Surf noir, mid-century Indo pop, and balsa guns.
Screening Room
NOZ VID
Two years in the making, Noa Deane’s full-length is filled with his progressive approach in black-diamond slabs. “It seems like a lot of people are doing the same things on the exact same waves, over and over again,” Deane tells Vaughn Blakey in “Brain Dump,” from TSJ 31.5, “And you just burn yourself out trying to do the gnarliest thing that’s ever been done at that wave. Lately I’ve just been enjoying surfing semi-fucked waves that are hard to surf.” Watch Deane make it look easy in his new film, and click here to read “Brain Dump” in full.
Frankie 🙂
The Malibu-raised Ms. Harrer makes the rounds to South American points, punchy Euro wedges, and Tahitian pits in her new cut. Watching her thread backlit tubes to the Cocteau Twins is pure surf kino.
Follow Along
@arefrapwell
@gabrielcarr.ink
Better Listening
Padang Moonrise
by various artists
From Soundway Records about this new compilation: “Traditional songs from Java, Sumatra, Bali, and beyond were re-imagined by a small group of state-sponsored musicians that also composed and arranged new music. These songs aimed at consolidating a geographically disparate country with a new language and new ideas of national character. This compilation brings together a handful of these recordings that combine elements of regional popular music, Islamic Gambus, Javanese and Balinese Gamelan and Kroncong, with jazz, Afro-latin music and instrumentation, and vocal harmonies influenced by banned American doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Paper & Ink
The Dark Waves of Winter
Edited by David M. Olsen
A collection of surf noir features, this anthology is filled with dark offerings from a surprising chorus of writers, including frequent TSJ contributor David Zimmerle, as well as some of the biggest names in literary fiction. The Dark Waves of Winter is a follow up to Kelp Books’ critically acclaimed, The Silver Waves of Summer. In this installment, the beach again takes center stage in each story. It’s a collection that reminds us how in surf lore, as in life, every silver lining can hide an ominous cloud. Click here to pick up a copy.
Persons of Interest
Arnow: A Tom Lowe Portrait
An eccentric, Gondry-esque full-length about the Cornish charger by filmmaker Jack Whitefield.
En Route: A portrait of Kenny Hurtado
A short film by Caleb Stumpfl about why the former Surfing mag lensman walked away from his dream job.
Passings
Pat Curren
1932-2023
“The aura behind Pat himself has always been something special, both as a master craftsman and as a surfer,” wrote Steve Pezman about Pat Curren in TSJ 3.3. “His image was one of always waiting farther out than anyone else, sitting quietly outside on some ‘otherworldly’ lineup spot and then catching the biggest wave of the biggest set of the day. That was Pat Curren.” In honor of his legacy, we’ve republished 1994’s “The Curren Gun Project” in full on our site. Click here to read the feature.
From TSJ
Soundings: Season 3
with Jamie Brisick
In the third season of our audio series, host Jamie Brisick raps out with some of surfing’s most compelling figures in longform, candid interviews. TSJ members have early and exclusive access to all eight episodes in their entirety on our site. The individual episodes are also now dropping at a weekly interval wherever you get your podcasts. Click here to listen.
