Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA  | Imagine the Flat Duo-Jets all punked out and trashy, ambiently recorded to induce distortion, and often much more about the bashing than a song,and you get the general drift of this release. It's so unusual that it seems to transcend the marginal sound quality. Normally, I don't care for such projects, but there's something here that captures the latent rebel inside. |
Picks: Dumpster Dive, Mango Rum, The Cracked Head Waltz, Rush Hour Surf 'N' Boogie, Urban Sprawl, Migra, Burlington Northern, White Collar Washout, Rush Hour Surf 'N' Boogie, Urban Sprawl, Dumpster Dive, Tequila, Migra, Walk Don't Run, Run Chicken Run
Track by Track Review
Surf (Instrumental)
Dementia reigns as you get a glimpse of what it must be like to attempt the tube while being rightly pursued by the men in white coats. Disturbed, unbalanced, and downright scary.
Surf (Instrumental)
"Mango Rum" presents a pure trash riff rocker with no easy way to relax. Chants add a sense of the Orient, but there's so much disquieting distortion that it's hard to visualize.
Surf (Instrumental)
Fifth graders trying to upset the music teacher... "The Cracked Head Waltz" has that kind of discordant arrangement. The tremolo warble just makes it slightly surfable. Mayhem!
Rush Hour Surf 'N' Boogie 
Surf (Instrumental)
The autos cross the monitors and the drums muck around while the guitar riffs and thrashes. Really trashy!
Urban Sprawl Surf (Instrumental)
Punk and disorderly, thrash and crash, bang and bash. Yikes, what a mess! Frantic double picking and a couple of hurried glissandos paint a picture of overcrowded soup up against the rocks.
Migra Surf (Instrumental)
Distorted and dangerous, "Migra" is a chore to endure, pummeling every sense of sanity and musical reason you may harbor.
Surf (Instrumental)
Half of "Burlington Northern" is "borrowed" right out of Armageddon's anthemic "Buzzard," while the rest is noisier and very thrashy. Arduous listening and very nervous.
Surf (Instrumental)
Echoed drums and harsh guitar bobbling between the fear of an uneasy tremolo's shimmer and the trash of double picked flailing. Big fuzz and harsh assaults all around!
Rush Hour Surf 'N' Boogie Surf (Instrumental)
Live, "Rush Hour Surf 'N' Boogie" is fuller and just as much a trash barrage. Very cool!
Surf (Instrumental)
Still very trashy, but live, "Urban Sprawl" seems to be more powerful. It's the oddest thing, but there is an underlying nod to trad surf, though I suspect it's merely emotional.
Surf (Instrumental)
The nut house barrel ride continues in clear command as "Dumpster Dive" is taken apart live. Big and very dangerous.
Surf (Instrumental)
I'm darn sure that Chuck Rio did not mean this when he wrote the party anthem "Tequila." Thrash and bash and scream and shout. If you were drunk when the part started, you surely couldn't have played it like this. With complete abandon, the Mojo Spleens make hay with this venerable classic.
Migra Surf (Instrumental)
Distorted and dangerous, "Migra" is a chore to endure, pummeling every sense of sanity and musical reason you may harbor.
Surf (Instrumental)
Rompin and stompin', and a menace to neighborhood peace. As trashy and free from restraint this version of "Walk Don't Run" is, it doesn't hold a candle to the Pink Fairies completely punkoidal assault from 1972.
Surf (Instrumental)
Link Wray and his Raymen's barnyard thriller holds up well under the trash assault of punkoidal thrash. Yikes!