#1 Surf City- Kudos
When I first heard Surf City’s self-titled 2008 EP, I winced a little. My friend Paul had highly recommended he album to me and after the opening Dick Dale-ish guitar licks, I took these guys for an instrumental surf band, which I honestly, didn’t have much interest in hearing. I turned the CD off after the intro to EP opener ‘Headin’ Inside’ and said to myself, “Geez, Paul!”, somewhat incredulously. I hate to say it, but I even sent him a message on Facebook asking him why he would recommend a surf band to me. My friend was patient with me, thankfully, and said I just need to listen to the whole thing. Happy to report that Surf City (the band and the EP), are actually great. And Kudos, is even better.
Surf City are from New Zealand and carry the legacy of the Flying Nun Records roster with aplomb. Kudos isn’t easily identifiable as pop, shoegaze, indie, lo-fi, punk, or even, well, surf, but it is, of course, all of these. Surf City excel at finding a groove and pushing it for all it’s worth into three minute, blissed out pop nuggets (opener ‘Crazy Rulers of the World’, title track ‘Kudos’) and even eight minute epics (Icy Lakes). Recorded just hi-fier enough than the EP to distinguish the band’s step forward between 2008 and 2010, Kudos is the best album of 2010. Overlooked and awesome.
For Fans of: The Clean, Pavement, The Jesus and Mary Chain
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