"Thrills & Chills"
The Moon Rays, 2002
Bongo music, spy tunes, hi-fi hijinx...for most, this style of music
died out 40 years ago. Sure, the lounge and exotica revival brought music
of
Martin Denny,
Henry
Mancini, John Barry, and the like to a new generation.
But listening to this music and recreating it are two totally different
things. There were only of handful of people out there brave enough to
bring these by-gone genres back to life. A few that come to mind are the
witty and urbane Combustible Edison, the exotica outfit Don
Tiki, the neo-beatnik
Swamp
Zombies...but all in all, not too many bands have tried to
tackle hipster music. That is about to change. From the Chicago-land area
comes a new group called The Moon-Rays and their debut disc
Thrills
and Chills is bound to make hi-fi music fans happy. They
call their music "Spy-Fi," but this definition really doesn't do them justice.
Of course The Moon-Rays take some of their inspiration from
the haunted surf guitar camp (The Ghastly
Ones,
Satan's Cheerleaders, etc...), but they
also make sure to hit all the hipster basics. They do amazing versions
of Mancini's "Shot in the Dark," Barry's"Beat
Girl" (from the crazy hep movie of the same name), Denny's
“Hypnotique” (which their pair with the theme to Our
Man Flint), and even the bongo-crazy tune "Twang." For you
fans of those old creature features TV shows, The Moon-Rays
have done their best to re-create the opening theme to one that ran in
Chicago in the 70's. (The whole story about that can be found here.)
For all this and more, The Moon-Rays
have become a welcome addition to the Bachelor Pad
Radio Show's playlist, and hopefully they will be a welcome addition
to your CD collection as well.
Here are some samples from Thrills and
Chills: "Shot
in the Dark," "Beat
Girl," & "Hypnotique."
Visit
The Moon-Rays Website
Buy this album from
Hi-Fi Archives>>>
