We’ve always had this weird love/hate relationship with instrumental music and the bands who play it. One the one hand, instrumentals are transcendentally personal, evoking a different image or concept in every listener. What’s sad to one person might be peaceful to another. There’s no singer telling us exactly what the piece is about. Also, instrumentals require a certain technical mastery on the part of the musicians that songs with vocalists can slide on, less than perfect chops can be covered up by a good singer.

On the other hand, how can we sing along in the car to a song that’s got no words?

Boston, probably in part thanks to the influence of Berklee, has a several good bands that focus on instrumentals. One of our favorites is a beach party band called The Electrolux Combo. The name is pretty clearly ironic; unlike the eponymous vacuum cleaner, their music doesn’t suck. How could it when they take their influences from sources like The Ventures and Dick Dale’s Del-Tones?

More after the jump! Post contributed by Ol' Scratch, producer for The Boston Babydolls.

But the music of The Electrolux Combo is more than just a showcase for hot guitar licks. True to their name, they’re a genuine combo; each song features a seamless blend of bumping, grinding saxophone from Brian Worobey, room-shaking drums from Dave DeSimone, the rumbling bass of Pete Sutton, all sharing the spotlight with the guitar of Mike Michaud – who slides from the thwacking near-rhythm guitar style of Duane Eddy to the nimble-fingers of Les Paul with a facility that’s a joy to hear.

The Electrolux Combo haven’t been playing as much as the used to and their “new” album (Beat Party) was released in 2005, but their touring schedule seems to be picking up. This month you can catch them at The Dive Bar in Worcester on Saturday, March 15, and the following weekend on Friday, March 21, when they provide the perfect hip-shaking hula soundtrack for the pool party at The Great Boston Burlesque Expo.