In Review

The Sir Finks

Instrumentals in the Key of... BOSS!!! (Wildebeest)

The Sir Finks/I Cosmonauti

Guitars Don't Argue (Wildebeest)

Not many good breakers off the coast of our island in the middle of Texas, but Austin's Sir Finks ride their longboard echo through a primo tunnel of twang found only where the water is white. Says plenty about a surf(ari) band when you can play their EP at both 33 1/3 and 45rpm and the guitar glides like Sex Wax over saltwater either way. On "Guitars Don't Argue," the local suit-and-tie trio splits a tasty slice of banana-cream-yellow vinyl with Italy's I Cosmonauti, who headlined a spray-soaked triple-decker luau with them and their fellow River City beach buddies the Sandblasters. The Sir Finks' whirling "Mazatland Stomp" takes off like a street urchin with your purse, while "Steel Pier" is pounded with Mike Guerrero's guitar runs. Cosmonauti serve up their own dish on the "Italian Side" with the shimmering "Desert of Illusion" and breezy "Aloha." Toss in Guerrero's Sergio Leonesque sleeve art, and suddenly its your DVD player, not your turntable, that seems obsolete. A CD player will spin Instrumentals in the Key of... BOSS!!! faster than a saucer over Roswell, but this full-length debut's 13 lucky numbers are grounded in sea and sand. With a sinister Munster mobile growl, opener "Weird Beard" proclaims BOSS!!! ad-Ventures of the shimmy-shaking variety, "Double Buck" kicking like a Mexican rodeo. "Penny a Dance" shuffles with certain high-school prom nostalgia, while the Yardbirds' forever vital "Heart Full of Soul" gets juiced by Guerrero's fuzzbox pacemaker. "Lost Wahini" bops with pure go-go delight just before Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper" goes for the throat as the closer. No arguments here, the Sir Finks are BOSS!!!

(both)