The Woodhavens

Gremmy Awards 2025: Best Modern Surf Record

Best Modern Surf

Modern surf is always a large category because most of us by default are modern people doing modern things, creating modern works. So it's always going to be a big category. And its not really something you can define: it's not traditional surf, it's not too aggressive, but it's still surf, and that amorphousness also means that there's a lot of things that you could call "modern surf". So what I'm getting at here is hoo boy, do I have a lot of things on here. And when I have this many things you might think "well did anything not make the cut? Absolutely, there were a lot of good and even great surf records not on this list, a few that felt like snubs, and the crazy thing is I wanted to cut more. But the thing is, I couldn't! I felt like nearly all of these in their own way had a claim for the top spot. And especially interesting, they all brough something unique to the table, not even an opportunity for one to "cancel another out".

And I guess that's a good problem to have. So here are TWELVE very interesting and excellently crafted surf records, and one that after a LOT of thought, I decided I liked the most. In no specific order except for the last one.

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Gremmy Awards 2025: Best Album Art

Gremmy Awards Best Album Art 2025

The first Gremmy category is a bit of an outlier, as it doesn't really pertain to surf music itself. Album art! However, I think surf as a genre has had a pretty strong visual identity over the years, dating all the way back to its inception. The value of this feels even stronger now that so many bands are simply generating pictures of a surfer riding a huge wave 5 feet from the shore (why is it always like that?). Plus, The Grammys have this category, why shouldn't I?

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SurfGuitar101 Festival 2025: Day 3

The Surf Coasters at SG101 2025

It was Sunday, the final day of the Surfguitar101 Festival. I wanted to take the morning to appreciate Long Beach a little bit more, and this time it took the form of a nice run along the beach. I try to take advantage of exercising in other climates when I can because home is 95 degrees and 100% humidity. I wish that I had had the opportunity to do things like this on Thursday or maybe Friday morning, but alas, getting here was a nightmare (see Day 1 post) so this was my opportunity. After a little breakfast, I headed over to the Golden Sails for one last day of surf music.

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