularly rare, but for the type of artist that was shitting out covers of whatever's hip, as seen here, he's consistently pretty great, as seen here. Only two of these songs give writing credit to Sandy, but there's a real good vibe going on throughout, and none of them are phoned in.

For me, the highlight is his cover of Casbah, which is about as fun as any version I can readily think of. Great driving guitar coupled, of course, with Sandy's prided drums. Really he's not Buddy Rich or anything, so I don't know why he loves doing show-off songs like Soul Drums, but then again that's one of the songs off this album that made it onto some greatest hits album of his. Speaking of which, this is NOT the greatest hits album of his that has a similar cover

Here's a short review: I like this better than my afore-posted Walking Beat, I like this better than most Ventures filler albums, and his new album mentioned on the Walking Beat page is pretty fun but ultimately not completely attention grabbing.

This rip skips a few times but is otherwise pretty clean and definitely keeps a good punch intact. It's a wonder because the LP itself looks like murder. Also, check the words from Sandy on the back cover. Classy.

Here's Sandy

Side A

1. Drums A Go-Go (Paul Buff)
2. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger - Richard)
3. I Like It Like That (C. Kenner - A. Toussaint (represent))
   
4. Casbah (R. Podolor)
5. Boot-Leg (Axton-Dunn-Hayes-Jackson)
6. Wooly Bully (Samudio)

Side B

1. You Turn Me On (Ian Whitcomb)
2. Whittier Blvd. (Thee Midnighters)
3. Do The Boomerang (Cosby-DeWalt-Woods)
4. Kitty's Theme (Nelson)
5. The Clapping Song (L. Chase)
6. Soul Drums (Nelson)

H.B. Barnum - Tia Juana \ Blue Mood

Don't be dissuaded if the name reminds you of PT Barnum and you're expecting some sort of circus music. Despite a less than eventful solo career, he was extremely successful as an arranger. To copy and paste from wikipedia, he has become most widely known as an arranger, for a very wide range of performers including Count Basie, O.C. Smith, Frank Sinatra, The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Gladys Knight, Al Wilson, and the Pump Girls. This doesn't really sound like any of those, it's a straight up sax-fueled rock & roll instrumentals from (like most of these 45s) 1958.

Tia Juana (yeah, that's how it's spelled on the 45) is a blast. Raunchy, fast and crude. Tequila came out in the same year and I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with this track, but melody-wise it's completely its own song.
Tia Juana

Blue Mood isn't nearly as fun. Why do they always have to pair up a good, fast single with a slower number? MORE POWER PLEASE. I mean, it's a good song, but you just go ahead and listen, I don't really have any actual knowledge to spread here.
Blue Mood

The Safaris - Kick Out \ Lonely Surf Guitar

Confused people think The Safaris were responsible for Wipe-Out. Curious googlers might find that The Safaris were a doo-wop group. But somewhere I determined that these Safaris released some badass surf rock. By some, I mean not much. From what I've been able to gather, this 45 is...uh... all there is to gather.

But seriously, this is a serious 45. As you can tell from the picture, it deserves a better quality rip, but it's clear enough for you to understand that this is a really great 45
Kick Out

Lonely Surf Guitar is a slow number, which in surf rock I've always thought was harder to do well. Well, I played this side instead of the A side on my show last week, so there you go
Lonely Surf Guitar

Other blog watch

So I had a sort of "secret weapon" by The Goofers that I was ready to post but somebody beat me to the punch. Sure, they weren't really spotlighting the song, but it's a much better quality version than I would have posted. In fact, I've been calling it "surf rock with bagpipes" until I heard an actual non-scratchy-45 version which, well you'll see. Then again... my side didn't say Take 2! I might give it another listen. Regardless, it's really fun, and while I'm posting the MP3's I got from his blog post, the entire album can be got at Be Bop Wino's blog. It's a cool album, check it out. But if you just want to hear the Goofers, here's your shortcut.

The Goofers - Scotch on the Rocks (take 2)



The Goofers - Head Hunters is jungle themed, this time I'm pretty sure. This is always cool in my book

I would post a picture of the label but I'm on a ski trip.

Meanwhile, Kahuna Kawentzmann made an excellent post recently with all sorts of incredible links of the history of surfing. Not much about the music, but I'm always digging for some of the pictures you can get in those links.

Storm Surge 3 Today (Friday)

2PM - 4PM CST

Last show in this timeslot. After that.... who knows!

Going to be throwing on a ton of 7"s this time.

stream at www.wtulneworleans.com

edit: Here's the playlist!

the volcanos - krakatoa

lost acapulco - ven perrita
al casey - el aguila (the easle)
telekrimen - la mosca
the hellbenders - sabata
the lively ones - mexico
i cosmonauti - (death of a) Matador
the concaves - li'l walquin
rockin' rebels - wild weekend
the gems - shutdown
the weisstronauts - sir wacky

rat holic - yu-hi
los pataconas - spiderman
the deuce coupes - skin diver (that might be wrong....)
johnny zorro - bongo guitar
maracca five-oh - gidget's guns
sultans of jungle - no looking back
the introducers = surf fever
the safaris - lonely surf guitar
Doctor A-Go-Go - hot girlie action
the virtues - Guitar Boogie Shuffle
bambi molesters - alpha e

krontjong devils - land beyond the moon
the bills - organ stomp
the archers - hybrid moments
ghastly ones - ghastly stomp
Man...or Astro-Man? - transmissions from Venus
avengers VI - time bomb
the staggers - eagle surf
tornados - robot
the hangee V - Space Rat
Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory - music to murder girls by
i fantomatici - orgasmo intergalattico

southern culture on the skids - dance for me
aqua velvets - casbah club
the chantays - pipeline
the royal pendletons - nites along the mississippi
the bomboras - surfin' bull

Blue Stingrays - Ju Ju Beads
The Techniques - Dream Theme
The Treble Spankers - Enola Gay
The Routers - Mashy

Storm Surge of Reverb RETURNS TO RADIO

As I've said on here before a few times I've regularly been DJing at Tulane's radio station for a while, pulling out random 7"s and CDs that look interesting. Usually it tends to be about 4 garage songs and then one latin number. That's all fine and dandy, but I miss doing shows that really mattered to me, like my old surf show I was doing at WESU

So it's time to bring it back. one problem: WTUL isn't as loose about their "specialty genre" programming. I tried applying for a surf show in the fall but couldn't make the meeting. My e-mails asking if there was something else I could do were ignored. 

So here I am DJing while Tulane students are out on break, doing two shows per week. A few weeks ago I sent out another e-mail about how I'd like to do a surf show. Again, ignored. I figure it's time for a little civil disobedience, so while it will be slightly on the down-low, I'm bringing my show back come hell or hurricane water (looking forward to the show title making more sense now). The catch is.... I only have this slot until the Tulane students come back, which is until the 16th I believe. That's two shows, and after that we'll see what happens. 

I'm going to post the playlist here afterwards, but if you want to see old ones or whatever, here are some links

WESU's forums

Surfguitar101 forums

myspace.com/stormsurgeofreverb

edit:

here's the playlist

the dynotones - gear grinder (beach party a-go-go) 
the barbwires - the cheater (searider) 
robert johnson and the punchdrunks - ali pang (fried on the altar of good taste) 
the mummies - the thing from venus (never been caught) 
link wray and the wraymen - new studio blues (slinky! the epic sessions) 
rat holic - good grief (wipe out with) 
the shadows - theme for young lovers (shadows are go!) 
the centurians - intoxica (bullwinkle pt. 2) 
the apemen - surf dracula (sounds of the apemen) 

fifty foot combo - le dimanche matin (caffeine) 
messer chups - Anton La Vey 66.6 FM (crazy price) 
tremolo beer gut - death valley '69 (while squaresville is watching from afar) 
the original surfaris - bombora (surf monsters) 
hawaii samurai - ali baba (the octopus incident) 
the bomboras - war of the satellites (head shrinkin' fun) 
the coffin daggers - cruel sea (the coffin daggers) 
the astronauts - the hearse (competition coupe) 
the raybeats - the backstroke (guitar beat) 
the moe greene specials - $1000 ride pt 2 (the moe greene specials) 
the razorblades - longboard queen (the dark side of the beach) 
johnny and the hurricanes - red river rock (featuring red river rock) 

mustang voodoo surf - the good, the bad, and the ugly (guitaro loco) 
stereophonic space sound unlimited - theme from "the organizer" (plays lost TV themes) 
ramblin' ambassadors - cupcakes de milo (vista cruiser county squire) 
the ventures - go-go dancer (a-go-go) 
the windows - bikini bra in surf (promotional) 
the phantom surfers - the beach girls and the monster (the music from the big-screen spectaculars) 
the astronettes - firewaters of alpha gabba (astronettes) 
longboard ranch - bejal (rides again!) 
kayama yuzo with nokie edwards - crazy driving (kayama yuzo with nokie edwards) 
sandy nelson and the sin city termites - lock it in (nelsonized) 
eddie angel - police raid on toe rag (guitar party) 

bo diddley - diddling (Is A Gunslinger) 
Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm - twistin' the strings (ike's instrumentals) 
The Royal Pendletons - keg tapper 
the spotnicks - rocket man (live 62) 
the surfites - comet's tail (escapades in space) 
the kingsmen - come home baby (volume 3) 
the kickstands - haulin' honda (black boots and bikes) 
the squares - congo square (get hip?!!) 
the supertones - scrambler (surf fever 2000) 
Dick Dale & his del-tones - mr. peppermint man (45) 

I don't remember what I played after that, I was just filling time until the next DJ came, but I remember I played a new Madeira song, Space Cossacks, and then to keep it going, Twang! Marvels - Return of the Space Cossack. Also The Champs - Meet me at the Clubhouse, Langhorns... maybe that's it? 

Thanks for listening those of you who did

Sandy Nelson - Walkin' Beat

Sandy Nelson probably wouldn't show up in your average list of 20 surf/surf-era-instrumental musicians today, but he really should be quite a heavyweight. He's got an enourmous discography, most of which is great, he just approaches Rock & Roll from a drumming angle when most of Rock & Roll is very guitar-centric. Still, he certainly does operate in the realm of rock & roll... though he does deviate a little here.

Most of the stuff on here are surfy instrumentals a la Teen Beat, but on the B side things get a little more interesting. He delves into chops demonstration territory, which may turn some off but I think Soul Drums' tribal pounding is just as danceable as anything else on here. Teen Beach gets a little more showy, with a lot more snare and admittedly dragging at parts. Then there's Beat From Another World, which is probably the highlight of the album. It starts out similar to the two before it, but with some spacey electronic yelps... and then the yelps of space creatures themselves. Clearly they're just human voices slowed down to unrecognizable levels, but it's used so much the music comes to a stop just to listen to these monsters go "YORP". It's hilariously strange stuff and the album cover leaves you no clue that Sandy was going to earn a sci-fi tag for this post, but I love it and it will certainly make great 4AM college radio. Then of course, he goes back to another great surfy instrumental.

Unfortunately this isn't a wonderful copy, and I doubt it's really all that rare either, so if I ever find another copy I might revise this one. It took some cleaning just to get the album into this shape, but now I think it's pretty listenable, just with plenty of crackles and pops. There was a spot on the second track with an unavoidable skip, but thanks to a little surgery in Audacity the song should sound fine now. So here's the final product, you can click that image below for the full tracklist.

Recently I found out that Sandy Nelson hasn't called it a day. He's teamed up with another band including Los Straitjackets' phenomenal Eddie Angel for a new (digital only) album. Unfortunately I'm at my absolute worst financial state right now so I can't get myself a copy, but the stuff on that Myspace sounds excellent. Anybody heard it in full?

Mustang Lightning - Guitaro Loco

I often accidentally leave Mustang Lightning off my quick list of New Orleans surf bands. Possibly because even their myspace lists them in two other places as well and I've never seen a concert listing for them. While I'd picked up an old copy of their more recent album Texas Voodoo Surf it didn't grab me, though checking out their myspace again and listening to this album I think maybe it needs another listen.

So I don't really know much about them or about this release and all I could find was that it was meant as a sort of Dick Dale/Link Wray tribute, though they certainly do a little more than that considering stuff like the Astronauts and Good, Bad and Ugly covers. But those covers are good! This band is hardly the first to cover that old...uh... Clint Eastwood classic (according to the CD), but this is certainly in the upper ranks of those that I've heard. The whole album is really quick and aggressive but with some playful touches and a personality of its own. For instance one track features a banjo solo that doesn't sound too out of place.

If you can judge by that CD cover right up there, this is pretty rough quality. I don't necessarily mean lo-fi, I mean sub-par engineering (but not that bad), sub-par packaging and a crude attitude: they finish off their thanks with "This disc is Dedicated to ALL the HOT Bitches from South fo the Border That Love to Dance until they Droo" (I think the P is cut off). But crudeness plays well with Rock & Roll. I don't know whether this is a demo or just a plain old "LIMITED EDITION CD", I just saw it today at the Mushroom and thought it was good enough to throw on here.

Here's a tracklist (as listed on the CD)

Our Side

1. Speed Crazy
2. Barbwire
3. El Toro Diablo
4. Boys Ranch
5. Slow Walk

Their Side

6. Thunder (Jodie Reynolds)
7. Banzai Pipeline (The Astronauts)
8. The Good, The Bad, and, the Ugly (Clint Eastwood)
9. Ghost Riders (traditional)
10. I'm Dead (Western Waste)

and the 11th track is some sort of interview and outtake thing that's still worth listening to. 

Download it HERE

Joe Houston - Surf Rockin'

Unfortunately, due to a recent camera theft I can't give you a picture of the cover to this album, but you can get a good idea here. When I get a new one I'll try to update this page.

Despite the Mummies' claim to the name, Joe Houston would make a good candidate for the King of Budget Rock in a different way. As I saw mentioned elsewhere, he found his way onto more budget rock & roll compilation LPs back in the day than anybody else, and sure enough that's where I first heard him. I later found Doin' the Twist with Joe Houston which I found to be a pretty nice and relaxing Rock & Roll album. You can find it here

I don't remember where I came across Surf Rockin' but the idea of Joe Houston's midtempo bluesy jazzy saxophone in the context of surf was pretty tempting, so I went for it. Not surprisingly, this bares no real similarity to surf rock aside from its instrumental makeup. Really, it's just another Joe Houston album with no attempt to switch up styles, just another clamor for attention by sticking the name of a big craze on his album (much like Doin' the Twist, though more excusabel that time). I'm not resentful or anything, I've always thought those albums were pretty funny and I bought it figuring this might be the case.

I do kind of like Joe's brand of Rock & Roll. It's not something I would dance to, but it has its own attitude and I've enjoyed myself sitting back, relaxing and drinking a root beer to his music. It sounds a little earlier than it is, blending jazz, Rock & Roll and Blues well enough that you could call his music either one of the three and probably not get fussed at. I wouldn't call it surf though.

This rip isn't pristine but it's clean enough that the light crackles are easily ignored.

Go Get it HERE

tracklist (featuring goofy surf lingo to convince you it's legit): 

Side A:

1. Wipe Out
2. Gremmie
3. Night Lamp
4. Dig
5. Ho Dads

Side B:

1. Haleiwa
2. Surf Rockin'
3. Maile
4. Hooked
5. Pupukea

Bo Diddley - Surfin' With Bo Diddley

Here's another album I haven't been able to find online nor on CD


Straight up, this is a cash-in on the surf craze, not a normal Bo Diddley album. In fact, Bo is only given credit in about four songs (check the E. McDaniels on the back cover), some of which are covers. At least I think those are the best songs on here. Once you get past the fact that Checker was totally trying to trick you and didn't even put the effort into making a fun description on the back cover, it's a pretty competent surf album and I've definitely heard worse re-released by Sundazed (and I think Sundazed is great). Certainly not a waste of time, and a worthy listen if for no other reason than to experience a lost artifact from Bo's legacy.

This is my own vinyl rip from a less than pristine copy, so beware.

edit: Link to a nicer rip in the comments, October 11th