TGIF! Let's have some DEATH: The Grave - Tony Casanova

Splatter Platters! Death discs! Teenage Tragedy! Today we have the reverb soaked surfing drone-abilly of Tony Casanova (about whom I can find remarkably little- I found a picture of a smarmy guy playing accordion! But that's probably not him...). The Grave is yet another example of the death preoccupied pop of the fifties and early sixties.

The song has a wonderful swooning swing, straddling a divide between 50's soul ballads, surf rock, and drone. The vocals (to my ears) are pitched somewhere between Mick Jones and Nico, an odd combo but it works wonders. Anyhow, remember you are mortal and all that. Happy Friday!

Pedro Pistolas - Los Locos Del Ritmo

Today enjoy the long cool stride of Los Locos Del Ritmo.

They were one of the first major Mexican rock and roll bands to form in the late fifties, going on to become the first Mexican rock group imported back into the states (as seen in an appearance on the Ted Mack hosted Original Amateur Hour).

Pedro Pistolas is a deadly cool piece of surfabilly, the sound is pure convertibles cruising down the boulevard with a hot leather interior and the dead eyed killer intent of a shark. All in a tidy two minute package!

Insane - The Arkhams

Anything that has a cover featuring Cthulu driving a Cadillac automatically get's an incredible pass. It wouldn't matter if the music was a tower of shit on fire, I would still buy that album and I would still dance my ass off to it.

So it's a good thing then that The Arkhams are also a truly excellent band. Smashing apart the psychobilly genre tag with a standup bass turned jackhammer, the band are like rockabilly and surf and garage rock on steroids and speed. Their 2007 debut album The Road to Arkham is a fast and furious road trip through Hell, Love, and Your Slowly Shattering Mental State. Which brings me to today's Best Song Ever: Insane.

'Insane' is as rip roaring as a rock song gets. The drums sounds like a train derailing over and over again. The guitars shift between chiming spiderweb surf chords, thick arpeggios and crashing shrieks. Lead singer Matt 'The Knife' Goldpaugh whirls between shrieking for his mind and slamming an upright bass like only a future asylum inmate ever could.

It's the sound of Elder Gods, High School Sweethearts and Rock'n'roll racing at 100 miles per hour. Get it. Now.

I'm Gonna Haunt You - Fabienne Delsol

Today is Bastille Day and that's about all the tenuous reason I need to recommend Fabienne Delsol.

Fabienne Delsol came over to London from France in the late 1990s and joined the group The Bristols. Today however we are listening to a solo song, I'm Gonna Haunt You.

It's got guitars that wrangle you like spider webs. The bone breaking drum beat rolls back and forth down your spine. Delsol's breathy vocals walk a fine line between sexy and menacing. It feels a bit like a forgotten 60s french surf classic fell through a timewarp and then began seducing everyone in sight.

See? Who says a blog about mainly old and unknown songs can't be totally topical. Happy Bastille Day! (Yes she's based in the UK but she's French so ssshhhhh)