The first Frigidaires album Play it Cool was released on January 1st, 2024, so while we didn't have to wait long for that first good surf record of the year, I wasn't able to give it my full attention as I was consumed with holiday travel and Gremmy Season. Not the case here, though certainly not at an un-busy time (I'm trying my best to keep up with great releases!), Hot Vacation is not only poised before things get too Halloweeny, but it's had time for marinate for those that picked it up early at Surfguitar101 Festival. 

Sometimes being part of a local scene can raise your profile a bit, make sure the right people hear your stuff. I. Jeziak and the Surfers are, to my knowledge, the only Polish surf band at the moment, and yet they've managed to break out all the same, getting signed to the prestigious Hi-Tide label, and taking stage at Surfer Joe Summer Festival, and after this record, who knows? I suppose in surf music you can make a name for yourself by scraping for that one spot of originality nobody's found yet, or you can grab that ring that so many have reached for and slipped their fingers: vintage authenticity. Somehow this group from a place that probably doesn't have easy access to Fender gear and more than likely grew up hearing Shadows more than Surfaris have made about as convincing of a 60's reproduction as I've heard.

Los Straitjackets were, and perhaps still are, the biggest band in modern surf music, regularly finding their way onto large festival lineups that actual non-weird people went to and making several appearances on Conan O'Brien's show. And then... nothing changed. They continued playing, there were some health issues, but they never really quit.

I have to be careful about stuff like this, as I'm an easy target for overproduced maximalist surf music. Trying to peel back the layers of this, naming and following the instruments, would require some notes and probably a little pausing and rewinding, and sometimes when there's so much of that to do it's hard to answer the simple question: are these memorable songs? I've had this record for a few weeks now and I still don't know, I'm still lost in the dense instrumentation, but I suppose I can answer the most important question: am I enjoying myself? Yes.

The past month or two have been a rush of new surf music, many of them from long-standing names or on trusted labels. Sun Bus, hailing from Bethlehem, PA (outside Allentown), are decidedly neither of those things, but maybe this 6-song EP will change that. This isn't their first release, with a few 2-song releases dating back to December 2023, but this one is a statement. "8 Ball Shark" comes out shouting, with anthemic guitar lines pushed along by an energetic rhythm section. This isn't a simple riff, this is a song wants to tell the whole story!

Every time I get a bandcamp notification with a new release from the mysterious William J Le Petomane on bandcamp, it elicits an "ooh!". And upon listening to this one I must confirm: "ooh!".

Hard to Fathom indeed. Even their 2007 release Fathomless felt like a gift after a 9 year gap, but 18 years later this feels much more notable, and for reasons. In 2017 there was a GoFundMe for lead guitarist Frankie Blandino. He had a case of Dupuytren’s Contracture, which causes your fingers to "claw inward", which is not ideal for a guitarist.

As was written, in 1994 Pulp Fiction was released to theaters, effectively attaching jumper cables to surf music. Not only did this give rise to countless new surf groups, but 60's acts found a new audience, which gave way to events like the one presented to us here: a recording of a 1995 gathering of surf greats at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach in 1995, organized in part by Paul Johnson (Bel-Airs and PJ and the Galaxies). It was truly a legendary night. I was ten years old, roughly 2000 miles away, and this was roughly around when I bought my first CD, so I can't vouch for that. But today I can get a glimpse!

Magnatech is a solo project from John Verhoef that jumped out mid-pandemic with a steady stream of releases that now totals seven LPs five years on. Each release saw noticeable tweaks and tips learned along the way until he'd worked out a pretty signature sound. Perhaps in fear of painting himself into a corner, for 312 Magnatech Fans Can't Be Wrong, there's a bit of a reset on that sound, pulling the plug from the compressor in the signal chain, for a less in-your-face sound overall but perhaps a more honest and detailed guitar.

One of the coolest things about the Surfguitar101 Festival is the burst of new releases occurring in advance of a band's appearance.