Bandcamp may have changed hands again recently, but it looks like they're still giving up their portion of sales on the first Friday of every month, so "all" of your money goes to the artists (so long as you count Paypal as an artist). And as semi-usual, I'll draw some focus to recent surf releases worth a look. October is always a big month for surf releases as bands try to cram stuff in before Halloween, but that hasn't started yet, so this is mostly un-spooky. I also didn't get a chance to do one of these last month, so it's reaching back a little further.

We're 3/5ths of the way through our countdown (click here to see the rest), with each record receiving more and more highly-ranked votes. A few of these records were even #1 for some of the voters.

It's time to take that yearly trip over to the west coast for the premiere Surf festival in the US: The Surfguitar101 Convention. After a nice day on the El Segundo Beach, a nice meet & greet, and a warm-up at The Purple Orchid on Friday, I woke up Saturday ready for a day immersed in surf music.

I learned from past experience that I should have cash in-hand and show up at least an hour early. I took a half-second to behold the strange and wonderful sight of the Alpine Lodge, and proceeded inside where I paid my admission to familiar friendly faces.

After three SurfGuitar 101 Convention appearances I figured I was overdue in participating in the surf event representing my region: the Southern Surf StompFest. StompFest is the annual big event surrounding the smaller monthly Southern Surf Stomp events in Atlanta. It’s a full day of surf & instro groups from everywhere but with a little bit of bias towards groups closer to Atlanta. It’s a free event put on by Chad Shivers of bands like The Squares, Moonbase, The KBK and most importantly The Mystery Men?

Los Tiki Phantoms are back with another album of lighthearted, carefree, pop-garage surf instrumentals. Though there are a few more effects, brass instruments, and spaghetti western sounds, it still has that bright and sunny Los Tiki Phantoms feel. They don't change the formula much, but I think of them as dependable rather than sounding stale.

I have played a TON of Los Tiki Phantoms on my radio show. They don't necessarily bring anything new to the table, but damn if it isn't ROCK SOLID. "Y El Misterio Del Talisman" looks like it's going to be a mainstay as well, with more upbeat sun-soaked skate-punk surf rock just dripping with fun the whole way through. Check out the video, you'll get it.