Single premiere: Tijuana Panthers' 'Boardwalk' (Matt Vasquez remix)

By August Brown

May 29, 2013 12 AM PT

As most of America willingly submits to our new electronic-music robot overlords, something funny is happening in the alleys, parking lots and forgotten spaces around Los Angeles. Rock ‘n’ roll -- not just shorthand for “guitar music,” but the stuff of Buddy Holly glasses, long reverbs and Eisenhower-era vibrato -- is bubbling up again, with a classic-L.A.-punk edge.

Long Beach’s Tijuana Panthers is one of the best of the lot, with a jangle and a sneer that land halfway between Roy Orbison and the Burger Records garage-rock cabal.

The Panthers’ album “Semi Sweet,” for the busy local imprint Innovative Leisure, came out Tuesday. It’s strong medicine for anyone who remembers (or fetishizes) a time when cars had tail fins and Elvis’ hips could get banned from TV.

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But their sound isn’t a museum piece, and it turns out that it’s eminently remixable too.

Matt Vasquez, of fellow Southlanders Delta Spirit, gave their single “Boardwalk” a once-over with a rusty synthesizer that makes the tune feel like Suicide went for a day at the beach (if you can imagine such a thing). Pop & Hiss premieres it here.