The Marketts were a Hollywood-based group that gained slight fame during the surf craze of the 1960s. In fact, they weren’t really a band, but a group of session musicians gathered and guided by Joe Saraceno (producer of The Ventures, Gene Mcdaniels, The Sunshine Company, The Routers, Bobby Vee). Their songs were mainly instrumentals, most of which had strong rock, soul, and weird sci-fi touches. Though not terribly memorable, they made some great tracks between 1961-1977.
If Marketts sound somewhat familiar, it’s because they appeared on the popular Pulp Fiction soundtrack. The song, “Out Of Limits”, was #3 on the charts in 1964 and remains their highest ranked single. My favorite of theirs is “Bella Dalena”, and is actually the b-side to the famous single. It’s short and succinct, has a steady groove, and is guided by some really great drums***. It’s the kind of song you can hear twice in a row.
***The drums you hear at the beginning were lifted and used on the Four Tet track below, “Carmella”.
CLICK TO HEAR “CARMELLA”
“Carmella” is from the Four Tet: Remixes album, and uses a song by Beth Orton. The track builds slowly and the layering is superb (typical Four Tet), but is also about 6–minutes too long (typical Four Tet). Who would’ve thought Four Tet, Beth Orton, and The Marketts would mesh so well?
