Download: The Light Rays “End Of The World Love Song”

(from the self-released demo cassette available from Sun Fight or for free here!)

Costa Mesa’s Light Rays bring to the world an excellent self-titled release on cassette only. There is no pretense, no glossiness: this is a raw and spacey howl from the rock ‘n’ roll beyond. There’s a homemade charm to each of this tape’s surf rock-meets-Joe Meek nuggets, a playfulness that engages rather than alienates, with mysterious keyboard squalls cross-stepping over groovy guitar and stomping drums. Fans of the Rat Fink side of a bad nickel will definitely be amped. No brodads here! And the primitive recording quality? That merely saves the listener the added expense of imbibing mind-altering substances, although such behavior is not discouraged. The Light Rays’ lo-fi, up-tempo, reverb-saturated pop has echoes of the Cleaners From Venus or the Clean—but those are merely reference points to navigate by, not albatrosses around their necks. The Light Rays pull off the parlor trick of being fairly straightforward yet compellingly original. If only every group from Orange County could be as cool.

—Eyad Karkoutly