Magnatech is a solo project from John Verhoef that jumped out mid-pandemic with a steady stream of releases that now totals seven LPs five years on. Each release saw noticeable tweaks and tips learned along the way until he'd worked out a pretty signature sound. Perhaps in fear of painting himself into a corner, for 312 Magnatech Fans Can't Be Wrong, there's a bit of a reset on that sound, pulling the plug from the compressor in the signal chain, for a less in-your-face sound overall but perhaps a more honest and detailed guitar.

One of the coolest things about the Surfguitar101 Festival is the burst of new releases occurring in advance of a band's appearance.

This blog has a pretty strict instrumental focus, so I'm bending the rules a bit to review the new Untamed Youth, as it only has four instrumentals. But they're such a legendary group that is essential to the story of surf revival, and it would be a shame to leave it off.

OK that's not really why. I want to focus on these instrumentals, as they're pretty excellent.

Alright, that's not really it either. I mostly just want to write about one song.

This band has been around for way too long for this to be their first LP, with EPs dating back to 20 years ago. While admittedly I'd never heard of them so I woudln't call this "long-awaited", it was certainly worth the not-wait. Very punchy, busy sound that can be just as much euro-instro or twistin'-oriented as surf but satisfyingly true to vintage sensibilities.

I haven't done one of these for a while, but there have been a number of records I've wanted to make sure people heard lately, so now's a great time for a slew of mini-reviews! I'm going to try to limit myself to ~5 sentences per band, partially because I want to actually publish this on Bandcamp Friday, and also because I miss writing reviews in little nuggets like that.

Frankie and the Pool Boys' first record was kind of a kitchen-sink record, with Ferenc Dobronyi on guitar, Jeff Turner on bass, Dusty Watson on drums, and a bunch of friends on the other guitars and additional whatever. Then they became a real band with an established lineup for two great LPs. And now we've got back to the start with Endless Drummer, a Poolboys record with a different drummer on every track, not to mention a bunch of other friends joining in.

Things have been relatively quiet for one of the loudest groups in surf. While Arno has snuck in a few small EPs, it's been 4 years since the last entry in the Retrofuturisme series/their last LP. But I'd say the extra time has paid off.

The only artist on Bandcamp for whom I've clicked the "Buy digital discography" button is not a surf artist, but Estonian composer/producer/whatever Misha Panfilov. When I first came across his work it was mostly raw funk with a spacey element to it, and I've since appreciated his meanderings into jazz, ambient, and warbly synths. I almost always enjoy it, usually love it. One of his projects is Penza Penza, whose first album is some of the noisiest, stripped-down primal funk I've heard. Over the next three albums, Penza Penza seemed to become less overtly concerned with funkiness and more with making oddball instrumentals, none of which I'd call surf by any real stretch.

And then I guess it did stretch! For Penza Penza's fifth album I seemed to have been granted a wish: a Misha Panfilov surf album of sorts! It's on the album cover, it's in the album title, and it's in the music! Somewhat!

Earlier this year, entire neighborhoods of the Los Angeles area were burned down from wildfires. You know this, I have nothing particularly insightful to add to this, but I am from a very disaster-prone area (New Orleans) and I can relate. There's a lot going on in the world and particularly the US right now, and it feels like the news has moved on to more recent matters. One thing I know from previous hurricanes, oil spills, etc. that I've seen, is that gestures of care and attempts to help, particularly after the national eye has moved on, are very appreciated. So I'd imagine to a lot of people this compilation is a very meaningful thing.

BASK IN THE GLORY OF SURF MUSIC!