Hey y'all
First of all, big thanks to any of y'all that donated to WTUL's fundraiser. It means a lot when fans of my show donate to a station that's not in their zipcode, but WTUL is the foundation of what I do, and I'm so happy that y'all recognize that.
I've got the Gremmys chuggin' along! The Modern Surf Gremmy had 12 honorable mentions, and I worry that there's a feeling of "what didn't make it?" and the answer is plenty. My initial list was well over 20. And I'm aware that there were a few records that felt conspiciously missing. I can think of three in paricular that felt like glaring omissions, and I'm a big fan of all three of those bands, but when you're facing down THAT many records, you have to be really honest with yourself and a little cutthroat.
Still got the "Mad", Guest Gremmys and Rest of the Best left to go. By the way, if I've asked you for Guest Gremmys in the past but not this year and you want to do them again, I don't think I've blacklisted anybody, reach out! I probably didn't ask you for them because I'm scatterbrained.
New Releases
The Volcanics - In 3-D
Twenty years since the Volcanics released their first LP. That can't be right. But in that time they've cemented themselves as one of the most consistent trad surf groups around -- and they get bonus points for living in the right spot and dressing the part. I've always lauded The Volcanics for being able to navigate sweet melodies and savage riffage, to the point where it's gotten difficult to find new things to say about them. However, I have to admit their previous LP, their first as a trio, didn't really land for me for reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on. If you happened to feel the same, you'll be pleased to know that this one did land quite well, for reasons I can't put my finger on. Award-winning reviewing right there. Their rough & tumble tracks especially sound excellent, like "Detonation", "Double-Cross" and "Jack Knife". It's not like there's some new angle here, perhaps a new third dimension going by the album title, but I've seen them live a few times and I'm inclined to believe they have only ever not been three-dimentional in pictures. There is one vocal track on here, "Spin Out" and I hate souding like a broken record saying "it just wasn't my thing" whenever a surf band has a vocal track, so for once I'll say "I thought it was great". And I mean it. It's a great balance of upbeat fun and charm against gritty guitars and... oh I guess I am having trouble saying new things to say about them. Let's end this poorly conceived review by saying, "I like The Volcanics and this record!"
The Tremolo Beer Gut - The Only Game in Town EP
By now I hope The Tremolo Beer Gut are a known entity for you and you either love them or you're wrong. That said, from what I understand these three songs are going to be on their upcoming LP, so I would only buy this if you're some sort of surf radio DJ that wants to play them on air before the LP comes out. But absolutely listen to these, they're great.
Numero Group - Walk Don't Run
The excellent crate-digging label Numero Group doesn't visit surf music very often, and when they do they tend to do it kind of obtusely. In this case, we have an imaginary soundtrack to a film by a nonexistent director Louis Wayne Moody. There are a few others in this series, like the excellent You're Not From Around Here, which also has a few instros, but this one is surf all the way through. BUT! If you're looking for thrillrides, you're not going to find them here. These are slow, foggy, subdued, and mysterious, kind of like the Surfer's Mood compilations on Romulan Records, but perhaps even moreso. One of the upsides of these premium reissue labels are the extensive liner notes... which don't exist here. Maybe the fake premise was their excuse to avoid that. Anyway, it's still a pretty cool compilation, and I think I'd only heard maybe two of these songs beforehand.
The Drakillers - Space Creepers in the Age of Aspasia
Can't find a lot on this band, but it's solid horror surf with a real rusty guitar sound and some nice organ. The kinda horror surf that wants to sound like Halloween, not instrumental Misfits. And I think they do indeed sound pretty Halloweeny.
Bert Susanka feat. The Ziggens & Friends - Well Qualified to Represent the L.B. Sea!
This apparently came out in January and I missed it, but thought it deserves some notice. The Ziggens described themselves as "Cowpunksurfabilly" and while I've always been aware of them I wasn't aware of many actual instrumentals. A lot of their popularity was derived from Bradley Nowell of Sublime, who was a big fan of theirs and make homages to them in several songs, and of course this album title is itself a Sublime reference. They had been around for ages and had a pretty good following. Bert Susanka of The Ziggens passed away in 2024 after a battle with ALS, which took away his ability to sing. He made lemonade with that and made a bunch of surf instrumentals, 26 of them here in fact! From a sound engineering standpoint, a lot of it has a kind of 90's quality to it, but there's good stuff in here! And plenty of variety, with some of them fairly traditional but then a bunch with a lot of other things going on, like some weird keyboard bits, and maybe a little bit of ska influence (like on "Sieze Candy"). It's a really fun and interesting record with a lot of interesting background to it.
Surf News
Endless Surf Festival in Belgium in a week
Arranged by The Santa Anna Bay Coconuts, this festival is in its second year and looks like it's got a pretty great lineup. It looks like Surfer Joe Summer Festival isn't happening this year (no official confirmation but there's a Tiki Weekender a few weeks before when it would normally be), so these other European festivals have a gap to fill.
Flyer released for SG101
I thought the previous flyers were pretty eye-catching, but this time you've got the talents ofr SHAG behind it. Looks great!
Great Instro Record You Might Have Missed
The Vanguards - Comanchero
I came across this in the incoming used music section of Euclid Records and at first nothing was moving the needle on the surf-o-meter. 1980's record with THAT sorta cover -- nope! But I happened to flip it over and saw songs like "The Breeze and I", "The Rocket Man", "Teen Scene", "Man of Mystery". Those sure look like songs that a lot of surf and euro-instro groups were playing in the 60's. I brought it to the counter to buy. The clerk pointed out the lead guitarist and said "Do you know Terje Rypdal?" I was surprised to say yes, I had picked up his 1971 self-titled at a garage sale somewhat recently. It was not my thing, jazz fusion from 1971, so my optimism went back down a bit.
But when I got home and put it on, hot damn! A bright and strident sound that even makes these fairly straightforward versions of covers pop out! It turns out this is a reunion record of Terje's first band, which was essentially a Norwegian Shadows wannabe band in the 60's, and here they were trying to replicate that sensibility witht the "sound, punch and drive of the 80s". As somebody that doesn't love the sound of 80's recording, I think this sounds great on vinyl, though oddly enough it does sound like an 80's record in my vinyl rips. Go figure. Anyway, this was a great find and I'll probably seek out their next record.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many options for streaming this, so the slower title track is the best I've got for you.
Not Surf
Fugazi - In on the Killtaker Albini Sessions
In on the Killtaker is my favorite Fugazi record, and I wasn't aware that it was first recorded by Steve Albini (legendary punk engineer and member of Big Black)+, then re-recorded because Steve and the band agreed it was "missing something". They just released the Albini version of the record, digital-only with proceeds from the record going to support the non-profit that Albini and his wife founded.
Personally, I don't think this is missing all that much! I think I actually prefer it! The sound of the instruments themselves have so much texture and are so much more at the forefront. If I were to try to lodge a complaint, it's that they sound a bit more like every other 90's grunge band on Sub Pop or Amphetamine Reptile records. I also think some of the tracks on the retail recording flow a bit better, likely because they've been a bit more practiced. But I don't know, I REALLY like this version.
I put this here because I figure there's enough punkers amongst the surf crowd, and some of them might not be aware of this. If you have never taken the time to get into Fugazi, this is a weird place to start. But maybe not necessarily an awful idea.
And that's it. No poll this time, I actually had this written half-way last week and I just want to get it out!
If you have any thoughts about any of this or suggestions, feel free to email me
