Once again, we’re back in a region whose pop music history holds an endless fascination for me – South East Asia. This time, the stopover comes courtesy of Subliminal Sounds, a Swedish label dedicated to 60’s obscurities, who have just released a compilation of Thai music from that period. Unlike the restless re-interpreters of acid-rock in neighbouring Cambodia, the Thai acts on this CD mostly deliver fairly straightforward (but still quite rocking) renditions of Western beat and surf music. There are, however, a number of notable exceptions; one of these is Johnny’s Guitar, who crank out blaring surf-guitar and organ drenched numbers underscored with racing traditional percussion. Probably the best example of this is their first track on the compilation, Kratae. (Apparently, its a reference to a local variety of rat with a long tail.) In a similar vein, though infinitely more kitschy, is this twitchy Thai-ified version of the James Bond theme by The Son of P.M. The album that they both come from can be purchased from Other Music.