Trabants - Freakout CD (Lolipop!)
This is quite a surprise from Trabants - they’ve delivered some excellent, adventurous surf instros over the past half decade or so, but this is a completely different sound. It’s still instrumental, but this time they go for more of a garage/psych/sitar sound. Great crunchy guitars are backed with wild vintage organ, sitars, and interesting sounds and textures throughout. Eric Penna, who writes all of the original material for the band and plays guitar and several other instruments here, has really outdone himself here. It’s hard to pick out standout tunes here, when all of them are so good, but I probably dug “XJ13” of the more uptempo tunes, while the slower, moody “Mazar” was another favorite. With the surf scene stronger than ever these days, it really takes something special to stand out from the rest, and he’s managed to deliver quite a gem here. He’s joined by a bunch of other musicians on drums, percussion, trumpet, bass, cello, and baritone guitar. It’s a wild, groovy sound that I (and, likely you) just can’t get enough of - definitely one of the standout releases of 2015!
Tracks: White Fire - XJ13 - Black Jack - Mazar - Dutch Treats - Blue Dream - Sky Walker - FREAKOUT - Candy Jack - Mecca