Ducktails – Ducktails (2009) [No Not Fun] // Grade: C+

I’ve been following Ducktails’ cassette only releases for a couple of years now with an almost morbid curiosity. I’ll be frank, I never could really get into a single one of them yet I kept buying into them. The 30 or so minutes of bedroom guitar noodling struck me more along the lines of a bored teenager messing around with a 4-track than serious experimental Avante-Pop compositions… But I kept listening. Why? Because buried somewhere in a handful of songs or moments I heard potential for something that I thought the next release was finally going to deliver upon. Many of these cassette recordings have been collected on the recently released Backyard compilation. But back to the album at hand…

Armed with some genuine buzz, Matt Mondanile finally shows glimmers of that potential with his first non cassette album, the self-titled Ducktails. These warm, hypnotic and tropical Lo-Fi instrumentals finally give a sense of satisfaction for anyone who’s endured through all the cassette warm-ups. It’s a shame that save for “The Mall” the rest of this album is merely instrumentals. Besides that and the fantastic ambient closer “Surf’s Up” the remaining 6 tracks are just begging for vocals.  The sort of hushed nonsensical singing that creeps in here and there to add some needed dimension and balance. So while rewarding… Ducktails like all the previous cassette releases leaves you once again frustrated at the potential being squandered.

- My Pal the Crook