Pekka Laine's previous LP The Enchanted Guitar of Pekka Laine is a can't-miss record. The thick layers of reverb and dreamy melodies make for one of the most engrossing listening experiences I've heard in (or at least very nearby to) this genre. The only real complaint I had was that there simply wasn't enough of it. And now there's more.

I'm glad I caught this one, as the name doesn't exactly scream surf. I mean, maybe you knew that Mary Ann Hawkins was pioneering surf in the 1930s. Maybe you knew about their two previous EPs (one on 8" vinyl apparently?). I didn't. But there is a surfboard on the cover.

This one came out a few months ago and I would have missed it completely were it not from Ferenc's review in The Continental Magazine. If you have it, read that. This Finnish stuff always tends to sneak by!

Man, what is it about Finland? El Supernaut have released their 3rd LP and have more than earned some recognition in the instro scene. Gorilla Fighter is a bright, punchy record full of ideas. Their last LP Plays Half Dead was great, but it was literally half (excellent) Dead Kennedys covers. Playing mostly original material now, they sneak in hints of Booker T and the MGs on "Fool For Your Loving", a ska beat on "Die Mauer Brechen", a bit more of a straightforward 90's punk sound on "We Go Moon", while still going big and mean on tracks like "Gorilla Fighter".

The Grande Bois have been a pretty ambitious group since their first release and they're just as inventinve and frenetic on their third LP. Though their album art often deals in horror movie camp, they don't really come off as a horror surf band (especially on sleepy tracks like "Shy Groove", a straight sunset surf tune). Rather, they roll around in strange fiction tropes with playfulness. It gives them a good variety, sometimes playing it straight and sometimes getting pretty goofy and punctuating a song with cow moos.

More from Finland! Double Crown was so excited about The Shockwave's last release that they brought them onto their roster. Mine's on the way through the Double Crown Music Club and will be my first exposure to them, but they've put up a live preview of some of the tracks on this album over on the youtube

Just as the tradition of surf rock continues today, so does the very similar tradition of Rautalanka continue in Finland. What especially impresses me is that despite how thin and glassy a lot of the 60's rautalanka can be, modern groups seem to all be very slick and prettty. Based on the samples I've heard, you can say the same here. There's a few preview tracks when you hit Read More.