New and old arrivals
Stupido Shop is, to my mind, the best record shop in Helsinki. I visited Finland the week before last and walking into Stupido was like seeing eMusic made physical – all of our favourites were there: Glass Candy on the counter; a vinyl copy of Boxer pinned to the wall and “Paper Planes” coming over the stereo. They had a section for psychedelic drone; a larger one for jazz and the staff mostly consisted of relaxed multi-lingual Finnish guys with square glasses and beards (beards are everywhere in Helsinki.)
Anyway here are a couple of things I saw in Stupido that haven’t yet been mentioned on 17 Pistettä (Finnish for Dots.)
New arrivals:
The Rubies - Explode from the Center I got hooked into Rubies by “I Feel Electric” which is wonderful bit of swooping electro. The rest of the album is mellower and folkier and they’ve worked with Feist, the Kings of Convenience and Peter Bjorn and John.
Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and the Trueloves - Roll With You Mixed feelings on Eli. In short, he’s got a great voice – a proper full-throated soul wail – and he uses it very well here, I just think it’s a shame the overall sound is so retro. Good as it is it’s possible you don’t need this if you already have Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett. Still, not everyone agrees with that and it is a good album. Eli’s had amazing press and Stupido had him right out front.
The Chap - Mega Breakfast The Chap are a great band. Inventive, eccentric and amazing live. It’s pop music in a mirror world, back to front and at slightly odd angles.
Old arrival:
Circle - Katapult Found in Stupido’s Suomi Pop section. Frankly, Circle are a bunch of lunatics. They’ve made twisted blues albums, experimented with Krautrock and this is their metal effort. They’re odd and out there, yet there’s something very endearing about them. That said this album is definitely at the evil end of their spectrum.
Stupido also have their own label, which you can find here, but I haven’t had a chance to check any of their releases out yet.
Ooooh, I disagree with you so much on Paperboy Reid. Sure, it’s a throw back. So is Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones, Lee Fields, etc., etc. However, it’s a throwback to an era few others are going to (pre-”Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” R&B) and it’s really, really good. Maybe I just love Sam Cooke as much as he does and my opinion is colored by that, but that album is officially the summer jam in my house.
Circle are one of the reasons I want to visit Finland…I kinda hope all Finns are as mad as Circle, it’d be my kind of country then
I can’t see it on emusic, but it might just be that it’s not available in my country, but I’d highly recommend their ‘Prospekt’ album….the first track, ‘Dedofiktion’, is genius…it just keeps building and building, by the end of it you’re exhausted just from listening 
I know the internets are international and whatnot, but there should be some sort of code that indicates to us sorry American dick bags when an album is not available in our country. I mean, is there an emoticon for “sorry suckers” or maybe just a middle finger, like, um, i dunno .!..
But I kid: the Paperboy Reed and The Chap albums are available in the U.S., just not at those album links, The Rubies’ single is here (though not the album), and the Circle record is at that link. So only one partial .!.. is in store.
In any case, it blew my mind to see Stupido up on 17 dots and even on emusic. Crazy. I wandered into that shop when I was traveling in Helsinki back in 2001 and try to stop by whenever I go back to visit family. I had no idea it had any sort of reputation - I just thought of it as this random shop I stumbled into.
I can remember the first time I went in there and saw some record for a Pittsburgh punk band - Anti-Flag or Aus Rotten or something like that, and just being blown away that this record from back home was in this little shop. Shopping in Stupido introduced me to Paavoharju, Lau Nau, Avarus, Circle, Liekki, and some other random joys (some on emusic, some not), and I always recommend it to friends traveling in Finland.
Sweet.