Low Hum – aka Collin Desha – has just dropped his debut album ‘Room To Breathe’ via Last Gang Records. The Hawaiian-born producer and multi-instrumentalist is as indebted to beachy vibes as you’d expect, growing up a self-proclaimed “surf punk kid”, and so he’s put together a playlist bursting with the tracks that soundtracked his adventures by the sea.
“This is a playlist with music I learned about growing up and surfing in Hawaii,” he explains. “Surf videos were my gateway into music culture I never knew existed. They functioned a lot like the skate videos of the same era but being in Hawaii, a lot of the videos were being shot just up the road from where I was living. Once I familiarised myself with the music, it got me playing electric guitar and starting up my own band in the small punk rock music community of Hawaii. Check out a few tracks that inspired me to get into making records.”.
Bad Religion – I Want To Conquer The World
I started getting into music because while I was in high school, really cool DIY surf videos were being made and the music I learned from watching these video blew up my little music brain at the time. This song specifically was on a surf video I had, it opened the door to me playing in bands and getting a guitar. I’ve also felt like Bad Religion always had the powerful lyrics and they really stand up to this day.
Beastie Boys – Root Down (Free Zone Mix)
One of my all-time favourite surf video spots is an old surf video (I think only on VHS) of Andy Irons surfing to this Beastie Boys remix down in Tahiti. The video is called Raw Irons and it was one of my favourite parts of any surf video growing up as a kid. Andy has a unique surfing style and it was one of the first times I saw hip hop and surfing brought together in a video.
UB40 – If It Happens Again
My dad had this vintage Jeep Wrangler when we lived on the Big Island and we’d take that thing everywhere to surf. It also had an old cassette tape in there and I remember his old UB40 mixtape was always stuck in it. This will forever be a song that transports me to the countless surf sessions and him playing this song at 10 while we packed up the boards before we headed home.
Brother Noland – Coconut Girl
Had to throw in this gem. Being from Hawaii, ‘Coconut Girl’ and surfing kinda came hand in hand. So as a high school kid, we always checked out the surf on the North Shore and blasted this tune while we looked out for said coconut girls
Suuns – Bambi
Drove from Guadalajara to Sayulita (5 plus hours) with no cell phone service but we had this record on repeat the whole way there. We drove through miles of untouched land all through Mexico and this song always brings me back there. Once we arrive in Sayulita to surf this became our soundtrack for all the surf sessions we had.
Gauntlet Hair – Keep Time
John John Florence has a great surf video called DONE and this song crushes. As a musician, I think this record really has a great vibe for surfing, massive walls of reverb and very little clarity in the mix. A lot like surfing can be at times.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – The Great Chain Of Being
This is the current song I listen to the most to pump me up for a surf session these days. I love these guys ability to sound so different and it’s always a great vibe. I listen to this around 7 in the morning when we are driving down to Malibu to gas us up before we hit the water.
Low Hum’s debut album ‘Room To Breathe’ is out now.
