Look What Washed Up From The North Shore

Mark Brodie & The Beaver Patrol
The Shores of Hell
1994
@320

Here is one from the first year of Trustar Vibrations. Always a great one.

Opening with the sectionalist anthem "Frogs Can't Surf," Canada's Mark Brodie & the Beaver Patrol go on to double-pick their way through a varied, authentic, and fun instrumental surf album.
Captured with a bare minimum of studio effects, Mark Brodie et al come across with the spontaneous energy of a live show, but with a clarity of sound not often heard live or on old surf records. The packaging is very 60s, and borrows from the "Living Stereo" logos used on classical and experimental electronic recordings at that time, offering an interesting speculation about what those Chantays records could have sounded like if they, too, had been utilizing the breakthrough stereophonic technology of the early 60s. The Beaver Patrol make no attempt to update the surf sound, and attack the genre with reverence rather than modernist irony used by other contemporary surfers like Man or Astroman. Still, even with the trademark reverb, double-picking, and guitaar runs used as break beats, the the album is remarkably good: a wide variety of tempos differentiates the 16 songs, the occasional toy organ brings other 60s garage styles to mind (the Pacific Northwest's Kingsmen and Wailers, in particular), and all the musicians display great talent for surf music. The percussion on tracks like "Theme From the Old West" is especially deft and original. For fans of Dick Dale et al, The Shores of Hell sits very comfortably next to the original masters of the genre. It is a rare piece of nostalgia that manages to transcend its derivative origins and add flesh to old bones. Tim Mohr

Tracklist

1. Frogs Can't Surf

2. Jezebel

3. Scratch

4. Bitch Stole My Board

5. Death At Mile Zero

6. Wedgie

7. Day The Surf Stood Still

8. Spin Cycle

9. Banzai Rider

10. Scarlett O'hara

11. Theme From The Old West

12. Bad Hair Day

13. Suicide Ride

14. Meltdown

15. Phantom Wave

16. The Shores Of Hell

Get it HERE