The masked men of surf music, Los Straitjackets, have struck again this holiday season with Yuletide Beat. I'm not entirely sure about this, but from what I've read at YepRoc's and LS's site, this is an extremely limited release -- only to 1,000 on cd and lp (covers are customized and nicely done for the release). I ordered it from YepRoc directly (which may be the only way besides from the Masked Men themselves as they tour with El Vez this month), and hope to have it shortly. Along with the cd/lp, you get the whole album in mp3 form immediately from YepRoc, so I've listened to it a couple times already. It's good, but not as surfy as their last Xmas lp, Tis The Season For Los Straitjackets. The "Beat" of the title might be a good indicator of the influence this time around. Check it out, though. It's all instrumental, sincere and there's some really good arranging of the tunes.

[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TFBp8yq9lN0/StdaRucRD-I/AAAAAAAAG-8/R0o4VeEJuAs/s200/LosStraightjackets-YuletideBeat.jpg[/img]

Ben

PS - When I say I'm not sure about the print run, I'm referring to the nifty special covers alone or the album in general.