Matt from Ghost Bikini sent me a copy of their latest single on Ravaging Records... this Atlanta four piece sounds to be going after that basement garage B-Movie creep sound, with maybe a little surf influence making an appearance. A drive-in movie gang who's only ever heard about the ocean and surfboards, and in it's in their approximation of the real thing they come out with their own weirdo combination.
A-Side's "Spooks" uses this see saw jangle reverb guitar with a great squealing organ, completely banished downstairs in that basement, just trying to keep their heads above the surf water, gritty, like the Mummies. It's raw garage more than psych even though it's definitely flirting with that world with the howls and screams from down in the lab....the reverb is low, slow vocals with all kinds of peaking distortion all over it. Backup dudes in ooo-ing and ahhh-ing, torches lit, zombie surf, loose and raw, like the Tiki Men...they've got a horror movie in mind that isn't going to actually kill you, just keep you on your toes. It's no coincidence that movie "The Ghost in an Invisible Bikini" comes up in google searches. The next one, "Rage in the Cage" has Anela on vocals, "Are you leaving me?" Like a bubbly version of the Cramps, not quite as sleazy...with a more balanced surf side and that classic wheezing organ sound is just essential for this kind of thing. A little like the 5,6,7,8's. The layers of hiss and sludge all over this make it sound mysterious and dangerous, this solo is exactly the right amount of skill while obviously bouncing around, live as hell and keeping it as spontaneous as it should be. Ends on a crazy high.
B-Side's "Summer Heat" has a crazy ringtoned crunchy broken synth that kicks off this hyper surf this time. I don't know if anyone told these guys but they might want to not play a thousand miles an hour in this kind of heat. It's just going to make it worse. I guess you have to sweat while listening to this, and they just might be used to playing through it down in the swampy south. Muggy surf, watch out for the alligators. Call and response through the verse back and forth and back into a horror blues sound. The damaged harmonica solo is an unexpected genius touch. There's so much texture when it drops down to just that scuzzy bass you realize the lengths they're going to to rock this one out. A real scorcher. Not cool guys, the A/C can't keep up.
This sleeve reminds me of that Gary War single a while back, minimal, black and white...fun fact: actually recorded in the barberrie basement in GA. Check out the tracks below and email these guys for one of these. ghostbikinigogo at gmail.
No comments:
Post a Comment