Phil Dirt – Reverb Central – PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA
Primal Sky “Caballero Del Mar” ****

Imagine Charles Lloyd in a psychedelic surfband with a post-spaghetti Ennio Morreconi, and you might get a hint of what Primal Sky is about – a hint because this is much more haunting and adventurous than that. It’s not surf per say, but there are lots of very nice guitar lines suggesting surf, and the artistry here is just too good to pass up. Recommended for that rainy afternoon when gently flowing sensual art is needed, but you don’t want to stray too far from the brine.

Picks: Sensual Dream, Curandero, Son Of The Sea (Hijo Del Mar), Caballero, Flamenco Beach, The Light (Acid Surf Mix), El Presidente

Track by Track Review

Sensual Dream ****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

“Sensual Dream” is a slow moving, sensual number with a gloomy beat and ominous chord structure. The sax and flute suggest detectives, spies, and foreign intrigue. Stylistically outside my normal taste, but I found the way that the hypnotic rhythm track contrasts against sax and flute to be haunting and compelling.

Curandero *****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

Saucy trumpet and gentle violin, along with haunted chorus and whispers, create a foggy view of dreams and danger. Superbly visual!

Son Of The Sea (Hijo Del Mar) ****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

Sounding very South of the border, “Son Of The Sea (Hijo Del Mar)” is an vacation in Mexico on a tropical coast where only the white sands are there to greet you. There is one female vocal verse.

Caballero Del Mar ****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz ((Instrumental)

Salsa and tremolo blend for a delightfully fun afternoon within sight of a pinata. All fun, no pain. The narratives add a fiesta flavor.

Flamenco Beach *****
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

Shimmering tremolo, earthy narratives, and castanets create a fanciful track that requires your focused effort to dislike – in other words – go with the flow, this is just too cool!

The Light (Acid Surf Mix) *****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

You know something cool is about to happen just from the title. Then as it hauntingly rises from a soft beginning, and the tremolo shimmer evolves, you know why you would like this. It’s ethereal, sensually rhythmic, haunting, and very endearing. The bass is so soothing and smooth that you may not notice at first, but suddenly you realize its primal role in this splendid composition. Hypnotic, psychedelic, evolutionary, and imaginative. Too cool!

El Presidente****Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

“El Presidente ” is an easy song with smooth tone and haunted female voices. It’s very pretty and spacious. Bullfight crowds suggest a less romantic and gentle song, yet somehow fit very well. Even the chorus seems just right.

Waves Beneath the Rain ***
Latin Surf Jazz (Instrumental)

Bongos, throbbing tremolo, charming tone, and spooky moodiness ooze from this slowly evolving progression. Stereo whistles give it disquieting edge, but never does it disturb.
“Waves Beneath The Rain” pours slowly out, like a lazy river after a gentle spring rain.

I received my disc couple of days ago and can also confirm it is great, excellent even. I’m sure there is always room for improvement but the MGM disc is shit compared to this new by Mondo.
Too bad about the audio options though… Well, I’m trying to learn Italian so perhaps someday it won’t matter to me at least.

You probably noticed it already but I’m on a process of moving my site to a new domain. It should help with search rankings as well (to have keywords in the domain name) I hope. I had been planning this for some time now, but my site got hacked couple of weeks ago (nothing was lost though) so I went ahead and started the move now so I can weed out any possible malicious code that is there at the old site (although I’m quite sure there shouldn’t be any). Oh well, teaches me to keep programs up to date.

Im just soo lazy so it is going to take some time to move the content here. Right now there is only screenshots from three of the new French discs available (the George Hilton Sartana [which sadly seems to be cut], Durango and Night of the Serpent).