“Floating Vibes” - Surfer Blood (from Astro Coast)
Recently, I’ve grown a bit frustrated with 2010, at least musically speaking. I keep coming across glowing reviews of new albums, but each time I try them out myself I find myself either wondering what the fuss (see: Spoon’s Transference) or just not getting it (see: Owen Pallett’s Heartland, These New Puritans’ Hidden, and several other things that aren’t immediately coming to mind).
However, Surfer Blood I like. Surfer Blood I get. Surfer Blood, I see what the fuss.
Surfer Blood is also a group of young Floridians who make fun, guitar-based rock music. The songs on Astro Coast don’t have full orchestras, they would never be described as “challenging,” and there isn’t even the smallest trace of pretension. It’s classic indie guitar rock a la Pavement and Built to Spill, and it’s appealing as hell. I didn’t realize how much I missed unpolished male rock until people stopped making it, but these boys are bringing it back in spades. Oh, la.
