New Driveway

Audio Mixer: Phil Hartunian.
Photographer: Buddy Bleckley.
A curiosity of flaky electro-punk and shimmering disco, Los Angeles duo Cobra Man initially formed at the request of skateboarding collective the Worble to soundtrack a video about a mustachioed construction worker who becomes a human skate ramp. To complete this task, Worble cohort Andy Harry enlisted his friend Sarah Rayne (of L.A. indie pop weirdos Babes) and the two emerged with the semi-instrumental action-driven synth jam "Manramp." Having now invented a project called Cobra Man, Harry and Rayne stuck around to score the collective's next venture, a full-length skate DVD called New Driveway, whose soundtrack also serves as the band's debut album for Memphis label Goner Records. Somewhat of an odd pairing, Cobra Man's blend of moody synth ambience, plaintive disco, and comic shout-punk seems like a bit of a strange bedfellow for a street-skating movie, but Cobra Man and the Worble share an unusual symbiosis. Introduced by the spoken word set-up piece "Old Driveway," New Driveway grinds and scuffs its way through the exaggerated '80s pop of "Magic Hour," the lo-fi new wave of "Occifer," and splashy Blondie-esque pop-funk of "Fire." The songs aren't particularly well-written or imbued with much nuance, but it all somehow seems to hang together and work toward its desired purpose, coming off like a warped nod to the 1986 cheeseball skate flick Thrashin'. Bringing the proceedings to a gentle closure -- presumably as the credits roll -- is the lush dream pop title track wherein Harry comfortingly intones "I see the douglas firs, I hear the winds outside, I like to skate on things, I've got a new driveway." ~ Timothy Monger