Surfer Blood: Astro Coast

Label: Kanine

The latest blog-rock band to be served up to you, the soon-to-be-adoring indie-public, is deserving of the attention: Astro Coast, the debut full-length from South Floridians Surfer Blood, packs an ocean’s worth of trendless guitar-pop hooks into its 10 songs. Perhaps strangely, the band that Surfer Blood calls to mind most is Vampire Weekend — without the Afro-Caucasian affectations (and the No. 1 Billboard debut). Frontman John Paul Pitts seems to have born with a bit of reverb on his clear-glass voice, and even though he hits more or less the same high-water mark song after song, Astro Coast is over before you can get sick of it. Effortlessly crisp guitar figures and spare arrangements make the album both airy and substantial; songs like “Swim,” “Jabroni” (in both “Slow” and “Fast” versions, nicely) and album highlight “Take It Easy” will keep you bleeding till the summer migrates north from Florida. (M.L. Thrope)