Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

I must admit that I knew very little about Surfer Blood before reading Pitchfork’s Top Songs of 2009, in which the first single “Swim” off of Astro Coast reached #37. This rather high ranking of the song intrigued me to get the record. When I first looked at the front cover and heard the name of the band I expected a rather “heavier” sound that I would have maybe not enjoyed. However, what actually came out of my headphones was the first great record of 2010.

The album starts with the booming, fun, and very melodic riff of “Floating Vibes,” which immediately put me in the mindset of summer (something I certainly miss during these cold winter months). Lyrics like “If you're movin' out to the west, Then you'd better learn how to surf” confirm this concept of summer and keeps you warm while listening. The album continues along with this summer sound with the tsunami crash of “Swim” and the joyful percussion of "Take It Easy." The thing that really strikes me about the first half of the record is the fact that besides the rather unique chords of “Harmonix” the album remains rather linear in concept.

However, as the album moves onto the second half it hits you with something slightly different than the first half. The great college radio hum of “Twin Peaks,” a song that would not sound out of place on an album like Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins, is the highlight of the record for me. This is not to say that it is the best song, but rather that it is the greatest example of the fun sound and nature of this record. Astro Coast continues with the great pop of “Fast Jabroni” and then, obviously as one can see in the title of the next song, moves to a slower tempo on “Slow Jabroni.” The first time I heard this song I was a bit thrown off, but the fact that the songs leading to the rather strange “Slow Jabroni” made the boring first section of the song tolerable enough to reach the great end of “Slow Jabroni,” which has actually become one of my favorite sections of the album. 

The ending of Astro Coast is the one part of the record that I did not love. I adore “Anchorage,” which hits you with this wave of distortion that reminds be a lot of a Sonic Youth album, but I wish the album actually ended with this song, however the album continues onto the final song “Catholic Pagans.” I do actually like the song, but it just did not strike me the way I was so impressed by the songs previously. Besides some minor flaws this album is fantastic and will most likely end up in my top 10 albums of 2010. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 91/100

- Greg