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If you hope to bring the spirit of California to the beaches of Bournemouth, Blackpool, Bridlington and (in my case) Belhaven this summer then you could do a lot worse than let Oregon Bike Trails commandeer your campfire CD player. When The Drums invited everyone to go surfing back in 2009, they kick started a new appreciation for the lighter side of 60’s American culture and we’ve been awash with ‘surf pop’ releases ever since. Riding the crest of this wave better than most is Santa Monica’s Zach Yudin who’s been prolific in the early part of this year. On ‘Deep Sea Diver’, ‘A Summer Thing’ and ‘High School Lover’ he positions himself firmly in The Beach Boys domain, all be it in a more lo-fi fashion, but as fun as that is of even more interest is his latest effort ‘Come On, Come On’ which, while cut from the same cloth as the preceding tracks, has a little hint of The Go! Team about it. If he continues to explore that avenue and diversify he could be the one left gliding to the shore when the musical tide turns.
The get up and go of the west coast of America isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, so if you prefer to stage your fantasy in more tropical and idyllic surroundings Wishing Wars may be able to help you on your way. His - it is purely a one man project - ‘Swim EP’ has been pigeonholed as ‘Chillwave’ (the most meaningless genre name ever) and ‘Sandlegaze’ (which is actually pretty good and I’m jealous I didn’t think of it!), but as I’m feeling left out I’m going to ignore both of those and invent my own pointless niche – Coastbliss!
The laid back productions on show are the perfect soundtrack for a happy beach-ball, wiling away its days in a carefree fashion, bobbing across the sands, only picking up pace occasionally to knock over a child’s ice cream or film a Bounty advert. If you need a more lucid clue as to the musical direction look no further than William Orbit’s ‘Pure Shores’ collaboration with All Saints, or the playful serenity of Air France. Two new tracks, ‘Far Away’ and ’Dive In’, have been previewed via the Wishing Wars Facebook page (along with improved versions of a couple of the Swim EP tracks) and they’re probably his best work yet which all augurs well for future material.....and the Coastbliss reputation!
Now I can really empathise with our next band Calm As The Colour, where they call home is a stone’s throw from me in the grand geographical scheme, and as such I think I know what the summer experience encompasses for them. The sun beams in through the window with its ‘come play with me’ eyes, luring you out into it’s warm embrace, only to be cancelled out the minute you step outside by a biting sea wind and a swarm of midges feasting on parts of the body you didn’t even know existed! This annual farce doesn’t seem to have deterred these Fife lads though who have put together a bunch of tracks that share more in spirit with Sydney than St Andrews, Brisbane than Burntisland and Perth than...err Perth. ‘Rain Must Fall’ and ‘Good Morning Lassitude’ are pure goodtime 60 influenced guitar pop in the vein of The Hollies and The Lovin’ Spoonful while ‘Ticket to Liberty’ is The La’s knocking out a cover of ‘Elephant Stone’ one afternoon down the park. The biggest stumbling block these ‘founders’ face?...the sun sticking around long enough for them to write a full album, it might be time to relocate boys!
The Rain Must Fall by Foundofconfusion
So we’ve catered for the active, the chilled and the dreamers, but there’s a sizable chunk of the population who prefer a bit more bounce to their beach break and they find it by taking to the European circuit for parties on the peninsula. Someone has to supply an anthem that can snapshot their summer and with Russ Chimes still applying the finishing touches to his EP and Alex Metric’s tag team with Ian Brown proving sadly underwhelming, club land could be in need of a rescue mission – so step out of the shadows Daniel J Santillan. Los Angeles based Santillan (or DJ $ex as he goes by on MySpace) normally passes his time as one third of Knight Stalker, but in his spare moments he’s shown that, despite some vocal limitations, he can turn his hand to moulding some neat chunks of electro house. 3 tracks surfaced last year - Do You, Regina and Facade - and whether or not anymore will follow is anyone’s guess (a low key web presence suggests he plays his cards close to his chest) but given what he’s produced so far it would be a shame if there’s no more studio time in the offing. Come on Daniel, Ibiza depends on you.
The get up and go of the west coast of America isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, so if you prefer to stage your fantasy in more tropical and idyllic surroundings Wishing Wars may be able to help you on your way. His - it is purely a one man project - ‘Swim EP’ has been pigeonholed as ‘Chillwave’ (the most meaningless genre name ever) and ‘Sandlegaze’ (which is actually pretty good and I’m jealous I didn’t think of it!), but as I’m feeling left out I’m going to ignore both of those and invent my own pointless niche – Coastbliss!
The laid back productions on show are the perfect soundtrack for a happy beach-ball, wiling away its days in a carefree fashion, bobbing across the sands, only picking up pace occasionally to knock over a child’s ice cream or film a Bounty advert. If you need a more lucid clue as to the musical direction look no further than William Orbit’s ‘Pure Shores’ collaboration with All Saints, or the playful serenity of Air France. Two new tracks, ‘Far Away’ and ’Dive In’, have been previewed via the Wishing Wars Facebook page (along with improved versions of a couple of the Swim EP tracks) and they’re probably his best work yet which all augurs well for future material.....and the Coastbliss reputation!
Now I can really empathise with our next band Calm As The Colour, where they call home is a stone’s throw from me in the grand geographical scheme, and as such I think I know what the summer experience encompasses for them. The sun beams in through the window with its ‘come play with me’ eyes, luring you out into it’s warm embrace, only to be cancelled out the minute you step outside by a biting sea wind and a swarm of midges feasting on parts of the body you didn’t even know existed! This annual farce doesn’t seem to have deterred these Fife lads though who have put together a bunch of tracks that share more in spirit with Sydney than St Andrews, Brisbane than Burntisland and Perth than...err Perth. ‘Rain Must Fall’ and ‘Good Morning Lassitude’ are pure goodtime 60 influenced guitar pop in the vein of The Hollies and The Lovin’ Spoonful while ‘Ticket to Liberty’ is The La’s knocking out a cover of ‘Elephant Stone’ one afternoon down the park. The biggest stumbling block these ‘founders’ face?...the sun sticking around long enough for them to write a full album, it might be time to relocate boys!
The Rain Must Fall by Foundofconfusion
So we’ve catered for the active, the chilled and the dreamers, but there’s a sizable chunk of the population who prefer a bit more bounce to their beach break and they find it by taking to the European circuit for parties on the peninsula. Someone has to supply an anthem that can snapshot their summer and with Russ Chimes still applying the finishing touches to his EP and Alex Metric’s tag team with Ian Brown proving sadly underwhelming, club land could be in need of a rescue mission – so step out of the shadows Daniel J Santillan. Los Angeles based Santillan (or DJ $ex as he goes by on MySpace) normally passes his time as one third of Knight Stalker, but in his spare moments he’s shown that, despite some vocal limitations, he can turn his hand to moulding some neat chunks of electro house. 3 tracks surfaced last year - Do You, Regina and Facade - and whether or not anymore will follow is anyone’s guess (a low key web presence suggests he plays his cards close to his chest) but given what he’s produced so far it would be a shame if there’s no more studio time in the offing. Come on Daniel, Ibiza depends on you.
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So that’s May, June, July and August catered for, see you again in September – it’s dead easy this Found Of Confusion lark! ......err apparently I have to come back next month.....ah..... better get to it then!Get in touch via: The Sound Of Confusion Facebook Page or The Sound Of Confusion on MySpace or leave a comment below.
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