Zero Gravity

One of the better outfits to emerge during the surf revival of the early '90s, the Helsinki, Finland-based Cosmonauts combine a reverence for surf's pioneers with a wacky sense of humor. Bizarre arrangements suggest Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Don Ho, and Tex-Mex as readily as Dick Dale or the Ventures. Throughout Zero Gravity, guitarist Mikko Lankinen's true-blue Fender guitar swells, spooky spy chords, and tremolo bursts add both irony and authenticity to tracks such as the lai-cool "Oahu Luau" and the Bond-approved send-up of "A Night in Tunisia." Though more traditional and possibly better schooled in surf's rudiments than iconoclasts Man or Astro-Man? and the Mermen, the Cosmonauts make the surf aesthetic seem terribly contemporary and as much fun as you'd like to believe it was--y'know, back in the day, dude. --James Rotondi