April Birthdays 
What's this!? A wall-of-sound surf album?? Surely it can't be! 
Wow, this is one amazing chunk of surf music. This album has generated a fair amount of buzz here on the forums, and finally it delivers. Searider is more than just a new album by the Barbwires. Besides the header on the album cover--"The Barbwires with the Blue Ocean Orchestra"--it brings surf music to whole new heights of orchestration and instrumentation only ever remotely approached by a select few. And the best part about this album is--it works! This is a great, full sound that I haven't found overbearing or distracting at all. It's got a trad sensibility with a very modern attack. Great songs with good diversity and tons of melodic and sonic depth that provide tons of new stuff to hear with every next listen. I'm excited! 
The album opens with the brief introductory Ka Le o Ke Kahuku. Vinyl crackles over a soft ukulele and lap steel guitar as birds sing in the distance. It's a warm and welcoming kind of sound, and quickly lulls and relaxes you. Very comforting, but wait...
... La Caja Del Muerto happens. Oh my god, this song. Strings provide a brief warning of the coming of a killer opening riff with ballsy tone and grit in its teeth. Strings and horns accompany a series of riffs and then lay down the rhythm for what may just be the single most epic guitar line in the history of surf music. The melody takes off about 50 seconds in, with Mike Barbwire's guitar delivering a lick of unrivaled gigantism in tone and melodic power. The rest of the song that follows is one of the great raging surf monsters--nothing but historically memorable riffs and melodic changes supported by layered guitars, strings, and horns. The huge production of this song coupled with it's relentless power make for a certain epic grandiosity that's perhaps unrivaled within the surf genre. Did I mention that I like this one? Don't take it as hyperbole when I say that it deserves to be remembered as one of the best surf songs of all time. Anyone who hasn't yet heard it check it out on the Barbwires' myspace right now. Then buy the album so you can listen to it all day like I've been doing. 
Okay, so the sheer awesomeness of La Caja Del Muerto is well established. But now it poses a problem: the whole rest of the album has to follow. I had heard the song on the band's myspace months back, and since then I wondered whether the rest of the album would be able to hold its own against such a highlight. If the remainder of the material were of the same caliber as Caja..., in my opinion Searider could easily be the best surf album ever. But if it were at all average, the disappointment could be all the greater in the shadow of that epic ditty. Lucky for us, the remain album as a whole is strong enough to contend. We could always hope--but not reasonably expect--that the whole album would be consistently as good, and of course it isn't. But is nonetheless a great album and already one of my top-ten favorites.
The dubious honor of following Caja... goes to Go Go Gasoline. It's a dragster number, with a rumbling engine to open the song that makes apparent, alongside the opening Hawaiian-styled tune and other songs that follow, despite this album's very modern approach to surf it's very much an homage to surf music and the idealized surfing lifestyle of the 1960's. This should make the album a major treat for just about any surf fan--trad or not.
Go Go Gasoline is a very fast paced and very upbeat number. I guess it makes sense that instead of trying to one-up yourself after Caja... it's a good idea to just kick back and have a good time. It's got a really "happening" melody with lots of quick changes between sections. My first few listens I thought it all felt a little without focus, but the song has really grown on me and I like it quite a bit now. Really fun and enjoyable.
Waimanalo slows things back down for just a bit before bringing things back up-tempo. A ukulele rings in a sax and horns that contribute to much of the song's fun atmosphere, though more laid back than the previous track. In fact now that I think about it the song has a very carefree vibe to it. It's a long song--almost five minutes--but doesn't get tiring. Besides, it's nice to feel carefree for extended periods of time.
The Cheater is the unfortunate disappointment of the album, in my opinion. It's a fast and driving number, heavy on the percussion and with some cool counterpoint from the rhythm guitar, strings, and horns. However, the quick-slung riffs seem almost frantic to my ear and don't really develop in any direction. As with all the songs on this album, it's fun to listen to all the layers of instruments here, but the song as a whole doesn't do much for me, and its brevity (less than two minutes) makes it seem like it was something of an afterthought, even though with such an involved production I'm sure that wasn't the case.
Measurable amounts of respite and relaxation finally come in Shelter From the Sun--the album's first consistently slower number. Claves, shakers, and smooth horns and guitar tones give the song a very suave feel, maybe like a modern extension off the Surfmen's Casanova. Very cool chilled out track.
After Shelter From the Sun naptime's over. And man it's a dark world we've woken up into. Blood on the Waves is mean, and it's great. 
Tortured strings and theremin quickly set things up, replaced by horns in accompaniment to one mean riff with a tangible sense of urgency and danger. I particularly like all the "extra" bits in this song--wailing strings, horns, and theremin; yells off in the distance, call and response between the guitar and violins, the short pizzicato break, and unsettling sorrowful close. Great arrangement of an otherwise uncomplicated song. Awesome stuff.
Thor Island Thunder picks up with the twangiest tones of the album and a pedal steel guitar, achieving a subtly "western" feel, but different from other western surf songs I've heard. It's got a touch of darkness and melancholy compounded by the strings. Very moody and unique sound and really cool. 
The eponymous hero of the album is the wonderful Searider. I hold this song as my personal number two to La Caja Del Muerto. What a great song! It opens with a slowly weeping saw--a sound that's soo yearning and woeful and goofy at the same time it always brings a huge grin to my face and makes me want to both laugh and cry. It sets a great mood quickly broken by a gutsy walking turnaround on the guitar and full resonant horns. Oh man, the instrumentation and the tones in the first few measures send chills down my back. It's a great setup for the song that follows--a Hollywood jazzy crime caper-type of number. The melody's kinda playful but not at all campy, and the multiple layers of production just keep things all the more interesting. The strings and horns are impeccable throughout and a fantastic counterpoint to Mike's guitarwork. I loove the pizzicato verse--brings a smile to my face every time. Things build to the last verse, where the guitar tones soon become out of this world. Mike's tones vary (very tastefully) throughout this album, with the most notable gutsiness thus far on Caja... But towards the end of the song Searider, he unleashes a huge sonic force of entirely unrivaled ballsiness. His guitar growls and cuts through all the layers upon layers of other instruments and it's just entirely sublime. Tone heaven! I think his tone on the last minute of this song might just be the most desirable in surf, for my tastes at least. Friggin' amazing. But he then sets it aside for the closer, when the saw comes back to bring a parting tear and grin once again. Great great song. 
Springbreak brings things back to the general upbeatness of the earlier songs on the album. It's a very fun, even raucous song. It's got a strong and simple--very danceable--beat, supportive of the audience-participation tilt of the song. The "spring break" concept is cute and clever in a hyuck-hyuck kind of way. Reverb kicks! Very cheeky, and pretty darn fun.
You Son of a Beach is another personal favorite. It's got a light latin influence and smoother tones than usual. Actually, the guitar sounds very much like Ivan circa the days of the Space Cossacks. There's even more overlap with Ivan's playing style on this one. I wonder if it was intentional? 
Yes or no, the end product is an immensely enjoyable surf song with a slight exoticism and dramatic flair--right up my alley. I love the horn break in the middle and the gutsiness of the last verse. Yet another great arrangement and production with tons to listen to.
The song starts bringing things to a close with splashing waves and more birdcalls. Ukulele and pedal steel underscore an Endless Summer narration. A cute and well-executed idea that's a real warm and fuzzy moment for fans of the movie.
More lapping waves and calling birds segue into the closing Rauk Reef, a final slow number with a very relaxing quality. The melodica makes more Endless Summer callbacks behind a much more modern melody. The song is very calming for the first few minutes before picking up with a great riff and edgier guitarwork. Even despite the change in attack, the accompaniment of the strings helps maintain a certain hypnotic lull through to the fading close--a gentle drop-off from the full experience that this album truly is. Though I would prefer more closure to the album than just a fade-away, Rauk Reef is still a very satisfying closing song, and that final riff will stay with you the whole rest of the day. 
Overall, Searider is an immensely enjoyable album, worth multiple consecutive listens both for its melodic strength and depth of production. I didn't even go into that much detail about the instrumentation of each individual song--just about every minute of this album has a three guitar arrangement (maybe two guitars and a keyboard) and multiple layers of strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion and whatever else. It's an approach to surf that could easily end up getting very messy, but this album executes it with flying colors. the extra arrangements are actually a huge contributing factor to the quality of each of the songs and the album as a whole. Even if you don't like the songs (I don't see why any self-respecting surf fan wouldn't :P), if only for this album's production Searider is an achievement commanding respect. The depth of production and arrangement shows that this is a band that puts a whole lot of thought into it's songs and into surf music as a craft and form. It's pretty inspiring, really and something worth seeing a whole lot more of in the genre. This album has proved surf's potential for multi-layered sonic ear candy, and the results are damn enjoyable and damn promising.
Last edited: Nov 12, 2008 09:37:30
It's completely ruined my self-esteem. Here I thought I was hot stuff and then something like this comes along... Those bastards!!!! 
Klas, Serpico, somebody, anybody bring a camera crew with you to that!
You guys.... Thanks, you're too kind.
