The Intelligence – Fake Surfers

Titles like I Hear Depression aren’t exactly the sort of thing to play to girls chewing gum, but they’re still great. This particular number sounds as if Depeche Mode have been transported back to 1963…


The Intelligence – Fake Surfers

http://www.konkuurent.nl/ http://www.intheredrecords.com/

 

Fake Surfers – the clue is in the title. Highly charged noise-pop with a twist of Dick Dale et al? Well… Fake Surfers is a slightly incongruous title in that the music never seeks to whack you in the gullet with some treble-rich guitar attack. No, this is slacker music, wilful, offbeat and slightly obsessed with itself, despite the obvious pop-hooks of tracks like Tower and Debt & E.S.P. It’s a bit like Kerouac has knocked off Van Dyck Parks and moved in as Brian Wilson’s musical mentor.

 

The stream-of-consciousness vibe is present right from the opener Fake Surfers. Titles like I Hear Depression aren’t exactly the sort of thing to play to girls chewing gum, but they’re still great. This particular number sounds as if Depeche Mode have been transported back to 1963…

 

There’s always a feeling of something menacing appearing from the back of your stereo, Fuck Eat Skull (the deranged) Pony People and Warm Transfers, despite their superficial jauntiness trade in something sinister, and based on the musical advert I wouldn’t take up the services of the Universal Babysitter.

 

The whole thing is over before you know it, which is a shame, because this record has a quiet charm all of its own.

 

Words: Richard Foster