Par Avion clearly love the surf sound, but don't let it get in the way when they have other ideas. "Unchained Melody" has a great Duane Eddy meets modern-surf twang to it and sets the tone well for the rest of the album. But then the song "Par Avion" has a less motivated, more post-punk melancholy to it. Then the next song features a cello, the next one has a great orchestral spaghetti western sound to it, but then there's a pretty straightforward cover of Misirlou.

A live album from the band that I can't help but think of as "that band with the boobs on the album cover". Great trad sound, really sunny and fun and well-played, with a few sound clips thrown on in-between songs. It definitely does sound live, but that really only becomes a factor on the few vocal songs, where the vocals dwarf the instrumental mix. Otherwise, there's a great energy and bounce to it throughout.

Las Olas may have a mostly trad sound to them, but they're not exactly going for a sunny SoCal vibe. Like the ashy cover art suggests, this is some dark, hopeless surf. Not necessarily slow and dreary - there are some frantic songs like "violeta", but definitely not smiling at you.

You can stream it on bandcamp, or just download it for free!

I was a big fan of Die Krabben's Welcome to Surf Trash Island released last year, even giving it a Gremmy honorable mention. Mining the Gyre has the same weirdo creepy surf-meets-Beefheart thing going on, with a few good instrumentals, a few essentially surf songs with a deep trollish voice grumbling out lyrics. It's kinda like if Reverend Beat-man had more of a surf angle.

After 8 years as a band without so much of an EP to their name, Luau or Die went ahead and made TWO EPs in 2015, almost entirely originals. It's fun, adventurous, and has a good helping of swagger to it. Give it a list, and while you're at it you can check out Vol. 1

Iowa's biggest surf act (probably by default, but by merit too) just dropped a nice live record. The sound is clean, better than plenty of studio albums I've heard. The songs seem to be all over the back catalog, a great place to start if this is your first introduction to the Surf Zombies.

The digital download is nice and cheap, but they've also got a CD that you can buy.

13th Magic Skull's last record "Sungazing in Rapa Nui" was a huge surprise hit last year. I gave it an honorable mention for a Gremmy and definitely gave it a lot of thought for the big prize. They've just got so much punch that I'm always surprised when I give it another listen and hear a pretty pure surf sound.

Before we do anything here, I'd like to recognize The Special Edisons for calling an 8-song album an EP. I feel like 8 songs is becoming the norm for an album this year, and they're acknowledging that that's short!

The Special Edisons (not a typo) hail from Calgary, which is funny because the first thing that came to mind was Huevos Rancheros. No shared members, I checked, they're a 3-piece with a ragged, dry, and distorted guitar tone. It's rough and tumble ranch rock, and there's not a slow number in the bunch. Fun stuff!

At this point I've been doing this radio show in New Orleans for about 5 years, and in that time very few listeners have come to the obvious conclusion that they should start a surf band. So I was overcharged with excitement when I was shown a youtube video from a frequent listener of their new band Ghost Coast. A few days later, there's even a demo up on bandcamp!

The only surf band I can think of with America in its name is from Madrid, Spain. Sure, why not?

Surfing Way is a light-hearted walk through many different familiar sounds in the surf world: straight up surf, drag racing, spaghetti western, fuzz, etc. It's easy-going and sounds nice and vibrant.