Surf is usually pretty analog, even in one-man home studio incarnations, so it's always a little strange to hear projects like this. While most tracks still have recognizable reverbed surf guitar, just about everything else is unabashed drum machine, electric keyboard, and synthesized sounds. And it's pretty fun! Definitely has a bedroom project feel, but still has a surf pace and surf song structures.

Henchmen have it tough, so I appreciate that they found the time and space in their employer's lair to form a band and let off some steam. They've got a pretty dark twang going throughout that sets up a big vibe of mystery and evil. I mean I'm really buying this as a henchman sound, right down to the feeling of oppression - "Nikola Tesla Theme" even starts out with a bit of a march. The winner of the bunch to me is "Worthy Adversary" with its harsh buzzing and forboding trumpet buildup. Worth checking out if you're into the spy sound!

Perhaps you can tell by the name, but Men from S.P.E.C.T.R.E are pointed in a global syndicate of evil direction than rather than southern California. If you didn't figure that out, then you need to watch Goldfinger. But what I really mean by that is you can expect plenty of organ with your guitars, and a swanky mod beat. Not so much John Barry, closest cousin I can think of is Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited. It's a sound I'd like to hear more of, and they pull it off according to plan. SPECTRE wins this time.

We've got four songs of rough and raw surf here, all new tracks. As a live EP, the production quality takes off some of the crispy edge that was on their self-titled EP, but it's still fast and fun. I'm hoping we can hear some of these on an LP in the future

Arizona's The Coconauts are back with their second LP. It's been a while since I last sat down with their album Get Coco-Naughty, but this one seems creepier and spacier. It's also a bit more focused as an album, with several interstitial bits to accentuate the creepy, spacey feel. Looks like the tracks from their EP I Drove My Car to Heaven found new version on this one as well. I've barely given this album a full listen, but standouts are the great interplay between guitarists on "Re-Entry" and "Black Hole".

The Exotics have two LPs under their belt: 1996's Go Go Guitars and 2009's The Lost Room as well as a few EPs. A retrospective album like this works in a time sense at over 20 years, but it's still pretty easy to pick up the complete collection too. Their bandcamp says this has a few new and remixed tracks, but I haven't figured out which ones those are.

The Turbosonics have been around for a while now and have a number of live recordings up on their bandcamp, but I believe this is their second full LP. While the heart of their sound is fuzzed-out, gritty and rockin', this LP is pretty well-rounded with the cool, slow number "Frozen Surf", and the total oddball "Meat Slicer from Outer Space" that had me checking that I wasn't still listening to the Oskar Benas album I had just made a post about.

Based on their facebook presence, Arizona's The Apaches haven't been around for too long, but they've got one EP to show for it. This EP has 4 originals, pretty straight-ahead surf perhaps with a bit of a lonely desert vibe.

I still wasn't done enjoying Oskar Benas' solo release from this year Hereje Del Mar (which apparently I never made a post about) but we've already got this release from his full combo. While surf typically puts you on the seashore, Oskar's music points me towards the jungle as its getting dark. It's creepy-crawly, strange, wary, but definitely alive and curious, and it does it in its own way without the tropes we're used to from exotica, tiki or horror surf.

You gotta be careful looking for surf rock on Burger Records. They're home to an awful lot of the bands that are muddying up the term. You know, garage bands with a lot of reverb on the vocals, stuff derived from Wavves, Black Lips etc. And right from the first track one might think that's the case here, with summery girl-group-garage sing-a-long vocals, but I urge you to stay! The next track is "Swedish Fish", a rippin' surf instro with punchy, splashy percussion free of pretention and all about fun.