Coming straight to you from the overstuffed vaults of Del-Fi records-- yet another surf comp to whet your lickety places by! And, to look at the bands that pop up here, Surf Monsters may prove to be 20 tracks of sweetest, most frenetic surf. Yay.

Surf Monsters opens on the right foot-- it kicks off with Man or Astroman's "Floatation Devices for Frequencies Yet to Be Detected" before jumping headfirst into the distortion-heavy organ twang of "Planet of the Apehangers." It doesn't take long before you're made fully aware that Surf Monsters is no ordinary Del-Fi comp, but a combination of "old" and "new" Surf artists, from new kids Huevos Rancheros and the Sub-Mersians to old-skool tracks from the Impacts and the Lively Ones. It's a jam-packed surf-comp, oh yes.

From start to finish, Surf Monsters delivers exactly what you'd expect: surf. However, an added bonus lies in the combination of old and new artists. Because even though surf hasn't changed that drastically over the years, a few of these tracks stand out. Barbacoa's "Northern Spy," with its schizophrenic horns and relatively mellow tempo, fits well following the frenetic pace of the Sentinels' "Exotic." Similarly, the tropical sounds of the Tiki Tones' "The Island of Lost Soul" is a vivid reminder of how production value has touched this genre.

Add familiar sounds like Dave Meyers and the Surftones' "Moment of Truth," the Centurions "Bullwinkle (Part II)" and the Lively Ones' take on Dick Dale's classic "Miserlou," and you've got a better comp than most-- one met not with yawns and general disdain, but with the twitching of extremities and sudden gaseous expulsions. I'd say it's better than most comps of the genre, and with 20 tracks spanning 19 artists, it ain't too stingy, either. Both a good intro to the genre and worthy of the attention of surf aficionados. That's about the range of its appeal, though.

-James P. Wisdom