The point of having so many Gremmy Awards categories to something that most people just think of as "surf" is to best compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. And so what we have here is the wildberries at the bottom of the basket. Unidentifiable, unique, possibly poisonous. Some of them play with our idea of surf music, some of them ultimately are just recommendations to surf fans.
It's funny how things have changed over the course of doing the Gremmys. I once had a small band called Khruangbin win this category, now I feel like bands that sound like Khruangbin are kind of their own genre, and I'm hesitant to include them here. Bands like Chicha Libre and Sonido Gallo Negro that pushed cumbia and chicha felt like cousins to surf music, and while sometimes that still feels like the case, cumbia has experienced such a vibrant revival in a manner that often feels very separate from surf. And I think that's amazing. Even if it doesn't seem to have paid dividends for surf music, I love that we're living in a world that seems more open to instrumentals in general. Maybe this will mean fewer people yelling "SING SOMETHING" at shows.
But the most important thing that I'm saying here is that if you took any of my Gremmy categories seriously, please take this one less seriously. Think of this only as things that I, a fan of surf music, might think other fans of surf music would find enjoyable.
Honorable Mentions
Wayku - Selva Selva
Drawing from the guitarist's experience in the Peruvian Amazon and studying and learning about his regional musical history, Wayku plays what to my virgin ears I would think of as a very modernized, freeform cumbia, but a lot of what he's aiming for is a more niche sound called "pandilla". Again, his verison is cramming in a LOT from modern rock and jazz, with even a few moments that make me think of Tuareg guitar and, of course, surf. I have a feeling this is like hearing Led Zeppelin as an introduction to delta blues, but it's opening the door all the same, and he's made other music that's much more traditional if you want to delve deeper into something a little more authentic. In the meantime I think this is a very fun and festive odyssey through guitar, mish-mashing a bunch of different styles in a unique way. He also explicitly says he added surf guitar here, so I'm not totally off by including this.
L'Exotighost - Hawaii Esta en tu Mente
Exotica may live next-door to surf, but I think there's usually a fine enough line between the two that I don't let them into the Gremmys. But this time they brought a guitar, so sure, come on in. That's not to say that there wasn't one on their great 2022 record Kamongo, but it's a lot more front-and-center this time, a bit more surfy, and in general it feels like this band has emerged from the jungle and shore. A lot of these tracks are covers, but done in ways that felt fresh, and some of the choices are especially fun, like Mort Garson's "Plantasia".
Los No Te Vayas - Los No Te Vayas
When AI surf music first came out I liked it. I was hearing sounds I hadn't heard before, and I wasn't aware that it was generated. And for a little while the weirdness of AI was kind of the draw of it, like when we were all messing with DALL-E, basically an absurdity generator. More and more, the bugs are getting squashed and AI generated content is shaping towards an obnoxious average.
I am fairly certain Los No Te Vayas are a human band, because they create oddity from surf music in such a way that I don't think AI could. Their languid, structureless approach feels like it would crash a computer, and the way they stick sounds and rhythms where they don't go while still keeping a consistent mood has a playfulness that wouldn't fit the objective of serving you something you asked for. When I first heard this I felt like I was listening to The Shaggs of surf music, and I've come around to the other side thinking they know surf music better than most -- and how to exploit it. It's one of the most refreshing surf albums I've heard in a while, and it can even be quite beautiful when you slip into their dimension.
Chauffeur et Parlak - The Swamp
After 3 LPs I still can't mentally separate this band from Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited, but that's hardly a problem. SSSU felt like they dropped out of the sky with a strange, complex and surprisingly complete sound that was entirely their own. I've rarely heard a band that sounds like a cheap imitation of them, so hearing a band that functions as a competent replacement for them now that they've broken up feels like a gift. I love this mix of spooky guitar, exotic rhythms and a deep array of sonic tricks, and between these two bands we have more to choose from than we probably deserve.
Los Volcanes - Los Volcanes
Like I said in the intro, cumbia feels like it's in its own place right now, often leaning more into its tipsy beat and hip-swirling party potential. But Los Volcanes said no. Instead let's just dump some reverb on the guitar and let it run wild all over some cumbia beat. The result is unruly, a bit psychedelic, and raw fun. There's not a whole lot more to it, and that's all I need.
Flinga - Hum
Raine Kokkinen is also a member of the excellent and unique surf group Halibears (percussion in both groups), and this other direction has a lot of the bright and curious sensibilities of his other group but with a different touch. The rhythms borrow from latin and jazz influences, and the guitars have a much lighter, more seductive touch. Maybe flashes of exotica and cumbia, but stripped of the mystery and danger. It's earthy, wholesome, feels like it should come with a serving of bread and wine, and it makes me happy every time.
And the Gremmy goes to...
Penza Penza - Hang Loose! I Got Dem Ol' Surfer Bloos...
If you've seen my lists of non-surf favorites on WTUL's website, Misha Panfilov makes an appearance year-on-year in some form. His stuff tends to orbit around library, ambient, funk, and jazz, and while his project Penza Penza frequently features instrumental guitar it never quite came close enough to where I felt like I could feature it on Storm Surge of Reverb. And then there was an album that very explicitly told me I could!
Hang Loose attacks the idea of surf music from a number of angles, and quite aggressively. It's noisy as hell, lo-fi and with a guitar tone that often approaches Link Wray more than Astronauts, and they're tossing in waltzes, Delta Blues, spacey synths and even a sorta disco track. But that disco track probably has the drippiest reverb on the whole thing! There's (nearly) always something to bring it back to surf. Moreso, if you were already a fan of Penza Penza like I was, it's always a Penza Penza record too. It's always trashy fun, defiant and festive, and that's something that aligns nicely with surf music. It is an experimental record, but it farts on pretention.
It's hard to capture this record in its entirety because it's changing shape from track to track, but these songs have a great melodic base to them, perhaps moreso than some other Penza Penza records which at times have felt more like riff explorations. The opening track has as much fist-pumping force of anything I've heard this year. The mid-section of "Summer Bats" is beautiful and especially when accompanied by the vocal "ahhhs" nails a summer surf vibe. "Garfish" is such a pretty tune that makes me think of snorkeling. Each listen might mean a different favorite track, and often those listens are back-to-back.
Penza Penza was already a band that was nestled right into a pocket of my tastes, so it's unsurprising that this feels like it's speaking directly to me. I just hope it speaks to you too.
Very happy to give Penza Penza and Misha Panfilov a shiny .png file.
