60's surf music is magical, and while countless people have modified it and expanded it, nobody has ever replaced it. For some, it's a guiding light to strive towards. I think that was the idea behind these albums, at least to some extent.
Honorable Mentions
The Deaf Surfers - Back in Time
Los Straitjackets - Somos Los Straitjackets
The long-awaited return of perhaps the biggest modern-age surf band wasn't quite what a lot of people expected. It's largely a lower-energy, pleasant affair. It eschews reverbed surf and scronky weirdness for a stripped back sound that evokes the Ventures or sometimes even Shadowsy UK groups (which I'm counting as traditional enough for this category). Once you adjust your attitude a bit, this is such a nice record! Every song is such a nice melody, and "Polaris" is an all-timer. Would this move the needle for an unknown band? I don't know if it would rocket them into late-night TV slots, but I think it would be hard to ignore.
The Boss Jaguars - Go Undercover With
Absolutely beautiful guitar tone and more than an inkling of what to do with it. They can do aggressive, like on the opening track, but there's an awful lot of mood on this record too, slowing all the way down on their closing track and still staying captivating... and wanting more than an EP can deliver. One thing they're awful at is going undercover: I'm keenly aware of their presence now and I'm watching their every move.
The Fuzziyama Surfers - CD/EP
I waffled as to whether to include this EP as from my understanding these tracks were likely to appear on their upcoming LP. So I'll keep it very brief: this band is fantastic, their last LP won the Gremmy in this category, and this is of the same caliber.
Preston Pfanz & the Seaton Sands - Return to Burnt Island
The Legends of Surf Guitar: Recorded Live at The LIghthouse April 1, 1995
Maybe this doesn't really belong in this section, but I don't know where else to put a newly mastered archival recording from the 90's of artists from the 60's playing 60's hits often with a pretty 90's sound. I don't think "Modern" is the word I'd use! You have members of The Bel-Airs, Davie Allan, The Chantays, The Lively Ones, John Blair, The Astronauts and The Surfaris on this, mostly playing their best known songs. The twist, for sure, is how they're playing them. They don't sound like they do in the 60's. They're often faster, noisier, sometimes bluesier, but they're played well. I think this record is a heck of a party.
And the Gremmy goes to...
I. Jeziak and the Surfers - Self-Titled
Igor Jeziak (Yeh-Zhack) & the Surfers are second-to-none in terms of vintage aesthetic. These are songs that are written like 60's surf tracks and sound like 60's surf tracks, and when they make a music video it looks vintage. They're an easy recommend to 60's surf aficionados on sound alone.
That said, this category isn't just here to crown the most savvy mimics, it's to recommend the music that I most enjoyed in this style. And at first the more subdued tone of this album compared to others in this list put it at a disadvantage. But this album has depth, and the more I heard it the more I loved it. They don't play it safe. Zero covers, and several of these tracks are quite experimental, while still feeling like vintage surf (I frequently think of The Chantays listening to this, and Two Sides of the Chantays shows the same versatility). "Voyager" and "Arabesque" are great shifts into different moods entirely, and Igor's taste in slyly shifting tone and tossing in frills is impeccable and never too showy.
But let's not forget the other instruments. The sax and drums nail The Revels' style in "Pajama Party". The keys and organ are such a big part of this album and used in smart ways - like the sort of chilling effect on the guitar on "Surfer's Stomp". And they way they muffle the keys or even the rhythm guitar adds another dimension to the sound.
There's so much thought and variety to this album, and just about all of these eighteen songs holds extra value on closer inspection. It's funny: if people would predict a winner for this category, it would likely be this album. And perhaps out of contrarianism, it wasn't my initial pick. But as the intricacies of these songs revealed themselves, they stuck with me more, and I have to agree: this is the one.
