![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/neptunas.jpg\")
There\u2019s something inescapably, relentlessly cool about surf rock. The style had its heyday in the early \u201860s, but it\u2019s never gone away. And for good reason: there\u2019s something irresistible about a strong signature melody, instrumental music so hooky that vocals aren\u2019t even necessary. And when the vocals are employed, done right, they only add to the appeal.<\/p>\n
The undisputed kings of latter-day surf rock are Los Straitjackets. I\u2019ve seen them live many times, and they never, ever fail to delight. But until very recently, I was unaware that the genre has its queens as well: The Neptunas.<\/p>\n
From Los Angeles \u2013 you might well have guessed that part \u2013 comes this trio: bassist Pamita Neptuna, guitarist Leslita Neptuna and Laura Bethita Neptuna on drums. The band formed in the mid \u201890s, but \u2013 after an extended hiatus \u2013 got a big break when the Breeders invited them to open on a tour.<\/p>\n
Sure, to some extent you know what their songs sound like even before you\u2019ve heard them. But the trio adds some important twists to the sold, established formula. All three Neptunas sing, and they add their appealing, chirpy pipes to about half of the songs on their new album, Mermaid A-Go-Go<\/em>. And in their efforts they\u2019re guided by the Daddy-O Grande of them all, Danny Amis. Working as producer and auxiliary musicians (baritone guitar, keyboards), he give the Neptunas a note-perfect production sheen.<\/p>\n The tunes are first-rate. Nearly all of the 15 tunes on Mermaid A-Go-Go<\/em> are band originals, but the five covers are superbly chosen, and they reveal a lot about the group\u2019s inspirations beyond the surf genre. The Kinks\u2019 \u201cTill the End of the Day\u201d is played straight, but their cover of Serge Gainsbourg\u2019s \u201cPoup\u00e9e de Cire, Poup\u00e9e de Son\u201d balances the ye-ye vibe with a surf feel. And they sing it in French!<\/p>\n Perhaps most interesting among the covers is \u201cThe Lonely Bull,\u201d a tune best known as a Herb Alpert & TJB number. The Neptunas nail it, with some lovely wordless vocals adding just the right note.<\/p>\n For the most part, the arrangements are kept to the trio format, but some deftly-placed brass gives it a Wrecking Crew writ small feel. Leslita doesn\u2019t show off on guitar, instead she leads by playing in a style that\u2019s both economical and spot-on. Oh, and in possession of perfect tone; anything less would be a surf sacrilege.<\/p>\n The trio understands what makes surf rock durable more than a half century after its heyday. And thanks to their snappy songwriting \u2013 unearthing guitar riffs that are new and familiar at once \u2013 the Neptunas are keeping the genre alive as we venture forward through the third decade of this new century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s something inescapably, relentlessly cool about surf rock. The style had its heyday in the early \u201860s, but it\u2019s never gone away. And for good reason: there\u2019s something irresistible about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,62,65,3233],"tags":[1346,4372],"class_list":["post-20005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","category-surf","tag-los-straitjackets","tag-the-neptunas","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","cat-3233-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20356,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005\/revisions\/20356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}