THE NEBULAS
Nebula One (Tivertone)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Veeeery interesting! I've seen more surf CDs in the past few weeks than I had in the six months before them, and I like what I'm hearing. Bands are still experimenting, pushing the envelope, fusing different musical threads to surf to create new sounds, which is quite exciting. Here's a band rooted in traditional surf and not interested in pushing any envelopes. The only thing they seem to want to do is make a classic sounding instro surf masterpiece, loaded with fast, pounding drums, insistent bass, speed picked guitar and an ocean of soaking wet reverb. There isn't a dog on the entire disc, but they've got their first masterpiece (that I know of, having never heard the band before) in "T-16," a song that has it all including a melody that is exotic and exciting, as well as an overall atmosphere that suggests you'd better start paddling or you'll be under that wave coming up fast. Mike Dominguez and Dan Ware compliment one another perfectly on lead and rhythm guitars, respectively. Mike Lewis (bass) and "Too Fast" Jim Nichols power this music along like a pair of Rolls-Merlin engines in perfect sync. It's trad, man. It's like "Wipe Out" with a sense of the exotic and a heavy dose of mystique, and I don't know about you, but I'll always have room for some of that.

[Pick this up at www.zptdudamusic.com.]

© 2002 - DJ Johnson