Earlier this year we got a surprise album dropped on us by Swami John Reis of Hot Snakes (backed by the also excellent The Blind Shake). Pounded by the Surf aren't as outward about their alter-ego, but there was enough here to be suspicious: their album is exceptionally well-produced, came out of nowhere and they're touring both the US and Europe...

This debut EP from Gemini 13 starts out unassumingly with a pretty traditional surf instro "Tijuana Spygame". But then it gets a little more showy with "Mumtosh" and gets MUCH more interesting with "Tiglath Pileser". There's some really interesting stuff here: great division of duties between lead and rhythm guitar. I hope they might rerecord some of these tracks in a subsequent release, as I don't feel like the production is allowing the oomph some of these tracks deserve. Still an eye-opener! Or ear-opener I guess.

Khruangbin are a pretty distant cousin of surf, but they're worth mentioning here because:

a) They're guitar-based and mostly instrumental
b) I've posted about them before
c) I am going nuts over this album and it wouldn't surprise me if there are other surf fans that would too.

This EP is Dirty Fuse's first with their new guitarist after their previous guitarist went Back to Brazil. I'd still say this sounds like the Dirty Fuse we're familiar with, but I can only say that because they're an adventurous group and change is expected. There's still prominent saxophone, there's a great sense of depth to the sound - partially nice recording, but the bass definitely rounds it out as well. "Evolution" starts it out as a pretty aggressive number, but you get a lot more chilled-out with "Back to Brazil" and "Wonderland" which are nice-n-easy sunny day tracks. 

I'm under the impression that The 427's EP Surf Noir got a bit of a attention in surf circles, and I don't doubt that they'll find an audience with their first full-length Mavericks. They've got a pretty trad sound with two guitars, bass, and drums, but the arrangements and riffs are all very catchy and memorable. On one listen, "Fake Betty", "Night of the Living Surf" and "Urchin Stomp" were standouts. On "Yellowbelly" and "The Blue Cactus" they stretch out a bit with added instrumentation for a spaghetti western sound.

This one has been available for streaming for a while, but like so many others their vinyl 10" got stuck in an enormous backlog. But the wait is over, and you can now spin these songs on your turntable. Balu & die Surfgrammeln have a pretty trad, upbeat surf sound interspersed with a lot of vintage audio clips. I love the bounce in "Der Zerfall Von Backerbsen" and the percussion in their version of Comanche.

And of course, gotta love that great Shawn Dickinson artwork.

You can order it from Green Cookie or through bandcamp.

Here's something a little different. Black River Manifesto take a slow, noisy approach to surf. It's pained and dischordant, at times maybe even a little jazzy (the upright acoustic bass helps there), and sometimes bluesy (their last EP was a lot bluesier).

The Illumignarly come out swinging with the quick and powerful track "Beeriodic Table of Sharks" but as you get a little further into that you hear a moment of spaciness that hints at the couple of prog elements that come out in "Neo Rubicon" and "Cannibal Castration" (a vocal track). "Tall Can" and "Dude I Like Your Shredder" are 100% surf rock shredding material. This is a pretty impressive EP with a lot of ideas in it and a whole lot of oomph.

This one almost slipped by me until the Coffin Daggers posted about them after playing their release show. After a listen to the soundcloud songs below, it's kinda got the wild, somewhat showy guitar playing of Ramblin' Ambassadors but in more of a spooky horror way. Real tight 3-some, love how it all fits together on "Devil's Punchbowl".

Russia's The Sloptones know how to make a Halloween EP; they released a good one last year. But despite the Halloween release date, they went in the opposite direction this time with a dialed-down quiet record. No wall-of-sound here, drums kept to a level that won't bug the neighbors, and bass designed to keep your foot tapping but legs otherwise at rest.