This category is for surf groups that don't feel like they need to closely imitate the sounds of yesteryear, who carve out their own sound and identity. I don't know if I've ever crammed this category with so many records as this year -- and this is after several difficult cuts. Maybe I need to be more ruthless, or maybe there was just so much to love. I like to think it's the latter. Here are what I consider to be the cream of the crop for 2020.

This category is for albums that are unmistakably surf, but would not be mistaken for vintage. This was a tough category this year and it was tough choosing a winner. A lot of these were also really pushing the envelope, and it was hard to decide what belongs here and what belongs in the Way-Out Instro category.

For a while WJLP's Petomaniac was one of the best free surf/instro albums you could find on bandcamp. They've since decided to get paid for it, though still pretty damn affordable (and very worth it) at €5. Though they've sprinkled instrumentals here and there since then, but they're back to a full instrumental record with a spacey sci-fi movie theme.

I wouldn't normally post a single song (the other song on this EP is a vocal track) but this is an excellent Halloween song that never gets covered and WJLP released a pretty excellent instro album for free a while back. Enjoy!