Way back in the 10-cent bin, between the 40-odd copies of Whipped Cream & Other Delights and those “Sounds of Hawaii” records made exclusively by people who'd never set foot on Hawaii, Monster Rally’s Ted Feighan has found paradise. “Exotica,” we used to call it: “Space-age bachelor pad music,” that sort of thing. Feighan, having lifted dozens of samples from the original, often-warped wax, realigns them into a sparkling, sun-soaked collage, deftly sliding between opulent slack-key guitars, clattering breakbeats, and shimmering tropicalia, like the Avalanches stuck in Honolulu with visa issues, or the Caretaker on daquiri three. Mystery Cove, the fourth Monster Rally full-length, is pure, distilled escapism: 42 straight minutes of somewhere else, no SPF required.
Feighan largely works in miniature—few Monster Rally tracks run too far past the two minute mark—without much apparent use for vocals. While early highlight “In the Valleys” lifts a few lines from hapa-haole classic “Lahainaluna,” the paucity of voices throughout the rest of Mystery Cove gives the disc its air of seclusion, a paradise far removed from the madding crowd. From chopped-not-slopped big band ditties (“Moondog”) to swanky hold music/“Hotline Bling” schmaltz (“Full Sail,” “After Hours”) to lusty, Herb Ritts-lensed sandblasters (“Tourismo”), this is transporting work.
Mystery Cove isn’t a real place, but Feighan’s fondness for certain sounds (lounge, surf, slack-key guitar) sourced from a certain era (1948-1964, give or take) neatly conjures one anyway: beautiful people, endless beaches, fruit-based cocktails. Alas, like any vacation, Mystery Cove too often cuts things short just when they’re getting good. For all his curatorial prowess, Feighan tends to winnow down his Goodwill findings into 10-or-15 second chunks. There’s plenty of variation between the tracks, just not necessarily much within them; occasionally, a breakbeat is introduced, or a clip will run headlong into another, but the general rule seems to be “cut, spin, fade, repeat.” While that certainly keeps things moving, there’s rarely enough time within individual tracks to get acclimated to the scenery when Feighan’s anxiously clicking his way through the slideshow.
As an exercise in vibe-sustainment, Mystery Cove is a knockout. To that end, it’s probably the most cohesive Monster Rally record to date: a Hawaiian shirt with an AUX input. But that cohesion comes comes at the cost of a bit of adventure; whereas 2013’s more baldly experimental Return to Paradise found Feighan drawing slivers of samba and sweeping mid-century soundtrack work into his world party, Mystery Cove rarely makes it too far off the Big Island. Most of us will take our escapism where we can get it nowadays, and Feighan’s only too happy to provide.
