Unpiano | Music Blog

During the brutal dark winters in Scandanavia all you can do to keep from losing your mind is to focus on how sweet it is to be hanging out on a beach in the sun. This particularly harsh winter in Finland, French Films wrote the soundtrack to an 80′s summer movie that I wish existed, where Robert Smith goes on a road trip to LA to try and sign his band, but his car gets stolen on the way and he has to hitch hike with a stray dog that he befriended in Idaho. Each time there’s a driving montage, which is like every 10 minutes, a French Films song plays. Then they have a big volleyball tournament and David Byrne is the referee and when Robert Smith spikes the winning point they freeze frame on a high five while “Great Wave Of Light” plays over the credits.

French Films – Great Wave Of Light
French Films – Up The Hill
French Films – Golden Sea

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Night Manager is a lo-fi, surfy, garage-rock band with a pop sensibility usually reserved for bands without a sense of humor.  The melodies are instantly catchy, but the (really) lo-fi sound lends the songs a harder edge than contemporaries like Best Coast or Ariel Pink.  This is garage for real, as in “sounds like it was recorded in a garage on a tape deck,” which is pretty badass and definitely suitable for their sound.  The vocal lines are throwback 60′s style, but the heavy distortion makes them sound almost inhuman, like an alien synthesizer.  I’m not normally a “lo-fi” kind of guy, so it’s great to hear a band just going for it, all-in.

“Pizza Pasta” is the title track off the new 7-inch, out now on Fire Talk.  You can grab it here. You can also get the last EP from their Bandcamp, it’s a “name your price no minimum” download, so you can’t beat that.

Night Manager -  Pizza Pasta
Night Manager – Blackout Sex
Night Manager – Do I

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Drummer Adrian Lloyd was a fixture in the L.A. surf scene during the early to mid-60′s. Most of his output was recorded between two bands, The Rumblers (named after a Link Wray song) and his later group, Adrian and the Sunsets (take that Sonny). This single from 1966, released simply under his name, came as a complete turnaround from the squeeky clean surf-by-numbers of the Sunsets. The bombastic drums on this ripper of a track, matched with the freakin’ screeeeaaaaammmming vocals, is so proto-punk aggro I can hardly believe it was recorded by a bunch of smiley, nerdy dudes in matching suits.

Coasting is a really new band. So new in fact that their recordings sound like a practice session where they left their dictaphone running on record. I think I read that they have only been together for a couple of months so I’m not sure what possessed me to post these. I guess I really like the feel of the first song. The whole surf-rock combined with indie rock has a good sound to it and some great energy. I would like to hear more in about six months please.

Coasting – Coasting
Coasting – Kids

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[EDIT: Links taken down at the request of the artist]

It’s pretty dreary here in San Francisco this morning and I got up at 5:30 in the morning because the pasta and wine from last night told me to. My eyes are bleary and I’m off to a slow start but luckily I have Pearl Harbour to lull me awake. Piper and Skylar are from Los Angeles and make really great sounding washed out surf-inspired rock with a hint of psych thrown in. They have a 12″ coming out in October, but for right now you can get their CD-r with handmade cover art for $5 by going to their website.

Pearl Harbour – Lost @ Sea
Pearl Harbour – Sunburn
Pearl Harbour – The High Road
Pearl Harbour – Vapor Girls (demo)