Shame the summer’s been so crap but this debut album by Samuel Grawe, aka Hatchback, will put a happy shine on the goat’s bell-end. The sunny disposition is hardly surprising as Sam hails from California and is also half of Windsurf with Dan ‘Sorcerer’ Judd of ‘Surfing At Midnight’ fame. This could loosely be termed cosmic disco but the different strains sprouting from its gonads are wide and varied, from space disco and krautrock to chilled groovers. The opening ‘Nesso’ establishes the smiley vibe before the shimmering Fender Rhodes vehicle of ‘Jetlag’. The motorik groove kicks up on ‘Everything Is New’ but drenched in that Rhodes. So it goes on like a fun car journey, through the space disco-electro hybrid of ‘Carefree Highway’, pastoral drift of ‘The Lotus And The Robot’ where massed cow’s udders squirt the milk of love and happiness and the amazing ‘White Diamond’, a lush floater seeping into krautrock with soothing organ which has been remixed by none other than Prins Thomas, whose Internasjonal label is about to release Windsurf’s debut album. If its half as good as this then winter’s shaping up to be a better bet for sun, smiles and exploding trunks.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
