Made In America - La Luz, "It's Alive" (2013)

I don't know what it is about 60's inspired surf-rock that's really grabbed my attention lately. In my first blog post for "Made In America" I swooned over L.A. surf-punks Bleached and then again in May with The Allah-Las. This week we head back up the west coast for Seattle's La Luz.

Shana Cleveland (guitar), Marian Li Pino (drums), Abbey Blackwell (bass), and Alice Sandahl (electric piano) formed La Luz just last summer and quickly self-released a five song EP Damp Face which was named after a steamy summer recording session in an un-airconditioned apartment in Washington state. The EP has since then been picked up and re-released digitally and on cassette via Burger Records. The ladies, known for their tight and interactive live shows, straddle and sometimes blur the lines between near-riotous danceable garage rock and etheral mood music. The music is crafted well enough to hold up as Ventures-style instrumental, with that wet Fender slack-jawed reverb and punchy electric piano, but it's the atmospheric vocals and quad-harmonies that really pushes you over the edge and into that warm salty water.

La Luz will release their first full-length album "It's Alive" later this month on the Hardly Art label.