Daikaiju

Huntsville, AL, band Daikaiju (which means "giant monster" in Japanese) came along to put their stamp on instrumental surf music 40 years after the style first became popular. The band has been building up a following for several years, but this self-titled effort is its first full-length CD. On it, the sound of Duane Eddy and the Ventures rides again, as pseudonymous guitarists Secret Asian Man and Dymaxion Lee twang and chime through original instrumental tunes that could have accompanied surfing footage in the early '60s, with the rhythm section of bassist Brain Conflict and drummer Mr. Nein charging the beats. For the most part, this is rigorously formulaic, the only slight change in approach appearing in the eight-and-a-half-minute closing track, "Farewell to Monster Island," which employs a reggae beat. Of course, there is still a surf music fan base out there, just as there seems to be for every musical genre that has ever existed, and Daikaiju stand ready to serve it.