You know the expression “never judge a book by its cover,” well it seems applicable with vinyl records as well. Although the front of Big Wave Rider b|w Birdcage looks like someone threw up a bag of skittles on top of a magazine collage, the music from Olympia-based duo Rainbow Bridge has been one of my favorite finds of the year. I first came across them when the infamous Pitchfork forkcasted (sounds dirty, I know) their single “Big Wave Rider”. In a summer chalk full of lo-fi electronic outfits like Neon Indian and Washed Out, it was refreshing to hear some dirty White Stripes-esque garage rock burst onto the scene.

The A-side of the 7” features their insta-hit “Big Wave Rider”. Not particularly concerned with maintaining a steady tempo, guitarist Adam Croce intros with a series of arpeggios before entering into a lazy strum repeated throughout the song. Somehow drummer Bridget O’Brien-Smith is able to keep the wheels from falling off completely, bringing the song back from the edge of implosion and driving it forward. The lyrics, with the repeated “big wave rider / try to ride a little higher / you’re a glider / sole survivor”, certainly adds to the carefree feeling of the track.

The B-side is composed of a duo of sub two-minute songs. The first, entitled “Birdcage”, sounds like it could easily pass as an early Man Man with it’s bouncy rhythm and oddball percussion. “Sensitive as a Dream” is a drugged out psychedelic nursery rhyme that, with its dark undertones, is sure to give children more nightmares than pleasant sleep.

If the displayed hand-written count of 476/500 is to be believed, there aren’t too many copies left to grab. If you aren’t down with sifting through your local record store to see if you can find a consigned copy, you can order directly from their label True Panther. Also, I recommend seeing them live — I caught them opening recently for Real Estate and they almost outshone the headliners (quite a feat, I know)! Here’s an mp3 of “Big Wave Rider” to try to win you over:

Rainbow Bridge // Big Wave Rider

Tags: Big Wave Rider, Man Man, mp3, Rainbow Bridge

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 10:35 am and is filed under 7'' Series, Album Reviews, Musical Musings, The Llano Idea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.