Remember when
Jimi Hendrix told us "You'll never hear surf music again" back in 1967?
Jimi was a genius, but he was wrong then, and it's no truer today. However, he might have been pleasantly surprised at how surf music has mutated over the course of 55 years.
Japanese Television are a British quartet who start with the splashy, reverb-laden guitar sound pioneered by
Dick Dale, and then meld it with a mind-expanding mélange of psychedelia, prog rock, and space rock accents. Like the best surf bands,
Japanese Television don't bother with vocals, and they bring us ten exercises in wave-riding instrumental mind-meld on their first full-length album, 2022's
Space Fruit Vineyard. Guitarist Tim David Jones is clearly a disciple of surf guitar classicism while also filling his riffing with layers of fuzz and occasional peals of feedback. Meanwhile, Ian Thorn's keyboards effectively fill the melodic space that would usually be handed to a vocalist, Alex Lawton keeps the bottom end lively with his bass, and Al Brown's drumming is an exemplary compromise between laying down the rhythm and using his kit to add color and texture to the music.
Space Fruit Vineyard is suitably trippy, and even though nearly all their stylistic reference points come from decades past,
Japanese Television don't stoop to clichés; this gets the feel of their surf-space hybrid just right while also creating an aural personality of their own, resulting in performances that are significantly more than the sum of their parts. The effectiveness of the presentation is all the more impressive knowing that this music was all recorded live to tape, with each take complete and without edits. Sometimes these tracks stretch out a bit longer than they need to, and the group have a bit to learn about pacing, but if you're looking for a dose of consciousness expansion to take to the beach and/or the spaceways, let
Space Fruit Vineyard be your guide. ~ Mark Deming