Los Straitjackets: Jet Set (Yep Roc)

 |   |  <1 min read

Los Straitjackets: Aerostar
Los Straitjackets: Jet Set (Yep Roc)

With guitarist Peter Posa's White Rabbit retrospective topping the charts for the fourth week, this collection of echo-heavy cocktail hour and retro-rock guitar tracks by this long-running American cult outfit (in Mexican wrestling masks) might just have the serendipity of timing.

From the dramatic blackjack crack and pistol shot of the opener Crime Scene and the increasingly furious 60s Beatpop of Yeah Yeah Yeah, through the delightfully cool Aerostar (which cries out for lyric), slinky guitar-noir Brooklyn Slide, the Ventures-on-heat Bobsleddin' and Space Mosquito (pure Posa) to the unexpectedly gritty Mr Pink and the weepy blue ballad Fur Sophia these 15 strum'n'twang songs sound in search of an Austin Powers or Tarantino movie to call their own.

There is hardly a thing here which hasn't been done before by Sixties groups like the Shadows and Ventures or more recently by Bonde do Role or the Israeli surf-rock outfit Boom Pam, but that hardly matters.

This is an album which invites smirks of recognition and, for those too young to know of Peter Posa, maybe just a hip soundtrack to dressing up before going to retro shops to find a genuine Pan Am cabin bag or a night on the town.

Like the sound of this? THen check out this.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

The Louvin Brothers: My Baby's Gone 1955-64 (Raven/EMI)

The Louvin Brothers: My Baby's Gone 1955-64 (Raven/EMI)

About 15 years ago (at least) I saw a short-lived Auckland band The Dribbling Darts of Love which was fronted by Matthew Bannister, formerly of Sneaky Feelings. I'd always liked Matthew's music and... > Read more

Great North: Soldiers (Great North)

Great North: Soldiers (Great North)

New bands often make great claims for themselves -- that is forgivable -- but I especially like the humour of what this Auckland five-piece say of their music: "It is the sound of Bruce... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Chisholm/Meehan/Dyne: Unwind (Rattle)

Chisholm/Meehan/Dyne: Unwind (Rattle)

Wellington pianist/author/teacher and composer Norman Meehan has appeared a few times at Elsewhere but bassist Paul Dyne, once a mainstay of New Zealand jazz in Sustenance during the Eighties... > Read more

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: George D. Henderson of the Puddle

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: George D. Henderson of the Puddle

George D. Henderson founded Dunedin's psych-pop band the Puddle in 1983/84 and over the following decade the group recorded an EP, an album and a single for Flying Nun, all of which are curently... > Read more