Who Are the Tiki Brothers?

by delarue

The Tiki Brothers are a psychedelic surf rock band from Brooklyn. They’ve got a couple of Soundcloud pages worth of lo-fi live recordings, ostensibly at a concert on a barge, which sound like they were recorded on somebody’s phone. But in the age of mp3s, who cares? This band is great! They’ve taken a bunch of surf classics and a handful of 60s pop hits and stretched them out, jamband style, sometimes slowing them down a little, and the whole thing works like a charm. Sometimes it sounds like they have three guitars; other times a keyboard is definitely there in the mix along with the guitars and the rhythm section. The whole page is a good party mix, makes a great lunch-break playlist to put you in a good mood again after a bad morning at work, or if, say, you tend bar or you work in retail and you’re able to plug your phone into the PA, just click on the page and let it play.

What’s coolest about it is how imaginative the arrangements and the playing is: this isn’t a bunch of old farts phoning in covers of their favorite boomer radio hits. There’s a punkish Pipeline with wah guitar, a perfect example of a cheap effect making a huge difference. There’s also a jangly Mr. Moto with keyboards, an unexpectedly welcome (and purist) touch; a crisp and straight-up Hawaii 5-0; Secret Agent Man with the lead guitar playing cool Mexican harmonies instead of the usual lead line; and I Fought the Law done very, very close to the Bobby Fuller original rather than the Clash hit – you can practically see the ghost of Buddy Holly smiling overhead. The most expansive, jam-oriented stuff includes an almost woozy, laid-back Surf Rider; a hazy six-minute Summertime with a trumpet solo; an even hazier, Grateful Dead-tinged jam on Endless Summer; and a meandering House of the Rising Sun. The lo-fi audience recording leaves no room for lies: this is what they sound like live.

So who are these guys? There’s obviously a lot of talent here, considering how much effort and imagination went into reinventing these songs. Well…there’s a Facebook page for the band with a handful of photos, but nothing to indicate who’s who or does what, or even if the band is still together (they played a gig at Cafe Steinhof in Park Slope a couple of months ago). Of course, one possible solution would be to employ the face recognition technology that Facebook bought from the Mossad, but that would be nosy and evil. Is this the same outfit who put out a fusion jazz album about ten years ago? Could be: they’ve got the chops for it, even if it’s a completely different style of music. Watch this space for updates regarding possible future live New York area appearances by this mysterious band.