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.

The first Gremmy category is a bit of an outlier, as it doesn't really pertain to surf music itself. Album art! However, I think surf as a genre has had a pretty strong visual identity over the years, dating all the way back to its inception. The value of this feels even stronger now that so many bands are simply generating pictures of a surfer riding a huge wave 5 feet from the shore (why is it always like that?). Plus, The Grammys have this category, why shouldn't I?

Finally, we've been done with 2025 for a whole month and I'm ready to roll out the 2025 Gremmy Awards. These are my favorite surf releases of 2025, divided up into several categories so that I'm not comparing apples with oranges. Except I definitely am and you shouldn't take these categories too seriously. You shouldn't take any of this seriously, it's just one guy's opinions.

Every year I try to keep track of all the surf releases I can find. It's always a very incomplete list -- some platforms are easier for discovery than others, some bands barely even advertise.

There are a few notes and rules:

• I don't include single-song releases. It would just get impossible at that point.
• It must have been released in 2025. If it was digitally released in 2024 but vinyl came out in 2025, I still call that a 2024 release. If there's more than a year gap, I'll call that a reissue.
• This is not a list of recommendations. Inclusion on this list just means I found it and verified that it was surf music. It doesn't guarantee that I even listened to the whole thing.
• Exclusion from this list could mean I don't know about it, that I haven't updated it yet, or it could be an error! Either way, contact me!
• This is mostly bandcamp because that's where I discover music the most. Any digital platform (or no digital platform!) is valid.
• Must be at least 50% instrumental.
• I try to be generous, but my defintion of surf is ultimately my own.
• Bolded stuff means I reviewed it on this site.