Despite my 15+ year long radio campaign, surf music has never caught on in New Orleans, and my chances to talk about a local group are rare. In fact, Gitkin is not surf. It's the sort of passport psych* similar to groups like Khruangbin, Glass Beams, and BALTHVS, and it's been working! Once a side project from Brian J Gitkin's role in Pimps of Joytime, Gitkin (as a musical entity) has become a bigger focus, with major festival spots and international tours.

The Babalooneys are keepin' it hot! It's been just under two years since they slipped in with their surf traditionalists' dream LP Late to the Party. And Goin' For It has no intention to mess with a successful formula.

Right off the bat "Waveline" starts with one of those chords that flushes your ears with a feeling. It's a great all-arounder -- upbeat, pretty, with intricate guitar and a little bit of sax to keep things light.

The Desolate Coast's previous album Without a Planet felt like it was destined to be a hidden gem of surf music. While I don't have an issue with calling them "surf music", I found myself thinking "The Cure" more than "Dick Dale". There was a melancholy mood to the record, though not without some explosive pent-up bursts, and a unique approach to a three-guitar attack with a low-mid-high formation.

Today is Bandcamp Friday, which means bandcamp is taking no commission on sales on their site, so most of your money goes to the artist. Paypal, of course, still takes a cut. Sometimes in the past I've done Bandcamp roundups where I write a bunch of rapid-fire reviews as suggestions of new things you can buy. But lately I've started doing my Storm Surge Splashes which have kind of been doing the same thing just not on Bandcamp fridays.

That said, I haven't been able to keep up with those in the past few weeks. In fact, most of the reviews you see here started as a Storm Surge Splash. Anyway, basically what I'm saying is you can find even more recommendations in those. But for now, here's some new fun things that have come out.

Good Thursday to you, fine folks of surf.

Clearly the 2025 Gremmy Awards have not yet begun, but I've got two categories about 90% written so maybe they should have by now. I'm thinking within a week they'll start and hopefully continue steadily from there.

I get how it can be. As you release more material, you run out of ideas. You fall into what's comfortable and your music sounds routine. You lose the spark of when you first started the band. At least I think that's how it goes. Mark, what's your secret for going in the opposite direction? How come each record is at least 5% better than the last one?

The first Frigidaires album Play it Cool was released on January 1st, 2024, so while we didn't have to wait long for that first good surf record of the year, I wasn't able to give it my full attention as I was consumed with holiday travel and Gremmy Season. Not the case here, though certainly not at an un-busy time (I'm trying my best to keep up with great releases!), Hot Vacation is not only poised before things get too Halloweeny, but it's had time for marinate for those that picked it up early at Surfguitar101 Festival. 

Sometimes being part of a local scene can raise your profile a bit, make sure the right people hear your stuff. I. Jeziak and the Surfers are, to my knowledge, the only Polish surf band at the moment, and yet they've managed to break out all the same, getting signed to the prestigious Hi-Tide label, and taking stage at Surfer Joe Summer Festival, and after this record, who knows? I suppose in surf music you can make a name for yourself by scraping for that one spot of originality nobody's found yet, or you can grab that ring that so many have reached for and slipped their fingers: vintage authenticity. Somehow this group from a place that probably doesn't have easy access to Fender gear and more than likely grew up hearing Shadows more than Surfaris have made about as convincing of a 60's reproduction as I've heard.

Los Straitjackets were, and perhaps still are, the biggest band in modern surf music, regularly finding their way onto large festival lineups that actual non-weird people went to and making several appearances on Conan O'Brien's show. And then... nothing changed. They continued playing, there were some health issues, but they never really quit.

I have to be careful about stuff like this, as I'm an easy target for overproduced maximalist surf music. Trying to peel back the layers of this, naming and following the instruments, would require some notes and probably a little pausing and rewinding, and sometimes when there's so much of that to do it's hard to answer the simple question: are these memorable songs? I've had this record for a few weeks now and I still don't know, I'm still lost in the dense instrumentation, but I suppose I can answer the most important question: am I enjoying myself? Yes.