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The El Caminos release Behind the Surf

The El Caminos - Behind the Surf

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.

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The Kaygles release Sunstroke EP

The Kaygles - Sunstroke EP

Here's one I almost passed by completely. Between the - I'm sorry but - terrible album art and the genitalia joke in the band name, I figured this would be some awful snotty garage-style surf rock a la Wavves. I took the risk though, and was immediately bowled over by some top-notch honkin' sax over a surf beat. This the good stuff: well produced trad surf with memorable melodies, nice big guitar sound backed up by some smartly accenting bass and keys. The first two tracks definitely outperform the second half, but it's all good. Mark 'em down in your book, or whatever.

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The Aqua Barons release Southeast Stompers

The Aqua Barons - Southeast Stompers

After 6 years and only two tracks on a Green Cookie compilation to show for it, Greece's The Aqua Barons have released their first LP. Though drawing on trad sounds, there's some very distinct creativity in here that really stand out as their own: from the loosely floating lead guitar in "the Lonely Siren", to a killer mix of fuzz and surf guitar in "Harbour Love" and some unhinged wildness on "Abandon Ship". The closer "Last Sunset" is a fun track as well, starting as cooled-off drifter but building into a roar.

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The Wave Chargers release The Wave Chargers EP

The Wave Chargers - Wave Chargers EP

This is the debut release from the Wave Chargers, a fearsome foursome from France that play some pumpin' trad surf. For their first release they sound amazingly tight, with some killer interplay between the two very capable guitarists, rousing drumming, and stirring bass. They can really stir up some great energy and with memorable melodies as well. My favorites are a toss-up between "La Revanche du Kuromaku" and "Flip-Side", but they're all solid. Recording is a bit lo-fi, which I'm not sure helps them here, but it's a great EP nonetheless.

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Bamboogie Injections releases Wild Dandelion Stomping

Bamboogie Injections - Wild Dandelion Stomping

One of the first groups on Green Cookie's companion label Surf Cookie Records, we have Bamboogie Injections from Russia (formerly under a different name that they have effectively swept under the rug). It makes an impression quickly though, with some frighteningly fast picking on the first two modern surf tracks. Thankfully for arthritic concern, there's some speed variation on this, with "Dandelion Wine" especially making for an interesting mix of mid-tempo song-writing, swirling keyboards (which by the way get pretty fast on this record too), and jittery-fast guitarism.

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Urban Surf Kings release LIVORNO live LP

Urban Surf Kings - LIVORNO

Italy's Surfer Joe Festival is in 15 days, and to commemorate it Urban Surf Kings have put out their 14th release: the live set at the 2015 Surfer Joe Festival, named LIVORNO after the city it's held in. The recording is straight off the mixing board that went to North Sea Surf Radio and features songs spanning their entire double-decade career.

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Ninchi Surf System release Demo Drysurf 2

Ninchi Surf System - Demo Drysurf 2

When Ninchi Surf System say "Drysurf" I think they mean desert dry. This release is predominantly spaghetti-western toned, though not in a directly Morricone-imitating way. They have a modern surf tone that isn't too riff-heavy, almost jammy or progressive at times, but also with a lonely WIld West mood -- while still keeping an upbeat pace. It's much more refined than their previous demo recording and even redoes their song "Western Hole". Both recordings are up on bandcamp: Demo Drysurf is pay-what-you-want, Demo Drysurf 2 is at 7 euro - and it should be!

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Holy Mountain Top Removers release The Ones Disappearing You

Holy Mountain Top Removers - The Ones Disappearing You

I was really looking foward to a new release from ; their was the sort of mix of surf, noise, skronk, free-jazz and who-knows that really got me excited. Unfortunately their new LP, though I've listened to it frequently, doesn't really hang out in surfland enough to fit this website.

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SEAWHORES release Emilio Al Dente

SEAWHORES - Emilio Al Dente

This live set from SEAWHORES shows a pretty trashy-trad surf sound with a party-ready rock & roll edge. There's some cool saxamaphone in there in there too that gets buried in the lo-fi mix. There are, I think, eight originals on here and they're all well arranged and powerful. I'm a big believer that a lo-fi live recording will always trump a poorly done bedroom recording, but with a full range of well-developed songs like they have here, I wanna hear 'em with a studio treatment - so long as they don't lose that energy! 

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Gasolines release Jungle Surfers

Gasolines - Jungle Surfers

The last Gasolines LP was in 2008, but they're still as genre-twisting as they were when they left off. Plenty of bands have had jungle-themed surf albums, but this one sticks to it closely, even if they do it in a broad and multi-faceted way. The title track is the pure Martin Denny sound the cover aludes to, but you'll also hear Peruvian chicha on "La Danza de los Mirlos" and "Catamarã", reggae on "Rockers Rock", and interesting latin/South American percussion throughout. It's this sort of diverse world-surf stuff that makes a musical diet with tons of surf rock digestable.

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