Review
It's hard to believe, given the number of bands the Raybeats have since inspired and influenced, that they were the only instrumental combo in the downtown Manhattan rock scene of the early '80s. It's also surprising that they were once viewed as genuine, if loveable, avant-gardists. Today, of course, their mix of off-kilter surf twang guitars, funk rhythms, and aural soundscapes out of Sergio Leone's spaghetti western soundtracks is not only accessible but damn near ubiquitous given the number of TV commercials that have appropriated the band's mysterioso aesthetic wholesale. GUITAR BEAT remains the motherlode, however--a magnificent, echo-drenched set of concise and atmospheric riff-driven tunes that in a better world would have turned up as the soundtrack for a James Bond movie directed by David Lynch.