Blue Hawaiians: Savage Night

Coolsville/Interscope Records

Sad and lovely tunes of the South Pacific—sounds like Don Ho, right? Not to worry, the Blue Hawaiians pull it off with such tasteful acumen that you'll even forgive ‘em their years-long status as house band at L.A.'s once-trendy Lava Lounge—not to mention their scoring that Guess jeans ad with Traci Lords.

Maybe it's in the steel-pedal guitar/Hammond organ combo, or maybe it's in the swank-as-snuff vocal stylings and reverb-tipsy fretwork. Maybe it's that the Hawaiians' disregard of cliché allows their blend of spy themes, surf sounds, and lounge music to transcend the kitsch inherent in those genres. Whatever the case, this mix sure is intoxicating.

—John Pecorelli

Real Edge magazine