Astro Coast
Surfer Blood
Kanine (2010)
3 stars
It's funny what's cool these days. When I was starting high school, surfing was cool. This didn't exactly suit my pale, skinny thirteen-year-old self, so a few years down the track when skateboarding took off, I wasted no time convincing the old man to 'help me' build a ramp*. I was shithouse at that too. I tried for a few years, my mates and I doing these incredibly lame jumps off the ramp into the garden bed, for a soft landing, but eventually gave up, opting to master Tony Hawk on the PlayStation instead (which I did). Anyway, the point of me saying any of this is that, back then, a trend came in and it stuck around for a year or two -- long enough to give it a good crack before you decided whether or not it was for you. But these days, something is cool -- even if it is cool in a cute, ironic, self-depreciating way -- one week, and by the following week when everyone's caught on, it's uncool again. This is the modern cycle of cool. And it's fucking exhausting.
Surfing music is in at the moment. Surfing, itself, is not (but really, if you're actually surfing on weekends, who gives a shit what those impressionable city kids think, huh?). But with the indie set, making out like you spend all day at the beach is definitely in. This band are from Florida, and seem to like surfing and surfing themes. And this is a good album. Their music is like a more glossy, radio-friendly incarnation of Japandroids. If you like guitars, big hooks, and enjoy driving with the windows down, slapping the steering wheel, you'll probably enjoy it.
