It's been 10 years since my first Surfguitar101 Festival/Convention, which is not to say that this was my tenth, but I haven't missed one yet. While last year's was fantastic, the sting of two high-profile foreign bands dropping off due to Trump's immigration nonsense forced the event into safe mode this year -- all American bands, and reverting from Long Beach's Golden Sails hotel to the Garden Grove, CA Elks Lodge location last used the year before I first attended. That said, it wasn't that much of a backpedal -- Still a three-day weekender with a secondary stage, and with some very heavy-hitting bands on the bill, like former headliners The Bomboras and The Boss Martians in addition to top-tier gets Los Straitjackets and Slacktone.

In 15 years we've seen many sides of Trabants. Since straightforward surf twistin' on their debut, they've jumped to spaghetti, psychedelics, library, and blues... and then psychedelics again. Last year they released their Mantra 7" which was an absolutely stunning fuzzed-out hazed-out burnout that employed every trick in the 60's psychedelic book to excellent effect. And that was a bit of a hint of things to come as they announced their next LP, Mantra.

Here are the next 20 selections from our Top 100 Surf Records of the 2010s chosen by surf fans. Admittedly, as with 100-81 the vote counts weren't quite high enough to determine heirarchy easily, so my own input certainly comes into play, though things will get more clear-cut as we go. Enjoy!

Part of what sold me on Surfer Joe was the symposiums. I like having a moment to talk and learn about topics inside or around surf music, and I watched a few of the ones that were posted online in years past. So I registered at VIP level (an extra $30 or whatever wasn’t much in the grand scheme of airfare and lodging) and headed over around noon.

Every Trabants release has stuck out to me so far, and this is no exception. Or rather, this is also exceptional. You know what I mean. I'm not sure if I can pinpoint exactly what it is, they just seem to be one of those bands where everything lands in the right place. The drums aren't necessarily showy, but keep things moving in the right way, and really know how to add some punch when they need to. They've always got a good helping of variety and fresh ideas on every album, and the tunes stick with you.