Heroin In Tahiti – Death Surf

I suppose you could say it’s the music Mizutani would perform if commissioned to record a summertime special soundtrack.

I suppose you could say it’s the music Mizutani would perform if commissioned to record a summertime special soundtrack.

http://boringmachines.it http://heroinintahiti.bandcamp.com/

Is this what heroin sounds like when taken in Tahiti? Or death surfing? I couldn’t tell you, neither subjects are my forte, luckily. What I can tell you is that this record is whacked out. Like some milk float or ice cream van cursed to wander round at 2 miles an hour in another, parallel dimension, it’s not going anywhere fast, if anywhere at all. And it’s certainly NOT changing its tune for anyone. Still, if you fancy turning the front part of your brain off for half an hour or so, it’s a pleasant companion.

Snatches of very familiar tunes surface through the gloopy misty substance the music seems to be wrapped in: the opener Death Surf, broadcasts snippets what could be the batman theme through the pea souper. (This happens later with Sartana – which also starts to vaguely channel Blondie’s Rapture). The waves of reverb and echo effects render everything bleached out, frizzed, stoned, and marooned on some private island. There’s a feel of some sort of spaghetti western here, a hint of a surf party too: I suppose you could say it’s the music Mizutani would perform if commissioned to record a summertime special soundtrack. It’s also dark and slightly Gothic stuff: tracks like Ex-Giants on Dope and the title track have a feel of some Cocteau Twins track off from 1985-6 (something like Love’s Easy Tears) played at 17 rpm – or a very, very slow version of White Car in Germany by the Associates. It’s those high register guitar effects… But substitute Scots romanticism for dark, merciless Italian take on surf, and rockabilly culture if you would…

It’s a good, diverting listen, and one that can knock you out of time, given the right circumstances.