Tag Archives: surf rock

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Tijuana Panthers, “Front Window Down”

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Making an appearance here on The Gig’s Video Clip of the Week for an unprecedented THIRD TIME (Woo!), Long Beach rock trio Tijuana Panthers serendipitously capture both the elation of the beginning of summertime, and the sweet melancholy of summer’s end, in their latest video for the sublime tune, “Front Window Down. I love this band.

Visually, this is a fun, no-frills clip of the band “performing” in a small living room, with super-imposed images of bassist/lead singer Daniel Michicoff rocking out on the vocals, sometimes with a cigarette nonchalantly dangling from the corner of his mouth. A wash of jangly, surf rock guitars buttressed by a viscerally sludgy bassline, this exuberant burst of aural energy takes me back to the surf-garage rock revival of late ’70s / early ’80s California, and it’s all good. “Front Window Down” comes from the band’s upcoming fourth album, Poster, which, perhaps appropriately, will arrive on August 28th (via Innovative Leisure), just in time to reflect on this summer, and summers past. Enjoy!

Tijuana Panthers Press Photo 2015

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Baby Guru, “Especially When”

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There is so much to love about the video for “Especially When” from retro-rock trio Baby Guru, who come to us from Athens, Greece. If you’re all about a cohesive storyline, I’m not sure what images of a fast girl driving a fast car, a wall of flame and troops in gas masks — interspersed with performance shots of individual band members filtered through 80’s-era kaleidoscope special effects — is supposed to say. But the song is a stone groove of surf rock with discernible time changes and a prog rock keyboard solo that just doesn’t quit. Win Win!

Baby Guru’s third album, Marginalia will be out on Inner Ear Records by the time you read this. Visit their website at This Link for more information on the band! Enjoy!

Baby Guru Marginalia CD Cover

Music, Pop Culture

Recommended Listening: Palmyra Delran, You Are What You Absorb

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You Are What You Absorb

Well known on the NYC rock scene as the guitarist and primary songwriter behind retro garage-pop quartet The Friggs, Palmyra Delran is a bit of a local music icon. While The Friggs never broke commercially, they opened for legendary bands such as The Ramones and Cheap Trick, earning a devote regional following as well as solid professional props for being an “all-girl” band that could rock as hard as any group of guys. In her second solo venture, Delran stays close to the layered pop sound she helped to hone in The Friggs, while continuing to demonstrate innovation with regard to arrangements and intriguing personal storytelling in songs that draw the listener into her very relatable world.
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Music, Pop Culture

MGMT "It’s Working" Video!

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Geoffrey and I are seeing these guys tonight at Radio City! So excited!

Music, Pop Culture

Album of the Year: MGMT’s Congratulations!

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OK, I realize it’s not even April yet, but I’m predicting now that there will be no better album released in the year 2010 than MGMT’s sophomore release, Congratulations; due to drop officially on April 13th. Downloads of Congratulations first leaked all over the Internet weeks ago, so of course this work of sheer aural bliss found its way to me, as things of great genius tend to do. Being blessed with a pair of old-school rock and roll ears, these nine heavily 60s and 70s influenced tracks appealed to me on first listen. Yes, this album is a massive departure from the dense electro-pop of Oracular Spectacular – which was my favorite album of 2008. And in this case, change is good.
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