Hypnotide's debut LP Landlocked was a surprise favorite from 2015. With only 6 tracks, Hypnotide can't possibly show the same flexibility with their sound that they did on the LP, and they don't really attempt to.

First off, it's a good band name. A pretty normal sounding surf band name until you say it aloud and realize the pun.

I only just recently found The Beyonderers (note the extra "er") and their excellent debut "Fourth Wave" and the new one is full of the same slammin' Astro-man energy. Unfortunately it appears they've lost their keyboardist, which made for a great electric howl on the last one that set them further apart from Man... or Astro-man? but the truth is this is surf: a lot of bands will sound similar and a lot of us are happy to eat up whatever sounds familiar, especially in the case of MOAM. Count me among them. The important thing is that the Beyonderers bring the energy and the power.

Team Void ain't as mean as they look. Sure, their guitars often have that deep horror tone to them, but packaged along with that Lucha mask is a set of vibrant mariachi horns. I mean, give the opener "I Am Six" a listen and all you'll hear is "Party!". It's got a lot going on, and kinda reminds me of Los Plantronics. Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of horror surf stuff in here, like on the title track "Robot Killer", but I think secretly monsters like to have a good time same as everybody else.

As far as I can tell, this is a digital-only one. Give it a listen!

The latest release from Cincinnati's AmpFibians is a big step forwards from their their previous album Surf Guitar Heard Round the World. Purely in terms of production it's much more, well, produced. It has that expansive effect-laden sound that brings out a Mermen vibe that I think was always trying to come out of this band. That especially comes out on the first track, but they have a bit more fun than the spacey Mermen typically do - getting pretty silly on "Wolf Whistle".

This is the debut album from The Syndicate, and it features a slew of covers from punk legends like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Seeds, The Dictators. Despite those clear influences, the resulting sound is definitely more surf than punk, full of reverb and twang and adding a brightness and spaciousness to songs that often didn't have them in their original form. If you didn't know what you were listening to, you might not even realized it's a cover the first time you hear it --and that's a good thing.

Out of nowhere, Hypnotide appear and release a dynamite LP. Landlocked jumps from great high energy tracks to moody and mysterious slow ones to sleazy, dry stuff effortlessly and cohesively. A pleasant surprise for my Saturday afternoon.

According to their bandcamp page, Team Void are dead luchadores cursed to rock the living. It's definitely got a heavy, lurching, mid-tempo sound to it that fits their dead personae, with bits of dead mariachi-esque horns sprinkled amidst it. Give it a listen!