| | David Thomas Surf's Up! CD David Thomas Discography of CDs
Though he's made his home in London for years, Pere Ubu frontman David Thomas has built the better part of his songwriting career exploring American themes that seem to hold a special fascination for him -- open spaces, the industrial Midwest, cars, and surf culture (he's written a song called "Beach Boys," covers "Surf's Up" here, and has covered or quoted "Sloop John B." on several occasions). In between Pere Ubu projects he has worked under his own name with various collaborators, including the interesting guitar and trumpet duo called Two Pale Boys. Guitarist Keith Moline and trumpeter Andy Diagram both make use of technologies that significantly expand the normal tonal and temporal ranges of their instruments, often making it sound as if there are five or six bandmembers playing simultaneously (in addition to Thomas' own occasional contributions on melodeon). As anyone familiar with Thomas' work both in and outside of Pere Ubu will expect, the songs on Surf's Up! are moody and strange, suffused with a twisted humor and sometimes sweetly melodic in ways that don't reveal themselves immediately. For example, "Man in the Dark" sounds shapeless at first, a muttered lyric over unnaturally low-pitched trumpet and distant shreds of guitar, but stick with it and you'll realize that it's really a three-chord pop song. The nine-minute epic "River" combines layers of digitally delayed guitar and Jon Hassell-ish trumpet with multi-tracked vocals and lyrics that may or may not speak of environmental apocalypse (Thomas has longstanding aversions to both careful enunciation and printed lyrics). The most rockish entry is the harmonically static and, frankly, not terribly interesting "Spider in My Stew." But the big curiosity, of course, is his cover of "Surf's Up," which is given an eerily beautiful and ponderously slow arrangement. As usual, Thomas essentially defies criticism by being utterly sui generis. ~ Rick Anderson
2nd Studio Album
David Thomas & Two Pale Boys: David Thomas (vocals, melodeon); Keith Moline (guitar); Andy Diagram (trumpet).Q (4/01, p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...SURF'S UP finds Thomas in wistfully frazzled voice, with his partners...providing a panoply of evocative, if skeletal, backings....a curiously disarming album."
Alternative Press (5/01, p.94) - 3 out of 5 - "...A multifaceted and ultimately fascinating album..." David Thomas Surf's Up! Songs Surf's Up! Review
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Purchase Surf's Up! CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Erik Friedlander Quake CD (2003)
Surf's Up! album
 $15.29 
On Quake, downtown cello boss Erik Friedlander teams up with Japan's fraternal rhythm section the Takeishi brothers (Stomu and Satoshi on bass and drums, respectively) as well as alto saxophonist Andy Laster for a date of intimate, knotty new jazz. In working with an electric bassist in this setting, the opportunities for unique tonalities are everywhere and are exploited to some degree as they were on an earlier work, The Watchman. Over the years, however, Friedlander has become a composer of interesting ensembles and Quake's is no exception. What is so remarkable about the performances on this recording are details such as counterpoint; on ...
| | Paul Brody Beyond Babylon CD (2004)
Surf's Up! CD music
$13.35
On his second album fronting his band Sadawi, trumpeter and composer Paul Brody continues his work in the avant-klezmer trenches, helping to drag that hundred-year-old music kicking and screaming into the 21st century. On Beyond Babylon he shows his unwillingness to be constrained by any ghetto boundaries, ...
| | Kagemusha DVDs (1980) Widescreen; Special Edition; Subtitled
Surf's Up! music CDs
 $31.99 
In this dazzling epic from Akira Kurosawa, a petty thief named Kagemusha (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets saved from a death sentence because he resembles the warlord Shingen Takeda (also Nakadai). The warlord has been fighting two other leaders for control ...
| | Satantango DVDs (1994) Widescreen; Black & White; Subtitled
Surf's Up! songs
$53.35 
| | Maya Beiser Almost Human CD (2007)
Surf's Up! album
$14.65
| | Alexandra DVD (2007)
Surf's Up! CD music
$21.49
Russian master Aleksandr Sokurov (THE SUN, RUSSIAN ARK, MOTHER AND SON) has produced another majestic achievement with ALEXANDRA. In a rare instance of ...
| | Gourds Ghosts Of Hallelujah CD (1999)
Surf's Up! music CDs
$14.65
The Gourds' third full-length, Ghosts of Hallelujah, finds them evolving their sound quite successfully with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston and new drummer Keith Langford. Both presences are immediately noticeable on the opening romp, "Up on High," where Langford's idiosyncratic drum riff leads the tune and Johnston's relaxed, secure fiddling supports Jimmy Smith's if-the-Pogues-were-from-Texas swagger. The songwriting of both Smith and Kevin Russell has more strength than ever before. Their trademark ability to articulate striking, lovely, and humorous emotions via turning the oddest cryptic and poetic phrases in rock & roll is present and abundant, as always. With Langford's confidence boost to the rhythm section and Johnston's proficiency on dobro, banjo, fiddle, and guitar, the Gourds immediately seize the chance to explore more complex arrangements, resulting in some their most inspired songs to date. Russell's honky tonk lurch "Ghosts of Hallelujah" and lovely "Flat Baritone" are standouts, showcasing a more streamlined approach, while Smith's trilogy of songs, "Bean Bowl," "My Time, Yer Time," ...
| | Archers Of Loaf Vee Vee CD (1995)
Surf's Up! songs
$12.39
At first glance, VEE VEE, the second full-length album from Chapel Hill's Archers Of Loaf, seems like just another collection of aggressive punk postures on the hollowness of alternative music--a common topic in the commericalized climate of the mid-'90s. Upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious that rather than an accusatory, bitch-&-moan session, VEE VEE is an editorial on a community in peril. Full of hidden melodic twists, brawny streaks of runaway noise, and a reflective lyrical stance, it is modern-day call to arms worthy of The Clash.
VEE VEE includes two anthems that perfectly illuminate the plight of the Archers. "Harnessed In Slums" explodes as if on a prison-break--full of grimy metallic guitar, with feverish vocals yearning for redemption, and an impatient lyric that all but points to a revolution of the soul. Yet the very title of the closing "Underachievers March And Fight Song"--another furious rummage of oddly tuned guitars and a whistle-song chorus--points ...
| | Dripping Lips Ready To Crack? CD (1998)
Surf's Up! album
$13.85
Produced by the late Jimmy Miller, the Dripping Lips features former Damned lead guitarist Brian James fronting a similar four-piece unit with many of the same musical ideas and approaches still in place. Although there's nothing on here as rude as Damned classics like "Neat Neat Neat" or "Stab Your Back," James' guitar still wounds and kills in the right spots and the overall approach is anything but commercial and refined. Things become a little less frenzied on the acoustic "Such a Lot of Stars," the boogie "You Treat Me Too Kind" and the drifting and bluesier "Push Push" with its Iggy-like vocal approach by lead singer Robbie ...
| | Four80East Album CD (1998)
Surf's Up! CD music
$10.25
| | John Kirk & Trish Miller The Big Rock Candy Mountain CD (2005)
Surf's Up! music CDs
$10.85
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