Shake Your Maraca 5-O One More Time

Re-up for Andrewski

Maraca Five-O

Headin' South At 110 Per

2001

To a great degree, these Denver instrumentalists stake out the same surfing grounds as Dick Dale, the Ventures and the Lively Ones, but there's a greater sense of humor working here ("Gidget's Guns", "Jesus Wrecked My Stuff"), and a stronger garage rock component. Bands within this genre have an easy time making a ton of songs that sound more alike than different, so Maraca Five-O have to be commended for all the variations they work into each track. Sometimes they're fast, other times they're faster, and sometimes the melodies are like waves you can't outrun. The band even goes psychedelic in the druggy tour de force "Dance, Elaina". Everytime I played this track, the violin of Kelly O'Dea conjured up a couple of the (many) strange women in Blue Velvet, and so I pictured Elaina as one of these gals, swaying back and forth on a car top while Frank Booth tortured poor Jeffrey Beaumont.
Discovering such brutal images in these surf-rock instrumentals, in fact, is more the norm than the exception, so don't get Headin' South at 110 Per if you're a small-and-delicate-wave kind of beach bum. It's not for all you fellas with eight types of suntan lotion, either; people afraid of skin cancer, dude, are certainly afraid of rhythms this wild! There is an extremely strong rock-n-roll mentality here, a blistering desire from these rockers to beat the waves senseless each time their guitars ride 'em out. Their recklessness, passion, and sheer talent keep the entertainment factor high, well worth a full-keg salute. By the end of the disc, I was so satisfied with the music that my disappointment over the band being instrumentalists (me being a vocal lover and all) had completely disappeared. Yes, their song titles ("Night of the Shadow Midgets") seem too good to go without some fun smartass lyrics, but this keeps the band free of Mojo Nixon-type "novelty act" tags. Besides, if you want lyrics that bad, you can make 'em up yourself, and let the band and their guitars take your Dead Milkman pilferings past their imaginatively evoked Colorado shores.
-- Theodore Defosse

Track Listing:

01. I'm In League

02. Gidget's Guns

03. Headin' South At 110 Per

04. Dance, Elaina

05. Mystery Board

06. Defender

07. Mandelbrot Set

08. Sour Mash

09. Jesus Wrecked My Stuff

10. Night Of The Shadow Midgets

11. The Perfect Shiner

12. Tube City, Pakistan

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Get it HERE

Hi Jack!

Do It Yourself! Re-upped by request

Arya requested a re-up on this one. We are always glad to oblige.

Los Esquiazitos

Hagalo Usted Mismo E.P./Do It Yourself

2000

01.-Guitarras y muchachas/Guitars and Girls

02.-Un dia en texas (version gore)/One Day In Texas

03.-Amor y agua salada/Love and Saltwater

04.-Siempre de malas/Always Bad

05.-El viejo bufanda

06.-El Efecto Bob Ross (version jungle 2x2 part.1)/The Effect Bob Ross

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New Link HERE

Mele Kalikmaka by The Hula Girls

A good friends band that can really kick it up. Can you say HulaBilly??

Merry Christmas all

T

Wash Your Car Mister???

Crusty!

60 Seconds with The City Champs

The City Champs’ new album The Set Up is out now, and the critics are giving it an enthusiastic response (check out press quotes below). After touring the East Coast the Champs returned to Memphis to take part in several new projects. After taping a travel segment for MSN.com, they took part in the filming of a new Memphis music documentary. Tentatively titled Memphis Revival, this Cody Dickinson/Martin Shore-produced film showcases icons of Memphis’ music scene playing with up and coming young bands. On November 29th, The City Champs collaborated with the harp legend Charlie Musselwhite to film a segment at Electraphonic Studios. The band recorded a live show for Beale Street Caravan, they were joined by saxophonist Tom Link and trumpeter Marc Franklin for this globally syndicated radio program hosted by Sid Selvidge. Back in New York City, the burgeoning designer Billy Reid, (Vogue Fashion Award winner) has been spinning the Champs during his runway shows, landing their name in the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair’s blog.

"One part Booker T. & the MGs, one part Jimmy Smith, and one part Henry Mancini, Memphis three-piece the City Champs are arguably the top instrumental group in Memphis, a lean, mean soul-jazz machine that brings its own contemporary spin to a classic sound." The Commercial Appeal

“…the City Champs put their own spin on standout tunes “Drippy,” “Ricky’s Rant,” and “Comanche.” And their toe-tapping take on RJD2’s “A Beautiful Mine” (better known as the theme from AMC’s Emmy-winning “Mad Men”) is worth the purchase price itself.” The Daily Paper
“The overall result encapsulates the Champs sound: Think The Meters and Booker T. playing a 60s film theme on a session at Rudy Van Gelder's studio for a Blue Note or Prestige Records release.” Blurt Online

"They find their heart in the classic Memphis Stax style yet push at the borders of that genre to create memorable instrumental music that doesn't need a vocalist or frontperson to connect. The band's firm grip on dynamics and especially arrangements makes the music sizzle with a power and intensity lost on other instrumental acts without this intuitive talent." AllMusic

“The album winds up on a towering, anthemic, even majestic note with another original, Comanche, a Lynchian take on a Link Wray-style groove that roars with gospel intensity until a quick, unexpected fade.” Lucid Culture

Memphis soul/jazz organ trio The City Champs return to Memphis’ Electraphonic Recording studio for the follow up to their acclaimed debut album, The Safecracker. The Set-Up finds the group stretching out, adding Latin jazz, psychedelia and 60’s film score influences to their established Booker T. and the MGs meets Blue Note/Prestige Records sound. The City Champs are comprised of three of Memphis’ top musicians: Guitarist Joe Restivo, organist Al Gamble and drummer George Sluppick. Their resumes include studio recordings and live dates with artists such as Rufus Thomas, Alex Chilton, JJ Grey and MOFRO, William Bell, Syl Johnson and the Memphis Horns. Augmenting the City Champs trio sound on The Set-Up is renowned Motown Funk Brother Jack Ashford on tambourine (who was featured in the award winning documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown), The Bo-Keys horn men (Marc Franklin, Jim Spake and Kirk Smothers), Latin percussionist Felix Hernandez and Bo-Keys bassist and The Set-Up’s producer, Scott Bomar, who most recently produced Cyndi Lauper’s “Memphis Blues.”

The City Champs links: www.thecitychamps.com or www.myspace.com/thecitychampsmusic

A Little No Cal Surf Tune

Very cool little video from my new friend Jon up in Northern California area. Jon plays a pick and finger style that goes nicely with this old Beach Boys tune.

Give it a view for a nice change of pace with a little beach sand added.

Get A Load Of These Mullets!

The Mullet Monster Mafia

Power Surf Orchestra

A little gift I received from the band to share with you all.

Phil says...

If you like The O'Hara's at all, you'll like this. It's loud, intense, dark, and the rock solid dangerous surf is complimented with trumpet. The Mullet Monster Mafia's music is not melodic, but the power and menacing are so strong that you might well not care about that.

The Wallrider
Surf (Instrumental)

Dark double picked stereo delay enhanced guitar, raw trumpet, and a solid surf beat and bass carry off a shore grinder. "The Wallrider" is not very melodic, but it has lots of danger.

Swamp
Surf (Instrumental)

Grumbly bass, grand stereo chop chords, harmonic chords, chants, dark glissandos, and solid drums and subliminal bass combine with trumpet for a large and dangerous track. "Swamp" is riff based, not really melodic, but is without a doubt loud and dominating, and some of the muted fills are just superb!

Sinister People Secrets
Surf (Instrumental)

Double picked intense, with big drums attitude, and grumbling danger. The relentless power and energy will wear you out! Punky, but more surf than spunk! The trumpet creates an avant gard feeling. Great drums!

Freshwater
Surf (Instrumental)

"Freshwater" is a slower number, but certainly not a less powerful or loud one. Two guitars compliment each other, trumpet flatters the song, and the drums and bass are strong and hit hard. Cool track!

Get it HERE

Your Move

It's A Bikini World I'm Livin' In Re-up Again

Bikini World

1997

For the Eekster!

Can't get enough of these surf comps! Bikini World is especially hip as it includes a passel of artists that usually avoid the hi-fi world of the compact disc, including Phantom Surfers, Untamed Youth, and the Trashwomen, as well as a bunch of bands I'd never heard of like The Royal Knightmares, The Hillbilly Soul Surfers, and Sir Bald Diddley & his Hounourable Right Big Wigs (well, that's how they spell it). As a collection, it's uniformly hot spit, especially Untamed Youth's blow torch summer epic, "Tube City" and the painfully-punned "Surfs You Right" by Finland's finest, Laika & the Cosmonauts. "Scalpin' Party" by Jackie & the Cedrics has some of the most percolating percussion I've ever encountered, but, disappointingly, they just fade out instead of come up with a proper ending. "XKE!" from Seattle's own Boss Martians, is, as you might expect, eerie and extradimensionally cool. You may think you've heard this stuff a million times, but we both know that's not enough. Gnarly. --John Chandler

1 Sloth in Molasses Phantom Surfers
2 Aphrodesia Trashwomen
3 Tube City Untamed Youth
4 Rumors of Surf Southern Culture On The Skids
5 It's a Bikini World Boardwalkers
6 Surfs You Right Laika & The Cosmonauts
7 The Hipster Royal Nightmares
8 Scalping Party Jackie & the Cedrics
9 Xke! Boss Martians
10 Surfer's Deal Daytonas
11 Renegade Hillbilly Soul Surfers
12 Fathomless Fathoms
13 Calhoun Surf Los Straitjackets
14 Time Bomb Bomboras
15 Chaeto Sir Bald Diddley & His Honourable Big

Get it HERE

Speed Crazy Eliki Again

Wild Sammy & The Royaltones

Speed Crazy

2000

By request of sputnik from Argentina. Salud

Wild Sammy & the Royaltones: Speed Crazy (One Million Dollar Records, Germany)
(Originally posted on Surf Guitar 101 on February 7, 2006)

This is the same band as the Royal Fingers, about whom there was some discussion here recently. So, a Japanese trio with a girl bass player. I first heard their song Echo Rocket 66 on the Continental zine compilation and thought it was really great, so I bought their Del Fi album "Wild Eleki Deluxe" and hated it. I put the CD away and forgot about it, until people started talking about it on SG101, at which point I pulled it out again and gave it another spin. Strangely enough, I got really into it at that point, and now love the CD.  "Speed Crazy" is pretty much as good "Wild Eleki Deluxe", though it is more lo-fi in production. Most of it is lo-fi in a way that makes it sound kinda vintage (with a lot of distortion of the rhythm section), though there are two songs (Jet GT and Pipeline, both maybe live?) that sound really bad, like they were recorded on a seventies boom box. There is slight overlap between the two CDs, with four songs being on both CDs: Wild Datsun, The L.A., Running Donkey, Echo Rocket 66. But as far as I can tell they are different performances and recordings, so it's not that big of a deal. 

The sound is very much Eleki, the Japanese instrumental surf sound of the mid-sixties. Eleki is more melodic and complex than the typical surf song, and requires more guitar technique. The eleki guitar style sounds like DD meets Nokie's heavily reverbed, somewhat overdriven and aggressive, with lots of pull-offs and hammer-ons and wild, extreme bends. And Sammy has totally mastered it. The guy is a monster guitarist. I bet you he could go head-to-head with Shigeo of the Surf Coasters and completely hold his own. Truly awesome chops, best demonstrated in the closing song Tsugaru Jyongarabushi, which is (after the short main theme) mostly a one-chord vamp with Sammy just going OFF. Most of the songs also have either an additional rhythm guitar or organ (or both), which definitely fills out the sound very nicely. As far as the other two members, the drumming is serviceable if not outstanding, and the bass playing is pretty good, sometimes adding some very cool parts. But what really matters is the songs, songs, songs, and this is where Wild Sammy & the Royaltones excel. There are no songwriting credits, but I think only a couple of the songs are covers of classic eleki (The L.A. and maybe Wild Jet Beach  both really awesome, very tough-sounding), with the rest being originals. Among those, Echo Rocket 66, Wild Datsun, Royal Tones No. 1, Aoi Hoshikuzu and Eleki Heiankyou really stand out, incredible stuff. But hell, every song on the CD offers something really cool. I highly recommend you all pick up this release. All the tradheads will LOVE it, and even the more prog-types may be able to get into more than a few of the songs. 

  1 Wild Datsun
  2 Fire Z
  3 Royal Tones No 1
  4 Aoi Hoshikuzu
  5 Road Runner
  6 Echo Rocket 66
  7 Genroku Wave
  8 Jet-GT
  9 Pipeline
  10 Running Donkey
  11 The L A
  12 Eleki Heiankyou
  13 Wild Jet Beach
  14 Tsugaru Jyongarabushi

Get it HERE

The Hardest Working Farm in Tikidom

10th Anniversary of the fabulous Tiki Farm, pervayors of the finest in Polynesian Pop Culture. To many cool tiki mugs to count. Many of these fine treasures reside in Trustar's own collection.

If you dig these ya gotta check out whats going on at The Farm.

http://www.tikifarm.com/

This Makes Me Have To Pee!

Want To Hear Something REAL Scary?

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

Read by Christopher Walken

Sit down kiddies and turn the lights down low. Uncle Trustar is back with a shot little story read by one of the alltime greatest caricature actors of our time. From The Devil to a dapper dance man, Mr Walken can do it all. He does magic with Poe's classic, The Raven.

Enjoy

Get it HERE

Things To Do When Your Not Listening To Music

Yes, kiddies, ol' Trustar does do a few things that don't have a soundtrack to it. One of my other passions is reading, specifically the strange and creepy types. Major horror fan is I. While I don't have as much time to read like I used to I do follow some of my favorite writers and a few specialty publishing houses. A news flash I received this week was in regards to a free e-book posting on the WOWIO book site. Here is a fresh new e-book to treat your eyes and mind to.

The Painted Darkness
by Brian James Freeman


When Henry was a child, something terrible happened in the woods behind his home, something so shocking he could only express his terror by drawing pictures of what he had witnessed. Eventually, Henry's mind blocked out the bad memories, but he continued to draw, often at night by the light of the moon.

Twenty years later, Henry makes his living by painting his disturbing works of art. He loves his wife and his son, and life couldn't be better… except there's something not quite right about the old stone farmhouse his family now calls home. There's something strange living in the cramped cellar, in the maze of pipes that feed the ancient steam boiler.

A winter storm is brewing, and soon Henry will learn the true nature of the monster waiting for him down in the darkness. He will battle this demon and, in the process, he may discover what really happened when he was a child — and why, in times of trouble, he thinks: “I paint against the darkness.”

But will Henry learn the truth in time to avoid the terrible fate awaiting him… or will the thing in the cellar get him and his family first?

Written as both a meditation on the art of creation and as an examination of the secret fears we all share, The Painted Darkness is a terrifying look at the true cost we pay when we run from our grief — and what happens when we're finally forced to confront the monsters we know all too well.

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If that don't grab you by the boo boo I don't know what will.

Uncle Trustar says "Check it out!"

Download here

http://wowio.com/book-of-the-month

Stand Up Tall To Be Heard!

Jethro Tull

Stand Up (w/ Bonus Tracks)
1969
Ripped @ a towering 320 w/ 3% Recovery
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Review by Bruce Eder

The group's second album, with Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic guitars, keyboards, balalaika), Martin Barre (electric guitar, flute), Clive Bunker (drums), and Glen Cornick (bass), solidified their sound. There are still elements of blues present in their music, but except for the opening track, "A New Day Yesterday," it is far more muted than on their first album -- new lead guitarist Martin Barre had few of the blues stylings that characterized Mick Abrahams' playing. Rather, the influence of English folk music manifests itself on several cuts, including "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" and "Look Into the Sun." The instrumental "Bouree," which could've passed for an early Blood, Sweat & Tears track, became a favorite concert number, with an excellent solo bit featuring Cornick's bass, although at this point Anderson's flute playing on-stage needed a lot of work. As a story-song with opaque lyrics, jarring tempo changes, and loud electric passages juxtaposed with soft acoustic-textured sections, "Back to the Family" is an early forerunner to Thick As a Brick. Similarly, "Reasons for Waiting," with its mix of closely miked acoustic guitar and string orchestra, all hung around a hauntingly beautiful folk-based melody, pointed in the direction of that conceptual piece and its follow-up, A Passion Play. The only major flaw in this album is the mix, which divides the electric and acoustic instruments and fails to find a solid center, but even that was fixed on later CD editions. (The original LP had a gatefold jacket that included a pop-up representation of the band that has been lost on all subsequent CD versions, except for the Mobile Fidelity audiophile release.) [In late 2001, Stand Up was re-released in a remastered edition with bonus tracks that boasted seriously improved sound. Anderson's singing comes off richer throughout, and the electric guitars on "Look Into the Sun" are very well-delineated in the mix, without any loss in the lyricism of the acoustic backing; the rhythm section on "Nothing Is Easy" has more presence, Bunker's drums and high-hat playing sounding much closer and sharper; the mandolin on "Fat Man" is practically in your lap; you can hear the action on the acoustic guitar on "Reasons for Waiting," even in the orchestrated passages; and the band sounds like it's in the room with you pounding away on "For a Thousand Mothers." Among the bonus tracks, recorded at around the same time, "Living in the Past," "Driving Song," and "Sweet Dreams" all have a richness and resonance that was implied but never heard before.

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Tracklist:
-
1 A New Day Yesterday
2 Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square
3 Bourée
4 Back to the Family
5 Look into the Sun
6 Nothing Is Easy
7 Fat Man
8 We Used to Know
9 Reasons for Waiting
10 For a Thousand Mothers
11 Living in the Past
12 Driving Song
13 Sweet Dream
14 17

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http://rapidshare.com/files/316936554/Jethro_Tull_-_Stand_Up.rar

The Mad Athenian Is Back At It!

Double Bumble

2010

At a buzzin 320

Yes, our friend GSD (Greek Surf Demon) has been at it again, bring us all a hint of the tried and true tempered with some very nice variations upon the theme. Something to play over and over in the fading summer time sun.

Enjoy

Get it HERE

The Look of Love

Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66

Look Around

1968

Review
by Richard S. Ginell
Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled "Roda" and Joao Donato's clever "The Frog," Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful "Like a Lover," Harold Lobo's carnival-esque "Tristeza," and Mendes himself (the haunting "So Many Stars" and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include "With a Little Help From My Friends" from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper LP. As things evolved, though, the one track that this album would be remembered for is the only other non-Brazilian tune, Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love," in an inventive, grandiose arrangement with a simplified bossa beat. The tune just laid there on the album until Mendes and company performed it on the Academy Awards telecast in 1968. The performance was a sonic disaster, but no matter; the public response was huge, a single was released, and it become a monster, number four on the pop charts. So much for the reported demise of bossa nova; in Sergio Mendes' assimilating, reshaping hands, allied with Herb Alpert's flawless production, it was still a gold mine.

1 With a Little Help from My Friends

2 Roda
3 Like a Lover
4 The Frog
5 Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness)
6 The Look of Love
7 Pardizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye)
8 Batucada (The Beat)
9 So Many Stars
10 Look Around

http://rapidshare.com/files/22746273/Sergio_Mendez___Brazil_66_-_Look_Around.rar

To The Moon Alice!

Nova Surfer

Nova Surfer

2004

Ripped @ 128

Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Nova Surfer brings you SurfRock, Sci-Fi, Riddles and Two-Steps of the loud and short kind.

Get it HERE

Put Your Foot Into It!

Magnum 500

Forbidden Sounds

2003

Ripped at an ass-hauling 320


Like a jacked up muscle car with a blown V8, this little set of tunes will put you back into your seat. Hold on for some spirited surf-a-billy sounds.

1 Talking Pipes (Edit)
2 Magnum Dutch
3 Hobie McGregor
4 Talking Pipes (Full Version)


Get it HERE