The Tyde’s third record bounces like a beach ball from song to song, between Brit-flavored power pop and paisley SoCal country rock, distilling the band’s transatlantic musical obsessions into 11 cuts of sun-soaked bliss. Singer-songwriter Darren Rademaker sands down the last psychedelic remnants of his old Beachwood Sparks project, turning up the volume on the Graham Parker-meets-Beulah pop rock, leaving just enough twang to trace the Tyde’s lineage.
Rapid-fire rockers “Do It Again,” “Too Many Kims,” “County Line,” and “The Pilot” blast past on fuzzed-out guitars, Casio and Rhodes riffs, rhythms pulsing with the breezy indifference of convertible rides along the coast. The frosting on the cake is Rademaker’s lyrics, delivered like a comforting vocal blend of Lloyd Cole and Ray Davies. Highlights include the country shuffle “The Lamest Shows,” a meditation on growing old gracefully in rock; the bouncy blues and angelic Beach Boys harmonies of “Ltd. Appeal,” which belie the withering shots aimed at trendhoppers from fashionistas to Surfers for Jesus; and the pedal-steel-accented “Aloha Breeze,” in which Rademaker invites us to “come to the beach” with him for succor. If Three’s Co. is the soundtrack, the answer’s yes.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2006.