2015 is drawing to a close which means it's time for the second annual Gremmy Awards, where I espouse my very personal opinions on all the surf/instro music I've heard this year. There's issues with doing something like this: I've listened to a TON, but I haven't listened to all of it, and I have probably listened to each one less than a normal person would listen to any album they've purchased. Thanks to this website, the surf rock corner of my brain looks like that Johnny Carbonaras record from last year. But isn't that what this is for? I'm taking some time to sift through it, take a good look at what I've been listening to, make some sense out of it, and present it to you.
There were a ton of records that I loved that aren't going to be in here. There are going to be ones that I'm going to later realize I should have ranked higher. It is what it is.
Anyway, this is going to go essentially the same way it did last year. Winners get a .PNG image of the Gremmy award with their name on it. That PNG image has been remade, it's much nicer than last year. Sorry to all those suckers that won an inferior Gremmy Award.
The categories are:
Best Album Art: Pretty self-explanatory. Sort of a warmup before the rest
Best Trad Surf Record Surf bands with a capital S. Groups that want to pick up the torch that was lit in the sixties and let it burn brighter than ever.
Best Rad Instro Record: Instro with a punk or metal influence or really just faster, harder, louder surf.
Best Modern Instro Record: Albums that start with a familiar surf/instro base but want to carve out a sound all of their own.
Best Way-Out Instro Record: Albums trying something distinctly different to any listener, with only a thin tether to surf.
Miscellaneous Awards (may end up being split into a few posts)
- Best Record Label
- Weirdest Album Art
- Best Production
- Best Country for Instro Music (New!)
- Best Not-Surf-At-All Records of 2015
Guest Gremmys (new!)
As I post these I'll update this page and make them links. Until then, you can make your own choices by consulting THE LIST
