In 2016 The Bradipos IV after 11 years The Bradipos IV released their comeback record The Partheno-Phonic Sounds Of… It was a great record, and gauging by the hype at Surfguitar 101, a lot of people agreed. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait very long for the next one.

While Partheno-phonic was comprised of traditional neapolitan songs, the new record is a bit more of a straightforward instro record, especially as they tend to be today. That means a few covers, some dipping into other sub-genres (particularly Western in this case) and a bunch of originals.

We are gathered here as worshippers of the vibrations of the guitar string, but stand before you today telling you that good surf music can be made with the guitar firmly relegated to a supporting role. Many of you may be quick to cry heretic, but the elders know that the saxophone was once a very respected rock & roll instrument, including in the surf realm.

Here's a fun project. This is a split LP between Surfer Joe and the Kilaueas, each taking a side on the vinyl version. Most of the tracks on here are covers of The Astronauts, and in a pretty faithful manner (no psychedelic Baja). The few originals are in the style of the Astronauts. For Surfer Joe, that means some deep-ass reverb -- that's the stuff! For the Kilaueas they added another guitarist to mimic the Astronauts' 3-guitar setup.

Here are 11 originals from Italy's Surfoniani. They've got upright bass, some very drippy guitar and drums, which gel into a bright and sunny modern trad sound. They've got a fair amount of beach party shakers like "Bikini", "Mai Tai Girl", and "Tiki Twist" though also a few cooler ones like "Red Waves". Give it a listen!

Though they've been playing shows for a good while now, I believe this is the first release from this Italian trio (with an occasional 4th member joining for the trumpet). They have made it clear on their album and their facebook page that you should not follow the coyote, which I assume means you will fall off a cliff and into the Grand Canyon. I wonder if this is the famous roadrunner-chasing coyote. As for the actual music, trad surf with a sense of humor. A lil' bit of shredding in "Exotica" and a bit more of a striptease sound on "Yes Master" but it's pretty bright and upbeat throughout.

I missed the debut album from this Italian quintet, so this took me by surprise. Diabolico Coupe play modern-traditional surf with sax and for the most part stick to the straight-and-narrow surf sound: no spy, Western, etc. That's fine, because they're very good at it. The guitars trade off between each other well enough to the point where I found myself tuning in and out of different guitar parts, listening to different layers of the sound.

From what I'm gathering, "Cojonudo" translates to "ballsy", which I think explains the near-nude cover of this record. I say near-nude not because of the guitar, but because I think I spy the strap of his tighty-whities at his hip. Then I realized I was looking at this way too hard.

We've got four songs of rough and raw surf here, all new tracks. As a live EP, the production quality takes off some of the crispy edge that was on their self-titled EP, but it's still fast and fun. I'm hoping we can hear some of these on an LP in the future

Double Crown's blurb can do better with this than I can, so I'll quote them directly: