Thread for 50s and early 60s weirdo surf, exotica instro youtubes

The Polaras' "Cricket" is a good example of my original post, a standard surf chord progression yet obviously trying for a gimmick guitar sound to make the record stand out.

yeah, it's not great but that "cricket" spring reverb sound at the beginning is pretty fun.

It's interesting to me to picture these bands and producers recording this stuff way back then. Here's a little thing I wrote in a surf music thread.

’ve been listening to lots of obscure instro music, marveling at an era (1961) when record producers were throwing ANYTHING at the wall to see what might be a hit with America’s youth market.

Take the melody to “Three Blind Mice,” have a few (presumably) session musicians play it on some twangy, fuzzy guitars with a twist beat, and add sped-up vocals to ride the coattails of the then-popular Alvin and the Chipmunks. Give it a little more hep title: “Three Gassed Rats” (blind and gassed being two synonyms for drunk!) and call your “group” The Handclappers. (Johnny and the Hurricanes had big hits with the twistin' standards concept on things like "Red River Rock." I can picture this producer saying "well, if THAT made money, AND I combine the novelty vocal appeal...")

Well, it didn’t make them rich and famous, but my three year old loves this – and my inner child does too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_tOXLfTt0

There are some good stories like that in various books about 60s recording like the Wrecking Crew book. The thing is that sometimes people threw stuff together like that and it did work! It's kind of fascinating to think of a time when people could throw an idea together in a little independent recording studio, press up a test disc and have it to the local radio station that same day, and end up with a big hit that made serious money. All from basically one song and a piece of filler on the other side.

I mean Phil Spector did it when he was 18. He wrote a song, recorded it with his friends and had a #1 hit that sold a million records!

Those early Travis Wammack sides are great!!

xp with Joe Meek being like the ultimate example of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuA-fqKCiAE

His 'I Hear A New World: An Outer Space Fantasy' EP is proto-psych ground zero

I still haven't seen the Joe Meek movie. Need to do so.

This isn't weird or experimental, just a straight-ahead three chord riff with a little bit of Link Wray menace. My band covers this, and it's the menace part that's hard to replicate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNLAaY-8OWc

Explosivos Bargs - green star
Os Terriveis - mar cruel

I didn't see this thread was ever revived, so two months after the fact: thanks, meisenfek. Both tracks are killin' me.

There's not much exceptional about this song, but the production is beautiful.
Les Diables Noirs - Surf Board
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INGPh7QFICI

I've neglected this thread for over a year?! Here's my latest obsession, middle eastern surf from Moncton, New Brunswick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_59hCPfaTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJle-HsTtfg

Okay, that's amazing!

I have *just* enough guitar skills to pull off a pretty decent rendition of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONJzXB62NQk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCBbZL6Z1H0

Nice. Cookin' bass line on that one.

not sure how to tell if this has already been posted

Ralph Nielsen - Scream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WMp0kANEFc

Tito Mambo - Jungle Farm

not sure the date on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_edrOTjXrbM

Yeah, I discovered "Scream" a few months back myself. Not instro, obv., but killer guitar throughout. I can imagine them instigating insanity at the sock hops with that one!

Sorry for Spotify but is there a Spotify playlist for this thread?