October Birthdays 
FWIW, here are my favorite surf albums of '23 - and it was the year of the Return of the '90s Surf Bands!
At the very beginning of the year we did see the extremely welcome return of The Atlantics with "Still Making Waves", a return to their late-'90s and early '00s form with Martin Cilia sharing lead guitar duties with Jim Skiathitis, the album a perfect follow-up to their '99 comeback "Flight of the Surf Guitar" and '03's "Point Zero".
Ferenc Dobronyi brought Pollo Del Mar back with IMHO their best album to date, a remarkable achievement given that their previous most recent studio album is from '04. Pollo was one of the bands that really made an impression on me when I first dove into the modern surf music scene in '94 (30 years ago this year), and it's truly wonderful to have them back.
Of course, Satan's Pilgrims never went away, so no return necessary there - they've been at the very top of the surf revival scene for three decades now. But their collaboration with Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini on piano - AND also still featuring the badly-missed Dave Pilgrim on guitar - is one of the most joyful and fun surf albums any of us will ever hear! Profoundly musical, but also incredibly FUN!
Finally, we also saw the return of The Bomboras with "Songs From Beyond!", their first album since the mind-blowing (for me) "Head Shrinkin' Fun" from '98. Nobody sounds like these guys, and it's great to have that up-up garage-surf sound back!
But wait, there's more!! I believe we'll soon be getting another Langhorns album (currently being mixed), their first since "Mission Exotica" in '02, and I cannot wait! Also, there is the upcoming Draculina album with Chris Barfield (The Huntington Cads, The Finks) and Evan Douglas Foster (The Boss Martians) on guitars and Dusty Watson (Slacktone, Dick Dale) on drums - and it doesn't get much more '90s surf iconic than those three guys! So, the '90s surf revival is still in full swing, and I couldn't be happier! Those are my people!
(Major kudos to Art Bourasseau and MuSick Recordings for releasing three of the above-mentioned albums - Pollo Del Mar, the Bomboras, and Draculina. I love it, and am very grateful!)
Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
It's great dark-but-still-melodic surf. I just got more into the above four albums since they brought up a lot of nostalgia for me, I think, and given that it was a bit of a difficult year in general, it was nice to be able to find some comfort in music. 
