A gifted guitarist with a powerful post-grunge croon, 23-year-old U.K. import Newton Faulkner had a huge hit at home with this acoustic-based soft-rock anthem, which combines pure pop melody with an organic, handmade feel.

The soul-searching signature track from debut Hand Built by Robots develops a breezy hook so effortlessly infectious, it’s destined to soar beyond triple A radio, where it’s building right now. More Eddie Vedder than Jack Johnson, Faulkner’s voice is full of yearning, suggesting someone who has never seen a beautiful tropical beach, but keeps dreaming about it every night.

Newton Faulkner is a massively successful new artist in the UK and Europe. He has a huge following in the UK surfing community. His debut album went double platinum and spent two consecutive weeks at Number One in the UK charts.

Official website // MySpace // Newton Faulkner at Amazon.

Max Romeu War Ina Babylon is simply one of reggae’s finest moments. Along with The Heptones Party Time and Junior Murvin’s Police And Thieves, this album can be seen as part of a Black Ark “holy trinity”.

This album is perhaps the strongest of the three, with passionate vocals, powerful songwriting, and Lee Scratch Perry expert hand at the mixing board. Max and Scratch shared a common vision when it came to music, and you can certainly hear that in every groove of this album. The Upsetters put a fine gloss on Max’s diamond. Highlights include the moving “Uptown Babies Don’t Cry”, the militant “Chase The Devil”, and the film noir reggae of “Norman”.

Complete with rootsy scratch style guitar and the musicality of the Jamaican patois, this record is a classic example of what reggae used to be at its best. Essential listening.

If you are sick and tired of the age old Christmas classics, and you like that groovy guitar rock sound of the 50’s and 60’s you will find this Christmas alternative very refreshing.

This Wave Benders compilation includes 12 wave-pounding and rockin’ Christmas Classics performed with 50’s and 60’s vintage guitars and amps. You will also dig the sound of strings, theremin and some excellent percussion sounds from the glockenspiel and wave drum.

Join the Wave Benders in this groovy & rockin’ musical Christmas smorgasboard. It’s a fun and high energy alternative to the solemn traditional Christmas classics. Surfing Christmas: 12 Yule Tide Classics.

The Ventures Christmas album was originally released in 1965. It features Christmas songs played in the group’s trademark instrumental style. Most of the songs start with the first few seconds of a familiar rock hit, before transforming into a Christmas song. Some examples: “Sleigh Ride” opens with “Walk, Don’t Run”. “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” opens with “Wooly Bully”. “Jingle Bells” opens with “What’d I Say”. “Jingle Bell Rock” opens with “Memphis”. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” opens with “I Feel Fine”. And “Frosty the Snowman” opens with “Tequila”. Frequently, riffs from the rock hit that opens the song will be repeated later in the song. The song titled “Snowflakes” is really “Greensleeves”. “Scrooge” is an original tune. This is a really fun album, which will bring a smile to the faces of fans of instrumental rock, and makes a nice Christmas present for your friends.

If you’re a fan of surf music in the same vein as the Aqua Velvets, Dick Dale, Los Strait Jackets, and the Ventures, you’ll absolutely LOVE this Slackstone - Into the Blue Sparkle Album. With twangy, reverb-drenched Fenders accompanied by smart basslines, and drumming that …, this is one superb surf band.

At various times throughout rock history, waves of surf bands have crashed onto the shores, and Slacktone is widely considered by instrumental aficionados to be among the very best of the third wave, the era from 1994 to the present. Its members — guitarist Dave Wronski, bassist Sam Bolle and drummer Dusty Watson — are virtuosos on their instruments. All have decades of surf under their feet — either traditionally, via Dick Dale’s backing band, or through the surf-punk route in outfits such as Agent Orange.

These guys are middleaged surf veterans who really know their stuff. Together, united under the reverb, they have contributed sacred melodies such as “Tidal Wave” and “The Bells of St. Kahuna” to the surf community, transcending the limiting constraints of the genre in the process and providing a soundtrack more complex than most. Catch a wave.

Ben Harper is one of the few surviving “traditionalists” in todays musical landscape. Even though Harper is a child of the eighties and nineties his music has always been a throwback to the decades before that.

Harper has throughout his career shown a high esteem for the Blues and Soul men of the past. The homages to the likes of Robert Johnson and Otis Redding were often well visible on the surface. Not only on his own records but also in the collaborations he has chosen.

At the end of a nine month European tour, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals went to a studio in Paris and completed their new album, Lifeline, in just seven days. The result: a soulful masterpiece with beautifully direct lyrics and undeniable grooves. No computers used. Just straight up good music.

It’s no surprise that most bands today don’t record albums live, straight to tape, in one room, no Pro Tools, no auto-tune. There are only a handful of modern artists that can pull it off. Since Ben & The Innocent Criminals were so musically connected after such a long tour, they entered the studio immediately. And on a sixteen track tape machine and one full week in the City of Lights, they successfully recorded and mixed an album that will sit alongside all of your old favorites…just like a classic record should.

Check the new release by Ben Harper in amazon.

The Blue Stingrays were a 90’s band that played surf rock, with some country and western mixed elements, all with a very cool Hawaiian atmosphere. The band was composed of the members of The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty’s backup band, who took a short break from their work with Petty to record one album, Surf-N-Burn.

It’s heartbreaking to realize how few people have heard of the Blue Stingrays, much less know the names of the group members. The CD’s cover photo, the liner notes, even including Side 1 and Side 2 for the song titles, all remind me of those great surf instrumental albums of the early sixties. You can almost hear the sound of the needle dropping onto the vinyl as the party sounds fade in, followed by the opening notes of “Monsoon.”

The appropriately named “Echo Park” is drenched in reverb, and sounds as fresh today as when it was first recorded. Covering “Goldfinger” was no doubt a tip of the hat to the Ventures, who have played that song in concert countless times. The 1-2 punch of “Surfer’s Life” and “Stingray Stomp” elevate this CD to classic status. After the closing notes of the last song, “Super Hero,” you can almost hear the scratchy fadeout of a vinyl album.

Speaking of albums, “Let’s Go!”, “Surf Party” and “Valley Of The Rays” are virtually impossible to find. Maybe a major rock star could help to get the Blue Stingrays’ back catalog reissued. I understand that Tom Petty is a big fan of the group!