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| Golf in Alaska? |
Hailing from the industrial port city of Yokkaichi (Southwest of Nagoya), this is the Switch Trout's first album in 20 years. Not only is it a surprise to have the band back, but returning with the world's first golf instrumental album is truly unexpected. Around the turn of the century, their clever name always stood out on Estrus Records' 'zine advertisements and they seemed to be quite prolific in their home country with several releases on KOGA RECORDS. Still, I first approached the actual music with a bit of wariness as surf/instrumental concept albums such as The Jetaway Sounds album by the Boss Martians are commonly better in theory and song titles (e.g., Boeing, Boeing, Gone!) than the actual music. However, the Switch Trout back up their clever and evocative song titles with musical execution. Even the album's title plays on the overall theme as FRONT9 & 3PENALTIES, tallies up to be 12 songs.
The strong influences of The Mar-Keys or Booker T. & the M.G.'s slice through “Having a Birdie.” The buoyant song is interspersed with TV golf commentary such as, "You gotta be kidding me" that connects in the musical context. They continue to tee off with prominent surf and eleki elements in their overall low to mid-fi instrumental sound, but they also swing into some R&B on the aptly titled numbers “Chicago Bounce” and “Texas Wedge Blues.”
“Cup Off Piss Off” lines up both fuzztone and copious Spaghetti Western melodies shot forward by the stampeding percussion, while 真冬のカート道 (Midwinter Cart Path) recalls the Fuzziyama Surfers from nearby Nagoya with its tunnels of ripping fuzz and “East Goes West” undercurrents. Meanwhile ケンとメリーのスライスライン (Katakana translation: “Ken and Mary's slice line”) falls into the sand trap as it traces “Pipeline” a little too close. Perhaps a cover of "There She Goes" by Paul Collins & the Beat from the Caddyshack soundtrack would have been more fitting! They complete their time on the links with 3PENALTIES. “Distract, (The Golfer Eye),” “Cardinal Wheel” and “Shake Paddle Wheel Action,” are some of the more difficult holes, but they meet the challenge as they have been playing the instrumental long game for years. Actually, “Shake Paddle Wheel Action” seems more likely inspired by mini-golf than the sport from Scotland. The song title also spurred me to recall the wacky Putt Putt Golf Courses Of America Presents Gee Gee Shinn And His Band album.
This year is finishing on a strong note when it comes to surf & instrumental music. FRONT9 & 3PENALTIES is currently second on my 2026 leaderboard for surf instrumental albums after Die Sommerreise by Les Agamemnonz. We can only imagine how the final rankings will shake out with the release date of the Phantom Surfers' first new album in decades just 'round the corner.
