Just a few weeks ago I was listening to The (Fabulous) Wailers' "Tall Cool One" LP and thinking "Why are there not thousands of bands still making this stuff?". I just wanna stomp and twist and dance and leave my music at that!

The Satin Chaps get it! They've got some swingin' organ, honkin' brass, and percussion ready to make you move. Too bad two tracks aren't even enough to work up a sweat, but they're both right on target!

Recently I talked about how excited I was to hear a new EP from Travelers of Tyme. What I didn't realize at the time (tyme?) was that that was just a prelude to a brand new LP. True to their form, Chronomads is eclectic, mysterious and strange, with all sorts of instrumentation and sounds unique to each song.

Always great to see a surf band with a hefty brass section! Los Coyotes are about equal parts 3rd-wave ska and surf, a combination you don't hear very often. And I think it's working! This is a fun EP, though only 3 songs. Looking forward to hear where a combo like this goes next.

Demon Vendetta's previous LP "Guardians of the Bitter Sea" was absolutely excellent, with one track "Black Skull: Master of the Dark" that will probably be a mainstay on my Halloween show until forever. I had listeners genuinely tell me they were creeped out by it!

The Compadres hail from Ecuador playing fun-in-the-sun trad surf rock. It's got a nice helping of reverb, some nice use of whammy bar here and there, a lil' farfisa, the sound of waves on the shore... all contributing to music for a nice day. While I definitely tend to lean towards the fast and loud songs in most bands, I really think their slower track "Atardecer en la punta" is doing something interesting.

You can give it a listen on bandcamp as well as Google Play, iTunes, Deezer etc.

Intóxicos have been playing live since 2013 and have finally released their first LP "Vila Velha Todo Dia". It's got a wide range of themes and ideas with solid guitar work throughout. I particularly got a kick out of their attempt to make Intoxica more intoxicated in their self-titled track "Intóxicos".

They've also got a pretty fun pixel art video poking fun at the old California Games video games.

For those with weak spanish, these 9 songs were recorded live at place named "Pub Interview" in Bariloche, Argentina. So don't expect an interview, expect fast, loud, and chaotic surf tunes. For a live recording everything comes out sounding pretty nice and gives them a rawness that might have been missing from some of their previous material.

Germany's The Coconuts play by-the-books trad surf originals with the exception one of one reggae-influenced track (influenced is the key word, still for surf fans). The slower tunes were just as pleasing to me as the fast ones, with solid guitar melodies throughout backed up by energetic percussion.

The band that mixed the Pennsylvania Dutch with surf has now thrown horror into the mix. Really though, this EP only really goes for the spooky vibes on the title track and "La Culpa", the rest is solid trad surf. They've got physical copies on the way to the manufacturer, but in the meantime you can hear and download the songs on bandcamp

Expressway Sketches is comprised of a group of accomplished jazz musicians that found themselves falling into a surf rock habit. Which lead to the LP you have here. From the bits that I've heard, it sounds like it should be comfortable listening for a lot of surf fans, with moments where it warps a little and brings you into jazz territory.