Surf Music

Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Singles and EPs of 2024

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk, Surf Music / 1 Comment

Next week we will publish our lists of favorite albums, but first here is an overview of short format releases that were—in my humble opinion—the most wantlist worthy. It’s a mix of welcome comebacks and uncompromising discoveries, all energetic and passionate.

Below you can listen to the Top 50 singles and EPs that I enjoyed the most last year (note: individual songs are excluded), in alphabetical order. Links point to Discogs or Bandcamp (the titles), and to previously posted reviews (in the body text). Add to your wantlist (or collection) what you like!

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New EP: Los Atascados feat. Sys Malakian || Capic​ú​a

Sunny instrumentals full of spirited guitar gymnastics

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Let’s shift our focus for a moment to Mexico, where surf rock band Los Atascados and guitarist Sys Malakian teamed up for some sun-kissed sounds that make you dream away to better times. Their joint Capic​ú​a EP contains four instrumentals, two of which are collaborations and two are individual tracks. It is all about shimmering melodies, with more moods than you would expect to fit on a 7″.


Capic​ú​a, recorded, mixed and mastered by Gabriel López, is out digitally and on 7″ vinyl through Otitis Media Records. Featuring Alberto Montes de Oca (lead guitar), Sys Malakian (lead guitar, rhythm guitar), Alberto Montes de Oca (rhythm guitar), Omar “Alf” García (bass), Miguel García (bass), F. Israel Sorkin T. (drums) and Gustavo López (drums). Two of the songs are vinyl exclusive and not available on Bandcamp or streaming platforms.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Otitis

New album: Waterboarding School || The Little Sports Mirror

Sun-soaked sonic goodness from Gothenburg, Sweden

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Surf Music / Leave a Comment

Waterboarding School is not a secretive CIA plot, but a five-piece from Gothenburg (Sweden) who just dropped their third album The Little Sports Mirror. Comprised of 8 tracks that just touch twenty minutes, Waterboarding School make it almost too easy to enjoy the record.

Their surfy garage pop is sun-kissed and West Coast influenced (think Allah-Las). The band keeps the pace going—bopping your head quickly becomes inevitable, but they make it feel leisurely and relaxed, and that sure is a nice space to reside in.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of November 2024

By / / Alternative Rock, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Power Pop, Surf Music / 1 Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

In November, Haruomi Hosono (by various artists), Margo Guryan (various artists), Green Day (Billy Cobb) and Joy Division (The Routes) were put in the spotlight, and numerous Christmas classics were given new packaging, but here we list some other choice cuts.

Empty Sky || Cover: The Fleshtones || Original: Elton John
Forty-five years after their first release, New York garage rock legends The Fleshtones dropped a new worthy long-player, titled It​’​s Getting Late (​…​and More Songs About Werewolves), out on Yep Roc. Besides strong self-penned songs like Way of the World and Wah Wah Power, there are good covers of The Hearse (written by Lee Hazlewood, first released by Al Casey) and Empty Sky (written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, first released by Roy Everett but a month later also by Elton John), all in the band’s signature sound.

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New album: Daffodil Pill || Daffodil Pill

A genre-fluid and mind-bending mood-lifter

By / / Garage Rock, Psych, Surf Music / Leave a Comment

Three years have flown by since we were introduced to Daffodil Pill, the eclectic rock band from Wrocław, Poland, who say they are all about breaking boundaries and riding the cosmic wave. They already proved that on 2021’s Yup EP, but even more so on this new self-titled full-length album. In seven songs—two EP tunes return in a slightly different version—we fly through all the colorful suburbs of the psychedelic rock spectrum, from surf to prog and back. The four musicians pull out all the stops in the more than ten minutes of opening track Alien Beach, a wild rollercoaster full of inimitable twists. What follows is a little less exuberant, but just as fascinating, always groovy.



Daffodil Pill’s self-titled album, produced, mixed and mastered by Marcin Bors, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Interstellar Smoke Records. Featuring songwriter Filip Dudek (vocals, keys, harmonica, vocoder, theremin, sitar), Dawid Stawiarz (guitar), Mateusz Wróblewski (bass) and Adam Chmura (drums, jaw harp).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Interstellar Smoke

New album: The Routes || Surfin’ Pleasures

Blasphemous or brilliant? Joy Division hits the waves

By / / Surf Music / 1 Comment

Anglo-Japanese garage rockers The Routes have some pretty cool original music to their name, but here they continue their successful formula of transferring other genres to the surf scene. Chris Jack (guitar, bass, percussion), Toru Nishimuta (bass) and Bryan Styles (drums, percussion) have some guts: after covering the electro songs of Kraftwerk on The Twang Machine and the punk tracks of Buzzcocks on Reverberation Addict, they now dare to attack another bastion with an army of protective fans. On their new full-length Surfin’ Pleasures, the trio reimagines and rearranges twelve post-punk classics by Joy Division – both the album title and cover art pay homage to their Unknown Pleasures LP – as exciting surf guitar instrumentals. They do this with such respect and craft, and the new versions are so completely different, that the only way to respond to this is to enjoy it.



Surfin’ Pleasures, mixed & mastered by Andrew Shartle, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Topsy Turvy Records. The cover art is a variation on Peter Saville’s design for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, but the lines now represent a sound wave instead of a pulsar.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Soundflat

New album: The Hydronauts || Interstellar Clambake

Laidback vibes from Massachusetts

By / / Surf Music / 1 Comment

From Dennis, Massachusetts, surf trio The Hydronauts aim to bring the sound of the surf to Cape Cod and beyond. How nice, their debut album Interstellar Clambake has reached us, over 3,400 miles away, and now you are reading this too. Songwriter Ed Desautels (lead & rhythm guitar, bass), Glenn Sadin (drums, percussion, lap steel guitar, keyboards, rhythm guitar, bass) and Michael Kirstein (bass) have recorded eleven instrumentals, on vintage analog equipment, supplemented with a few soundscapes. The melodic tunes are quite original – there’s one cover, of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass’ Green Peppers – and entertaining, with a more laidback vibe than you might expect from the song titles. Anyway, this is a soundtrack that works anywhere in the world.




Interstellar Clambake, produced and recorded by Glenn Sadin, is out now digitally.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Mister Trece And The Werewolves || Horror Movies Made Me Do It

Your soundtrack to Halloween 2024

By / / Garage Rock, Surf Music / Leave a Comment

With Halloween approaching, a lot of new music about scary creatures and terrifying events is being released. One of the most fun albums is Horror Movies Made Me Do It, by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based artist Mister Trece, who divides his time between creating disturbing paintings and recording music influenced by his art and his hobbies. In this case, the inspiration came from horror movies from the 50s to the 70s (hence the title), resulting in eight original instrumentals in which rockabilly meets surf rock, with hints of jazz, synthwave and soundscapes. Seductive melodies well executed, an awesome soundtrack for the upcoming event.

Horror Movies Made Me Do It is out digitally via Midnight Marauder Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Surfrajettes || Easy as Pie

Delicious sweet treats, including a cover of 'Spice Up Your Life'

By / / Surf Music / 2 Comments

Nicole Damoff (guitar), Shermy Freeman (guitar), Sarah Butler (bass) and Annie Lillis (drums) of The Surfrajettes continue the party they started in an old roller rink – captured on 2022’s Roller Fink LP – in a pastel-colored diner. Under the apt title Easy as Pie, the Toronto quartet serves up twelve new instrumental surf tunes that are alternately sweet and fresh. Some of them are surprising covers – Hot Doggin (The Astronauts), Clam Chowder (The Sadies), Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls), Instant Coffee (The Jokers) and Lee Hazelwood’s Sugar Town (Nancy Sinatra) – for which they follow the recipes of others but give them their own twist, fitting seamlessly between the delicious original treats. So much fun that it’s tempting to go for another round.




Easy as Pie, produced by Colin Cripps, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Hi-Tide Recordings.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Hi-Tide

New single: Ichi-Bons || Snake Eyes / Watusi Zombie

First Go-Time 7" fills the dance floor like crazy

By / / Garage Rock, Surf Music / Leave a Comment

Canadian rock ‘n’ roll trio Ichi-Bons return with two exciting instrumentals, which make up the first 45 of new label Go-Time Recordings. A-side Snake Eyes is an original tune written by the band’s frontman Mamoru “Mamo Banzai” Anzai, flipside Watusi Zombie is a cover of Jan Davis’ 1964 single. Both blend melodic surf rock with frantic rockabilly, ideal for dancing, jumping and shouting as if no one is watching.

Snake Eyes b/w Watusi Zombie is out digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Hi-Tide Recordings’ Go-Time label.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Hi-Tide

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