Tiger Waves

Tiger Waves....

These trippy assholes from Austin submitted some music to us in October, but only one killer track called 'In Retrograde'. I e-mailed them back and told them that I'll publish the track, but warned them: "don't play 'just the tip' with me; YOU BEST contact me when you have more songs OR WE'RE DONE!"

Ohhhhhh, I warned them so hard (cracks knuckles) but only because I loved 'In Retrograde' so hard. That song made me want to lay on my water bed all day and stare at the clown on my Stephen King's IT poster taped to my ceiling through a kaleidoscope. It was creepy and dreamy and trippy all at the same time. 

Then, this morning I woke up to another e-mail from James (co-songwriter in Tiger Waves) and he tellz me that their album is ready. It's called. wait for it, wait for it.........Tippy Beach. 

EEeeeek. 

Before I get into the album; I need to digress for a second. I love the Beach Boys and my SYFFAL brothren make fun of me for this with endless jokes that compare me to a baby boomer who wears navy calf high socks with slippers. 

But they just don't understand. 

And I especially love the werido, hanging out with Charles Manson Beach Boys era. The era when Brian Wilson would hold meetings in his pool because he thought his house was bugged. The era when the songs were a little psychedelic and you could almost feel Wilson's paranoia in the instrumentation like an invading ooze blanketing the lyrics. 

This is the same feeling I had while listening to Tippy Beach. 

Now, I thought twice about whether or not I should even bring up the Beach Boys in this review because I don't want to trick the reader (and eventual listener) into some sort of false expectation. This does not sound like the Beach Boys per se (except for maybe the track 'Spectacle Of You'). Sure it has some similar traits, but I could've just as easily compared the sound to Tame Impala, Beach House, Mazzy Star, Animal Collective, etc. 

My point is, Tippy Beach just has that fucked up Brian Wilson feel that's hidden beneath a plethora of sounds. The two droning guitars (maybe three guitars) swirl around lazy vocals that sing through incredible hooks like they aren't even excited at the fact they are hooking you in the first place. And the harmonies are almost sarcastically cheery. It's one big messy juxtaposition and I fucking love it. 

Best yet...that song I loved (and still love) from a couple of months ago, 'In Retrograde' doesn't even make my top three favorite tracks on the album, which speaks to the quality of these songs. That teaser/tip was not a fluke...it is the norm.  

And before I go, I need to unleash my inner guitar geek. The tone of these guitars is SO delicious; it's a mash of super reverby Dick Dale Strat meets jangly southwestern Tele. Fuck, there may be a Fender Jaguar in there too. It's almost as if the album is serving as a promotion for the clean versatility of Fender guitars. 

I smell a conspiracy. Anyhoo....

Tiger Waves, this is the shit I was so impatiently waiting for. I honestly didn't expect anything this good...way to deliver. *Pats asses*