November Birthdays 
Wow, over two months since the release of “Infra Green” by Insect Surfers, and still NO REVIEWS? Incredible! And so, so wrong, since this is one BRILLIANT CD, absolutely superb, and, in my opinion, their best EVER! (To be fair, a few people did post some nice comments about the CD in the CD release announcement thread, but far too few.) I suppose that people haven’t written much about it since it’s hard to write just a little about it – it really is a monumental piece of art! I think it might be very difficult to sum it up with just a few words, so whenever MANY words are needed, I’m happy to come to rescue! 
I’ve been listening to this CD regularly and frequently for three months now, and I think I’m finally getting a good feel for it and have gotten to know it. It definitely took a while, since it’s pretty overwhelming on the first one - or three - dozen listens!
This is the Insects’ fourth CD of new studio material (in the band’s California guise, anyway), and their first since 2002’s “Mojave Reef” – it’s been WAY too long! (Though they did release a best-of and a live CD in the interim.)
Except for the band founder and mastermind Dave Arnson, it now has a completely different lineup, with SG101’s own Jonpaul Balak on bass (also playing with the Tikiyaki Orchestra and, well, just about every other SoCal surf band!), Jeff Utterback on drums (formerly of the Huntington Cads and Jon & the Nightriders, as well as a bunch of other SoCal bands), and newcomer to surf music Michael Abraham on the second guitar. Prior to this lineup I believe the Insects went through a fairly unstable period, with frequent lineup changes, but it looks as though this lineup is now as stable and as jelled as any in their history, with everybody fully dedicated to the band. And EVERY current player is a perfect fit for this unique and deeply original band! They are all highly accomplished and talented musicians, which the Insects’ music certainly allows them to demonstrate in spades, built as it almost always is on excellent musicianship. But what’s probably most amazing is that despite this radical lineup change, “Infra Green” is unmistakably still an Insect Surfers album! NOBODY sounds like these guys, but yet, this album sounds very much like it belongs with the other classic Insects albums such as “Reverb Sun” or “Death Valley Coastline”. This is a true testament to the clarity of Dave’s original vision for the band as well as his musical leadership and distinctive songwriting, to which obviously all the musicians are happy to contribute and add their own personal virtuoso touches.
Dave must have had a deep backlog of songs after an 11-year hiatus, as “Infra Red” sports 15 songs. It is a sprawling epic, more than an hour long, which in the surf music world it may as well be the White Album or The Wall! Of the 15 tracks, one is a cover (of a Pell Mell song), and one is Dave’s original dating back to the very early history of the Insects on the East Coast in the early ‘80s. What’s most striking is the wide breadth of the album, hitting many styles, feels and moods in that hour-plus – though it never sounds like anybody else but Insect Surfers. A few words about each song:
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Bay of Bengal – a high-energy opener that screams ‘Insect Surfers’! Michael Abraham gets a chance to prove what he’s made of right outta gate, with a jaw-dropping middle section full of fantastic middle-eastern-tinged riffs and ending with a super-cool and impressive bounced-echoes segment, before going back into the verse. (You can easily tell who is playing what on the whole album since Michael is always mixed in the left channel and Dave in the right.) Dave has such a distinctive tone, too, that fairly clean Gibson SG sound that’s lightly reverbed, definitely NOT a trad surf tone, but so great! Michael’s tone is a bit more overdriven and fat, but still quite surfy, especially once he kicks in those great throbbing tremolo chords. And let’s not forget Jonpaul’s wicked cool bass lines on this song, which really put it over the top! An instant Insects classic!
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DelMarVa – Stands for Delaware/Maryland/Virginia, the area of origin for both Dave and the band, and it’s a song that Dave wrote back in ’82, in the very earliest incarnation of the band. It actually reminds me more than a bit of the great Detroit surf band the Volcanos, it’s got a bit of their feel, but there’s a heavy new-wave sound to the song in parts, too, at least until Michael plays another ripper of a solo! Dave steps up to the plate in the second part of the song and shows that his own chops will take a back seat to nobody, unleashing a barrage of impressive licks!
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Space Park Drive – after a slightly odd opening, with some dissonant back-and-forths by Dave and Michael, it goes into an uptempo, uplifting verse, with frequent trade-offs between the two guitarists, until Dave starts doing some spacey long-echo freakouts in the middle, with the insistent beat held together by Jonpaul and Jeff. The echo freakout goes until the end of the song, finishing it up with unison descending lines between both guitars and bass. So cool!
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Orion Canyon – somber and moody, it starts off sounding a bit like something by the Mermen, but soon becomes obvious that that it is the Insect Surfers through and through. A beautiful melody, excellent band dynamics, great arrangement touches, such as where Michael takes over the main melody line while the band breaks things down, only playing accents, while Michael goes on to explore multiple variations on the theme, incorporating some beautiful harmonics. All the musicians show a true sensitivity to the needs of the song. The song approaches the end as Dave repeats the main theme and Michael dramatically double-picks the counterpoint line, leading first to a false end, and then a nicely resolved ending. Just brilliant.
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El Diablo Habanero – slightly Latino sounding, with a main line consisting of two chords going back and forth, and providing an opportunity for both guitarists to stretch out and play lengthy solos. Actually, this isn’t one of my favorites on the album, as it gets too repetitive after a while, but it’s definitely not bad.
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PintoPacerDusterGremlin – now THIS ONE almost certainly got the European crowds GOING! A simple, fast-paced, riff-driven track with frequent breakdowns for the band to shout out the names of the late-‘70s Deadly Subcompact Quartet! It’s just FUN!
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Plankton Dance – another upbeat, uptempo song (whoever knows Dave knows that these two words describe him 100% – and his songs reflect his personality!) with an unusual main melody and some great guitar interplay between Dave and Michael. I suspect that this the kind of a song that influenced Ferenc in Pollo Del Mar, and led him to write his tribute to Insect Surfers, “Insecticide”.
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Sea Scorpion – possibly my favorite song on the album! A slightly dark opening riff, leading to a middle-eastern main melody, followed by full band stops and Michael picking up the main melody from Dave, playing with it, twisting and turning it around, misshaping it, until, following another full band stop, we get a slow build back up, as at first bass reemerges, followed by one guitar, then drums, then the other guitar, then the guitars playing a harmony line, leading us back into the verse. There are so many little arrangement and melodic touches in songs like these, it seems like every few seconds there’s something new and unexpected! And wow, listen to how TIGHT this band is! Just amazing.
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Par Avion - a Pell Mell song that I wasn’t familiar with previously, but it’s very new-wave sounding, and completely different than anything I’ve heard before (well, it bears a bit of a resemblance possibly to El Ray’s “Bob Hund” on their “Chasing Ray” album, and that one was also influenced by an ‘80s new wave act). A very insistent beat with an almost military feel to the drums and bass, and the two guitars locked into a repetitive harmony line until the verse resolves into a tremolo-ed chord, and then the verse lines twist into something slightly different, continuing to change and evolve. It’s really striking and seriously cool!
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Pineapple Skies – a pleasant midtempo, slightly melancholy song, with a pretty melody and some fantastic, melodic bass playing by Jonpaul. It also reminds me a bit of some of Paul Johnson’s ‘80s-and-beyond songwriting (which, come to think of it, also applies to at least several other songs on this album).
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Vaquita – at nearly seven minutes in length, a groovy slow-burner of a song, with the perfectly locked-in rhythm section and another gorgeous, uplifting melody, but also a particularly beautiful bridge. Love the dolphin,seagull and other ocean noises made by the guitarists, and Michael’s brief solo is a gem. Actually, this song reminds me more than a bit of some stuff by the Aqua Velvets, it has a very similar feel and even sound. The song feels like sitting on beach on a beautiful day and enjoying every second of it, taking it all in…
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Crab Crusher – another jammy song, with a few distinct ‘heads’, while the space in between provides an opportunity for Dave and Michael to stretch out and improvise. And like “El Diablo Hebenero”, the song gets a bit repetitive for my taste, as it doesn’t really develop much, though the end is pretty cool.
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Kitsune – a darker jammy song, with an intriguing main melody and all sorts of backwards sounds and effects in the spaces in between the melodic parts. Even sounds like shoegazing music in places.
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Radar Road – at nearly 10 minutes in length, by far the most psychedelic moment on the album. Built on a simple midtempo looping bass riff, it allows Dave and Michael to pursue their flights of fancy, which are wide-ranging and in a few places quite extraordinary – though this is a pretty self-indulgent song. (I’m sure they would agree!
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Infra Green – a song completely unlike anything else on this CD, a real mood piece. It actually reminds me of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”. A supremely cool droning bass line with a barely audible floor tom rumbling underneath, and a bunch of guitar sound effects on top, but it all works beautifully.
Whew, there you go. That’s a lot! Bottom line: an utterly brilliant CD, and, for me, vying for the very best surf/instro CD of the year right alongside Frankie & the Pool Boys’ “The Adventures of Cap’n Coconuts”, the Mystery Men’s “Sonos Delirium” and Martin Cilia’s “Going to Kaleponi”. This is a major contribution to making 2013 another phenomenal year for surf music, and it is a truly special piece of work. Welcome back, Insect Surfers, we’ve missed you – and we didn’t even know how much!
—Ivan
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Last edited: Sep 10, 2013 22:35:48
Wooooooo! 
