King Ghidora's been on my radar for a while, but I never caught wind of any prior releases apart from reverbnation updates and the like. Even if it's 3 songs, I'm glad to finally have this band in my library. King Ghidora hail from the Man or Astro-Man branch of the instro family tree, and I reckon they probably prefer the later material. KG's style is aggressive but progressive, with tracks 2 and 3 stretching into prog-psych-surf territory at 6 minute lengths. That's long for surf!

So while I've highlighted Perro Agradecido Cumbia albums on this stie, I didn't pay much attention to the solo work of that band's guitarist Sys Malakian. Drifting With The Surf leaves the chicha influence behind and sticks with a pretty trad surf sound. There's a good amount of variety, though even on the faster tracks I never feel like it gets aggressive. Sort of a rainy-day bedroom surf.

This is the debut EP from this Gainesville foursome. From the beginning I get a strong Ghastly Ones vibe, but as the record progressed I think they started to slip a bit more into their own sound. The organ work on this is a lot of fun, especially on "Party Grave" and "Blood Barrel". The guitar sometimes gives me some early Man or Astro-man flashbacks, but on the whole they don't compare that closely.

Ukraine's most prolific surf musician strikes again! Waves is a more sunny, trad surf approach but with a relentless energy. There's a greater focus on melody, though with oodles of speed and intensity kept in the mix. If you're a fan of 13th Magic Skull, I think this will be right up your alley, but it should appeal to a lot of surf fans in general.

The Crowkeepers were on my radar because of guitarist Bill Simms from Shoot the Pier - a two-person moody surf group he did with his daughter. The Crowkeepers keep a similarly somber tone to them that seems to loom even over the more upbeat tracks. It never really roars, much more likely to creep. They really lean into that sound on the album title track "Witches on the Rock", and I think it works well.

I don't think Os Pontas are trying to rise to the top of the surf guitar virtuoso ladder -- they're all about fuzzed out primitive jungle sounds. Plenty of groups pull off primitive the natural way: by sucking, but Os Pontas walk that tough line of careful sloppiness -- sort of like early Black Lips records to step out of the instro realm. Fuzz Jungle is a fun record for stompin' around. The guitar speaks in a crass lizard brain language and the organs whirl to a Stax soul sound.

Brazil's The Mullet Monster Mafia have been busy! Earlier this year they released a vinyl picturedisc called "To Mega Surf", which is a reissue of their first two albums. They also just recently (I'm a few weeks late!) released a 7" called Surf n' Goat on Drunkabilly Records in advance of a huge European tour that's underway right now. Even saw one date with Demon Vendetta... that's a pairing I'd love to see!

Aaron and the Burrs have been quiet for a little bit... missing out on some synergy opportunities with the broadway hit Hamilton! Eh, probably not.

This is the last entry of the month of Green Cookie Records. Within a few weeks, they've released Los Venturas, The El Caminos, The Aqua Barons and on their subsidiary label Surf Cookie they released Bamboogie Injections and a repackaged Surfoniani record. I'm guessing this is all leading up to Italy's Surfer Joe festival happening this weekend.

I've wanted to look into the El Caminos past their excellent Del-Fi Release Reverb Explosion, but their other releases aren't terribly cheap for an American to find. So here we have a compilation of unreleased tunes from before that record. Some of them are familiar: alternate takes that found their way onto other El Caminos records, some are covers. It's good trad surf, though nothing that quite jumps at me like Reverb Explosion did. It's great to have more material, even if it's old, from a great Japanese surf group.