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Hey guys! How’s it going? Spring is in officially here Stateside, and the weather has been heating up here in North Carolina, albeit with a few days of sudden cold and like last night some heavy rain and thunder. My poor cats and I were shaken out of our beds this morning by a thunderclap so loud it shook the house. With the warmer weather, I naturally think of tropical and sunny music to listen to. Reggae, Latin, Brazilian flavors all feature on the turntable. Being born and raised by the sea I have a soft spot for anything with a nautical theme or related to the beach. Thus, growing up I fell in love with the Beach Boys, surf music and any of the surf movies that sometimes would get shown on TV. There are surfing conditions at certain beaches along the UK coastline, but we were all dreaming about California and Hawaii. So, with that in mind, my staff pick this week is going to have a surf music theme.
A couple of years back, a record came through the doors at Sorry State that I immediately was attracted to. It was by Cosmic Sand Dollars and titled Requiem For King Dick. The cover featured a wipeout surf scene and proudly stated that the makers of this album were Ventura’s premier surfing combo, the title a clear reference to surf guitar legend Dick Dale. I was intrigued. I have amassed a decent surf music collection over the years and that includes original sixties acts as well as the eighties and nineties revival groups. I’ll check anything out that has a twangy guitar sound and good driving beat. Putting the needle down on this record, though, it became instantly clear that this wasn’t your typical surf album. Something much weirder was going on here. Lots of electronic manipulation of sounds and samples were being added to the mix. It sounded like if The Ventures had collaborated with early Moog music makers like Jean-Jacques Perrey or Morton Subotnick and been produced by Joe Meek. That’s a brilliant thing in my book. I listened to the record a lot and really liked it. I made it one of my best of the year and played tracks on the radio show I do where it was received enthusiastically by listeners.
Fast forward to recently and I was talking to Daniel in his office and noticed two other Cosmic Sand Dollars records leaning against a stack of albums. We were getting ready to order copies for the store he told me. Great, I say, count me in. Those two records were the albums released prior to Requiem For King Dick and are called Let’s Go Critical Density! and Let’s Go Insertion! There is a third titled Let’s Go Nuclear Woody! to complete the theme. That release, though, was apparently super limited so we couldn’t get copies, but you can bet I’ll be keeping a watchful eye out for one.
Daniel kindly allowed me to take the advance copies he had to listen to as equally kindly, main Sand Dollar, Jordan Darby, had sent me complimentary copies with our order. So, thank you very much for that. I am the last person to be tempted by freebies to get a review and I hope my genuine enthusiasm for these records doesn’t come across as some sort of payola.
Funny thing though. On those two earlier records, the label states 45 RPM and that sounds about right. I have lots of fun playing records at different speeds and pitches, but that does seem to be the correct speed. On the King Dick album though, the labels do not state speed and I have been playing the record at 33 RPM all the time. I now tried spinning it at 45 and some of it sounds pretty good that way. LOL. I’ll have to check a digital copy to confirm.
Both earlier albums confirmed what I loved about these guys. You can tell that they love the music. Familiar snatches of surf guitar riffs drift in and out of the sound, mixed in with the keyboards and electronics. It’s almost like listening to the radio up in space where years of sounds are all floating around together and exist at the same time and can be heard simultaneously. Past, present and future all together. Or something like that.
Kudos also to the cut-and-paste artwork aesthetic that reminds me of that used by early 80s dub experimentalists New Age Steppers. Musically a little different, but in some ways very similar. One was a modern update on dub reggae and the other on surf guitar music. Cool on both counts.
As a fan of these genres and instrumental music in general, I must declare these records all winners. I didn’t know I needed them in my life until I heard them, but am so glad that I have them. You too can join the Cosmic Sand Dollars and I as we surf our way through the cosmos with these albums sound tracking our trip. I think you’ll have just as much fun.
Check out the clips and investigate.
Thanks for reading and don’t wipeout baby.
-Dom