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The Kilaueas: Mundaka Calls (Double Crown)
When Sean Of Continental/Double Crown advertised this as a must-have
for the Atlantics/Shadows/Space Cossacks fans, I had to have it
immediately! This is a new(er?) German band, and their debut CD is
excellent. I highly recommend though I will disagree somewhat with
Sean's description of it. For one thing, I really don't hear any
Shadows influence. This is a real SURF band, not a Euro-instro
band. The clean, warm production reveals gobs of Fender reverb on
both rhythm and lead guitars, and glissandos and reverbed-palm-muted
rhythm guitar parts are present in abundance. The lead guitarist (I
think it's him) is shown with a Jag, too, and his tone definitely
sounds like a Jag.
They explode right out of the gate with a very good cover of the
Atlantics' "Rumble and Run", which immediately put a smile on my
face. Not quite as biting in sound, and replacing the sirens with a
treble-string glissando, but otherwise very faithful and well-
executed. These guys can obviously play. The second song, strangely
titled "Triumphator Electric", is an original, and I must admit that
I could hear a bit of a Space Cossacks thing going on in this song,
though it could very well be just a case of common influences. It's
a fast song with an unusual but hauntingly-beautiful melody, fast-
strummed rhythm guitar and a Miserlou-Hava Nagila drum beat. It
actually reminded me a bit of the Cossacks song "Transylvanian Orbit
(Romanian Dance of the Undead)". It's really excellent, and my
smile got even bigger. The next song, "Black Phantom Twang"
introduced a big dose of real surf, with tribal drums and mucho
reverb, coupled again with some haunting, remorseful melodies.
Actually, I believe this song is much more representative of the rest
of the album, which is mostly not in the vein of the first two
songs. Most of the album consists of mid-tempo melodic and sad-
sounding surf music. In fact, the one band I kept being reminded
over and over again was the Bambi Molesters. Songs like "Flamingo A
Go Go", "Luna Tiki", "Hula Roach", "Chekmate 100", "Black Sands"
and "Antenna Moon" (these latter two being slow and supremely moody)
sound like they came RIGHT off one of the Bambi Molesters albums!
The interplay between the two guitarists is very similar, the tones
are very similar, and most of all the remorseful, slightly foreboding
mood of the songs owe a big debt to the Bambis. In addition, these
are all melodic songs with complex arrangements, and they are
executed very well just like the Bambis. There are two more songs
on the album that very nicely and effectively show the Kilaueas'
Atlantics influences; with clashing tonalities, rolling toms and
furiously strummed rhythm guitar: the crushing title track and the
eerie and dark "Jaws". The Kilaueas also do a few other covers, the
Ventures' version of "Caravan" with some nimble fingerwork by the
lead guitarist; "Saturday Night At the Lava Pond" which is a version
of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" modeled (to my ears) mostly on (British
instro band from the early `60s) the Cougars' "Saturday Night at the
Duck Pond" but mixed in with some elements of the Nebulas' "Swan
Lake"; and finally, "Dark Eyes", the old Russian song which they
misidentify as "Malaguena" a mistake first made the (US surf band)
Tornadoes, and probably picked up by the Kilaueas there. This is a
Euro-instro standard, performed by almost all continental instro
bands in the early `60s, and it remains a great song. The Kilaueas
do a very nice job with the exception of one wrong note that the
lead guitarist keeps playing in the main melody!
Bottom line: this is an auspicious and promising debut and I have
great expectations for this band. They are already very good, and if
they can let their own personality come to the surface a bit more,
they'll be a force to contend with. They have a great foundation,
excellent influences, and they're obviously capable of writing
beautiful and freshly unique melodies and creating complex
arrangements that sound deceptively simple and are very pleasing to
the ears. I would highly recommend that you buy this CD all surf
fans will love it.
Ivan
