“My all-time favorite band is Rocket From the Crypt, and their leader, John Reis, is one of my favorite people. As a singer, songwriter, and guitar player, I think he's criminally underappreciated. That's to say nothing about his career as a DJ / curator, or the record label he runs, or the job he did on children's TV as a musical director / master of ceremonies. EVERYTHING he does gets my careful attention, so imagine my surprise when he revealed that he was doing an album of surf rock with Minneapolis band The Blind Shake. It comes out in a couple of weeks, but this first taste exceeds even my heightened expectations. It's bananas. It's completely true to the things you expect in surf rock, but there's sort of a crazy complexity to it. And I don't generally talk about the "feel" of a record here, but it's this sort of sad and hopeful and reminiscent? (I also think it's a little scary and exciting, but that's probably just the video.) I'm so excited for this record.”