Monday, May 11, 2009






fans of surf arcana will wonder how they ever learned to live without Rautalanka
...a Finnish style of instrumental music played by a quartet (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drum kit). Rautalanka music can also include other instruments and vocals. The word rautalanka literally means "iron wire" and refers to the strings of the electric guitar. The heyday of rautalanka was in the early 1960s, but it has enthusiasts even today. Typical features of rautalanka are sharp and clear melodies, fast tempos and extensive use of tape echo, but little or no overdrive or fuzz. What distinguishes rautalanka most clearly from other twangy guitar genres is that the melodies tend to be in minor keys and melancholic, based on slavic folk tunes and schlager songs...