Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA KB and the Riptides - Pre-release Material Promotional CD
 | KB and the Riptides continue to play rock instros with surf sensibilities. This CD-R shows development in the songs and recordings, but still aurally shy of showing off the band's potential. All tracks are mono mixed except for effects. |
Picks: Dead Sea Surf (Pt. 1), Dead Sea Surf (Pt. 2), Bathsheba Soup Bowl, Butcher's Point
Track by Track Review
Surf (Instrumental)
"Dead Sea Surf (Pt. 1)" moves from a faux noisy vinyl background through an sitarish sounding guitar playing an exotic melody over very cool bass and drums. This is a glorious introductory sequence!
Surf (Instrumental)
On to the main body of the song, where the exotic guitar line is all fuzzed out and compressed. It changes the song's impact significantly. "Dead Sea Surf (Pt. 2)" is a fine track with a very enticing hook. The melody riff is so cool, I'd really like to hear it done in traditional style.
Surf (Instrumental)
The brilliance of this song that showed itself despite the murky recording back in 2001 sounds so much better here. Still needing real production and mastering, but very very cool! Mysterious and mystical, almost like a dream sequence with surfboards.
Rock (Instrumental)
"Butcher's Point" is a heavy rock instro driven by a riff rock mentality. Likely powerful live, and quite strong. Some very guitar-hero sounding lines.