If you’re into time travel via insane music mashups and have an itch to groove, then this is for you.
I know I’ve used the word trippy a lot, but this is truly trippy and all kinds of brilliant. ‘Cloudchord’s Colorful Surf Crusade‘ (2024) by Cloudchord is a full-length surf cover album of rock and metal classics. There are songs from Metallica, Tool, AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine, The Doors, and more. It’s fun and silly but once you get past the novelty factor of these mashups, you have to appreciate the skill in its execution.
“Perfect for cookouts, pool parties, traffic jams, and perfecting your own air guitar at home. Surf’s up!”
Cloudchord is Derek VanScoten, a multi-talented guitarist and genre bending producer. His technical skills and command of the guitar are remarkable. Throughout his catalog, he’s able to jump from one style to the next, while keeping each collection coherent. He’s played around with dance, atmospheric, and hip hop styles, but this surf album drew me in. Hearing familiar tunes done in such a unique and logic-defying manor tweaked my brain.
With each track, I could hear myself saying, “This shouldn’t work. This shouldn’t be this awesome.” Honestly, just look at the tracklist and try to imagine these being done by Dick Dale, The Ventures, or Jan and Dean. By all rights, it should be trite and cliché. Instead you have someone taking their time and care to reimagine each song as a standalone surf masterpiece. There are no throw away tracks. The comic relief element quickly slips away and you find yourself accepting that this is just how things are. Each track is carefully cultivated.
The first song I heard was ‘Forty Six & 2’ by Tool and I was hooked. Other standout tracks for me are ‘The Trooper’ by Iron Maiden, ‘Riders on the Storm’ by The Doors, and ‘Breaking the Law’ by Judas Priest. ‘War Pigs’ by Black Sabbath is otherworldly. These don’t sound like someone just slapping a 1960s beach feel on these songs. These are as intense as any surf diddy could possibly be and compressed to just over two minutes, which is fitting for the style. The albums is bookended in a most surreal manner with the opener being ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica and the closer being ‘Come as You Are’ by Nirvana.
Check out the YouTube clip below to get an idea of this man’s skills, as well as the fun he’s having.
So, if you’re into time travel via some insane music mashups and have an itch to groove to spectacularly reworked classics that feel absolutely right in their new skin, then “Cloudchord’s Colorful Surf Crusade‘ is for you (phew). This along with the rest of Cloudchord’s catalog is available on Bandcamp.
Cheers!
Stephen
Website -> cloudchord.net
Bandcamp -> cloudchord.bandcamp.com
Instagram -> instagram.com/cloudchord
YouTube -> youtube.com/@cloudchordmusic
TikTok -> tiktok.com/@cloudchord
