Wait, Morocco Has Lefts?

Not long ago, I asked the man occasionally known as BIG DICK POWER SURFER whether it was reasonable to decline a surf trip on the grounds that your surfing stance might not align with the direction most waves break at the destination. His reply: “Absolutely. Fuck Morocco.”

A bitter pill we both must swallow.

Aside from “Instrument”, which for some reason has an unfairly low view count, this is the first Spearhead Unlimited release where Mikey surfs entirely on his backhand, at a location you wouldn’t expect.

Groomed by offshores blowing out of the Western Sahara, this wedgy rivermouth left could be Northwest Africa’s best impression of Mundaka. Held down by a fierce local crowd of staunch bodyboarders, Mikey manages to sneak into his fair share of North Atlantic burrows, dodging a few shoulder-fondling enthusiasts along the way.

Titling this edit “MOROCCO (SIDE B)”, just a week after the release of “MOROCCO (SIDE A)” — filmed at Le Jardin of Moroccan Delights — makes it clear how crucial and fortunate it is for Mikey to pair his surfing output with sounds brought back from dusty record stores and derelict music studios in the African continent.

Both edits are set to tracks by Hailu Mergia, the celebrated Ethiopian keyboardist who immigrated to the US in the early 1980s, where he released a series of homemade albums while working as a taxi driver. These were later rediscovered by Brian Shimkovitz of Awesome Tapes From Africa, who has played a key role in licensing tracks for Spearhead Unlimited.

While communication and promotion for SU have been kept to a (tasteful) minimum, whispers of future collaborations, partnerships, and lengthier film projects from Mikey’s platform for “collaboration, experimentation and freedom” have been floating around.

Very much worth keeping up with, and adding to your list of YT subs.