surf Archive
30 Jul 2025
Album Review: Various Artists — Legends of Surf Guitar
As rock subgenres go, surf instrumental is among the most timeless. Eschewing vocals means that there are not past-their-sell-by-date turns of phrase, and few instruments are more durable in their […]
30 Apr 2025
Moving Beyond Surf and Garage, La Luz Shines Brightly
La Luz is a Seattle-based quartet of four female musicians. The group combines surf, garage and other rocking styles, suffusing its arrangements with heavenly vocal harmonies that recall the best […]
01 Jun 2024
30 Days Out, June 2024 #1: Beach Boys, King’s X, Kim Gordon, Pinkish Floyd
Wow. Some big names – from both a commercial and critical perspective – are coming to town in the next 30 days. And a local group that serves up the […]
19 Apr 2024
Los Straitjackets: Who Are Those Masked Men?
Surf music is often associated with a specific time and place. The rock subgenre featuring instrumental tunes built around sonorous electric lead guitar enjoyed its heyday in the late 1950s […]
15 Jul 2022
30 Days Out, July 2022 #2: The Deslondes, The Aristocrats, Rebekah Todd, L.A. Witch
One act with local ties, a supergroup, an emerging artist to watch and some no-holds-barred west coast rock are among the highlights of live music in Asheville over the coming […]
21 Nov 2021
Album Review: Chillingsworth Surfingham
Instrumental surf rock is a beloved sub-style in some quarters of the rock universe. And I proudly reside in one of those corners. Especially when it’s done with equal parts […]
11 Dec 2020
Album Review: The Neptunas – Mermaid A-Go-Go
There’s something inescapably, relentlessly cool about surf rock. The style had its heyday in the early ‘60s, but it’s never gone away. And for good reason: there’s something irresistible about […]
13 Jun 2019
California Guitar Trio Takes the Instrument Someplace Else
Acoustic guitar trios are nothing new. But in the hands of the musicians calling themselves the California Guitar Trio, the instrument is approached in a unique way. And the sounds […]
31 Oct 2018
They Created a Monster: The Story of The Munsters’ 1964 LP
Though exploitation knows no era, the 1960s was truly the decade of the cash-in. Americans of a certain age recall that in the wake of the Beatles’ initial stateside success […]
29 Jun 2018
Liner Notes News
I’ve been extraordinarily busy lately. After devoting a large chunk of 2017 to the writing of my first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of […]
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