Radio Exile | Surf City

Surf City – Surf City EP

By Tom Williams January 9, 2009 Post a comment | Email the author

Surf City [Myspace] play a blissfully good surf influenced No Age punky post-punk that is the epitome of why I love New Zealand musically and is at times close approximation to what Animal Collective would sound like if they were a garage band out of the Pacific Northwest in either 1965 or 1989 or from England in 1981.

Whew. That was a mouthful. Lets dissect that sentence.

“Surf City”: Surf City are a new band hailing from New Zealand that just released a six song EP.

“Play a blissfully good”: Every single song on this EP is freaking awesome in a deeply satisfying, highly replayable way.

“Surf Influenced”: The name is not ironic (though it is derived from a Jesus and Mary Chain song ); the guitars twang like Dick Dale.

“No Age”: An experimental punk band out of Los Angeles that plays songs that are beyond awesome.

“Punky”: a style of music originating in New York City in the mid 1970’s usually consisting of a small number of chords played very quickly and with copious amounts of attitude.

“Post-Punk”: A style of music that primarily originated in England in the wake up the implosion of the first wave of Punk bands. Post-punk was known for it’s slightly more competent and slower guitar playing, use of echo and reverb, and greater art rock influence.

“That is the epitome of why I love New Zealand musically”: New Zealand is regarded by many as the home of the lo-fi movement and with bands such as the Tall Dwarfs and The Clean, it’s pretty hard to be a sane person and not love New Zealand. Surf City very much is a part of the New Zealand tradition of freaking awesome rock and roll recorded in a lo-fi manner with little commercial aspirations.

“And is at times a close approximation to what Animal Collective would sound like if there were a garage band”: The comparison is not mine but I really do see a huge Animal Collective influence on songs like unbelievably awesome “Dickshakers Union” or the almost-as-good “Headin Inside”. I’m not talking about the somewhat disappointing electronic Merriweather Post Pavilion Animal Collective (honestly, am I the only one who is not at all impressed by this album?). I’m talking about the awesome rock songs of Strawberry Jam (“Peacebone”, “Reverend Green”, and “Fireworks”) or Feels (“Grass”, “The Purple Bottle”) or even Sung Tongs (“Who Could Win A Rabbit”). Back when they had Deakin on guitar. That’s the Animal Collective I’m talking about. That’s what Surf City sounds like a garage band version of. I’m not sure why this comparison makes sense to me. I suspect it comes from the similarly shouty-yet-joyful vocals.

“Out of the Pacific Northwest in either 1965″: See: The Sonics or Paul Revere And The Raiders

“Or 1989″: See: Mudhoney or Green River

“Or from England in 1981″: See: Jesus and Mary Chain, The Sound, or most anything out of Manchester