It’s easy to hate
West Palm Beach indie rockers Surfer Blood. Their single “Swim” earned the band heaps of Internet buzz and critical praise before
Astro Coast was ever even released. “Swim” made it on to Pitchfork’s list of the
top 100 songs of 2009. The band members are also really young, ages range from 20-24, and they look like a bunch of
hipsters. That being said,
Astro Coast is a surprisingly good album that straight up rocks. Surfer Blood has a sound that can be loosely described as the Animal Collective meets early Weezer. There is a lot of excellent, fuzzy guitar playing on this record that would make
Brian Bell or
Stephen Malkmus proud. Vocal harmonies and world music elements modernize the band's sound. However, this album manages somehow to avoid sounding like Vampire Weekend. Some songs have a very different sound but still manage to fit on the album, like “Fast Jabroni” which could be on a soundtrack to a John Hughes' film or "Anchorage" which is reminiscent of
It's Never Been Like That-era Phoenix. This is a fun, catchy, guitar-heavy indie rock album that will make an excellent soundtrack for the summer.
Stand-out tracks: The Animal Collective/ Beach Boys-inspired "Take it Easy" is probably my favorite on the album. "Slow Jabroni" is also excellent, especially the last few minutes.
Recommended for fans of: Built to Spill, the Feelies, Japandroids, No Age, Pavement, the Shins, Superdrag, Wavves, Blue-album/
Pinkerton era Weezer.
Find it in the Catalog.
