Vintage Review: Los Straitjackets’ The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Believable Sound of Los Straitjackets (1995)

Oh boy, did the movie Pulp Fiction really start something, as a hundred and one surf guitar-oriented instrumental bands have begun to litter the musical landscape with commercial and critical expectations. None of these wanna-be pretenders, however, can hold a candle to the awesome flame that is Nashville’s very own Los Straitjackets.

Los Straitjackets – the fantastic foursome of Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, E. Scott Esbeck, and L.J. Lester, mysteriously clad in colorful Mexican wrestler's masks – kick out a fresh, hard-rocking, toe-tapping collection of fourteen guitar-driven instrumentals on The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Believable Sound of Los Straitjackets. The guys throw everything into the pot, with musical influences as diverse as Dick Dale-inspired surf guitar and cheesy seventies-styled mondo movie soundtracks to jazzy lounge music and fifties retro-rockabilly.

The resulting effort is showcased on cuts like the dark, foreboding “G-Man,” the rollicking chaos of “Rampage,” or the bumble-bee, machine-gun staccato of “Tailspin.” If you're looking for something new, get your kicks with The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Believable Sound of Los Straitjackets. You'll be glad that you did! (Upstart Records, released March 1995)