Some Detroit Techno Videos

A Number of Names: 'Sharivari' @ The Scene (1982)


Drexciya: 'Hydro Theory' (with footage from Blue Planet BBC series)


Model 500: 'The Passage' (with footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey)

YouTube offers some 313 techno-related videos such as a version of 'Sharivari' (there are many different spellings for this track, such as 'Sharevari', 'Charivari', etc.) by A Number of Names, which is considered one of the first Detroit techno tracks, if not the very first; I was quite amazed to find this video, made for the dance music show The Scene. Then there are some bootleg videos for Drexciya and Model 500, using footage from BBC and Kubrick's 2001, respectively.

More Detroit techno/electro search results from YouTube (see also ghettotech):

Arpanet

Aztec Mystic (see also: DJ Rolando)

Juan Atkins (see also: Model 500 & Cybotron)

Aux 88

Blake Baxter

Black Replica

Carl Craig

Cybotron

Detroit Grand Pubahs

DJ Assault

DJ Godfather

DJ Rolando

Dopplereffekt

Drexciya

Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes

Robert Hood

Kenny Larkin

Derrick May

Jeff Mills

Model 500

Kevin Saunderson

Scan 7

Ultradyne

Underground Resistance

Claude Young

313ctr0: Detroit techno & electro @ pHinnWeb

Op:l Bastards live @ NS.Klubi, Jyväskylä

NS.KLUBI
Saturday 29 September 2007
Op:l Bastards live, DJ Erkko + NS.DJs Rokko, Jiri & Israel
Upstairs: Orkestar Business Class + Hear DJs
@ Ilokivi, Keskussairaalantie 2, Jyväskylä
2200-0300 hours, age limit 18
tickets 7/8 euros, advance Levykauppa Äx

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Tiedote
Vapaa julkaistavaksi

SUOMIELEKTRON SUPERYHTYE OP:L BASTARDS JYVÄSKYLÄÄN 29.9.

Jyväskyläläisiä hemmotellaan la 29. syyskuuta kun juuri comebackinsä tehnyt Op:l Bastards -elektroyhtye saapuu keikalle NS.Klubille Ilokiveen.

1990-luvun puolivälissä perustetun Op:l Bastardsin ura kulminoitui The Job -albumin julkaisuun vuonna 2001. Elektroa ja diskoa autotallirockiin omintakeisella tavallaan yhdistelleen trion mainetta kasvattivat hurjat keikat klubeilla ja festareilla ulkomaita myöten. Nousukiito päättyi kuitenkin erimielisyyksiin levy-yhtiön kanssa ja unohtumattomaan jäähyväiskeikkaan vuoden 2002 Koneisto-festivaalin päälavalla.

Op:l-miehet eivät jääneet lepäämään laakereilleen, vaan panostivat muihin bändeihinsä, joiden lista on vakuuttava: And The Lefthanded, Uusi Fantasia, Motiivi:Tuntematon ja Kaukolampi, Puranen, Nykänen. Lisäksi yhteistyötä on tehty norjalaisten Annien ja Erlend Øyen kanssa.

Kesällä 2007 bändi teki näyttävän comeback-keikan Helsingin Juhlaviikkojen yhteydessä järjestetyllä Flow-festivaalilla. Samoihin aikoihin uudelleenjulkaistiin myös Op:l Bastardsin aikoinaan loppuunmyyty albumi neljällä bonusbiisillä varustettuna. Tällä kertaa bändin itsensä julkaisema levy nousi heti Suomen albumilistalle. Nyt bändin on tarkoitus tehdä vain tarkoin valikoituja keikkoja, tänä syksynä mm. Norjan Ekko-festivaalilla sekä NS.Klubilla Ilokivessä.

Op:l Bastardsin lisäksi NS.Klubilla kuullaan syyskuussa DJ Erkkoa sekä klubin omia DJ:tä. Yläkerran ohjelmasta vastaavat rovaniemeläisbändi Orkestar Business Class sekä Radio Hearin DJ:t.

7 euron hintaiset ennnakkoliput ovat myynnissä Levykauppa Äx:ssä.

The Best in the World with Pink Twins

Circus Maximus presents:
The Best in the World – "the Virtual" and "cyborgs" in developed capitalism

Written by Jukka Heinänen. Directed by Mikko Kanninen.
Live music & videos by Pink Twins.

Premiere Wednesday 19 September 2007 @ Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki

Las Vegas is the sum of what the United States is and, most of all, would like to be: a controlled, productive, repressive, blindingly bright oasis in the middle of a cruel desert. The performance deals with a manifestation of capitalism: gambling addiction, the act of gaming and beating others at it.

Other performances: 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28 and 30 September at 7 pm. Audience discussion on 26 Sep, after the performance.

Tickets €12/8

http://www.kiasma.fi/index.php?id=1258&L=1&FL=1

Bruce Baillie

Bruce Baillie: Mr. Hayashi (1961)


Bruce Baillie: All My Life (1966)

Finnish TV1 just showed Sami van Ingen's documentary on San Francisco-based experimental film-maker Bruce Baillie (b. 1931). The relaxed Mr. Baillie was shown making pancakes and giving his accounts on his films All My Life (1966), Castro Street (1966) and Valentin de Las Sierras (1968), which were all featured in van Ingen's documentary. Especially Castro Street is a visually breath-taking film collage, inspired by Erik Satie and consisting of multiple superimpositions and other complicated cinematic trickery depicting trains of a railroad yard, oil refinery, smokestacks and buildings in an industrial byway in Richmond, combining both colour and black & white footage. Baillie himself wrote in his notes at the time: "the confrontation of opposites (Carl Jung)/'the strength or conflict of becoming'". Quite psychedelic, this one (so, somehow fitting to the 1960s San Francisco).

Bruce Baillie's Official Website (through which you can also support the artist)

Bruce Baillie @ IMDB

Baillie's Castro Street @ Bay Area Bonus Tracks and B-Sides

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (1954) is a story of one man fighting against vampires in a post-apocalypse world. After a mysterious plague has killed or turned the rest of human race into zombie-like vampires (Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead being heavily influenced by this book), Robert Neville -- apparently the sole survivor after having lost his wife and little daughter -- has turned his home into a fortress against which vampires try to attack every night. During daytime, though, Neville runs around Los Angeles in his station wagon, picking up supplies from deserted stores and supermarkets, and hitting stakes to the hearts of vampires unconscious in their coma-like state.

This novel can be seen, like many other works in science fiction and horror of the same era, as another parable of the 1950s American Communist scare, but it's also a study of personal solitude and how one manages to cope with it and the changes it will bring about in one's psyche, physical and mental make-up. Like Robinson Crusoe on his island (to whom Neville actually compares himself at one point), Neville is a lonely man trying to survive in a hostile environment, his paranoia knowing no bounds but still being desperate for any contact, human or animal: his care and nurturing of a frightened stray dog at one of the novel's most emotional points being especially touching.

Following the model of Robinson, Neville also manages to maintain his sanity through various activities keeping him busy, such as working on wooden stakes in his workshop and growing garlic in his hothouse as protection against the vampires. Or at least most of his sanity: while he "medicates" himself with heavy drinking during those lonely evenings when listening to the threatening howls of vampires outside and becomes more paranoid and hermit-like all the time, he also systematically studies the physiological basis of this strange plague (not too much unlike AIDS), and like modern man of post-Enlightenment era, approaches vampirism scientifically rather than through the superstition of ancient legends and popular books like Bram Stoker's classic Dracula, which he merely dismisses as "soap opera"-like.

In the end Neville finds out that in the world where everyone else has turned into vampires, also "normality" is now defined in a new way: representing the "old breed" -- maybe predicting the widening generation gap becoming all the more obvious after the 1950s -- Neville is now an anachronism, a freak, the ultimate outsider, but also a feared and respected legend, as the title of the book indicates.

I Am Legend archive

Film adaptations (which Matheson himself disliked, though both have now a certain cult following):


The Last Man On Earth (1964) trailer

More clips of The Last Man On Earth @ YouTube | The whole film @ archive.org


Omega Man (1971) trailer

More Omega Man clips @ YouTube

Latest news tell there's also a forthcoming film adaptation, starring Will Smith (remember I, Robot, another rendition of a classic science fiction tale?)... I guess it's just better to stick to the original book.

Flamongo Samoojat / Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1

Various Artists
Flamongo Samoojat (CD+booklet)
FLAM - 0CDA
limited edition of 500
September 2007

Tracks:

1. Sammakko
2. Bugari Osmond: Alisa 2007
3. Elevators: Hesberia
4. Bugari Ormond: Sähköjalat
5. Past Masters: Honolulu Beat
6. Jimi Python: Streetfighter
7. Raisin Team: Arpeggio
8. Polytron: New Beta
9. Future Warriors: Bembe (Musa Basha-Mix)
10. Mane Schimango: Mata-Intro
11. Mane Schimango: Mutuykato Mata
12. Tangon Taikaa: Lapin tango
13. Muuntaja: Paha olla
14. Välikukko
15. Keijo Kessu: Shanghai Blues
16. Kukka: Waiting A Jet-Plane
17. Osmo Vallo: Pistolhot
18. Jaakko Eino Kalevi: Pleasure Dub
19. Frank Urban: Tramvaj
20. Ukrets: Rake Over
21. Elevators: Just Say Oh

Flamongo Samoojat CD (limited edition of 500) is the latest release from Helsinki's Flamongo label.

With a 80-page booklet, featuring underground art from Vilunki 3000 (Op:l Bastards, And The Lefthanded, Uusi Fantasia, etc.) and previously unpublished comics from the underground legend Timo Aarniala (known for his underground comics and record sleeves for such as Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940).

The CD has 21 tracks, among all from: Elevators, Bugari Osmond, Raisin Team, Jimi Python, Polytron, Future Warriors, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Kukka, Muuntaja, Tangon Taikaa, Frank Urban, Osmo Vallo...



Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1: Megatron Braineater (book + CD)
Flamongo Sanomat erikoissarja osa 1

232 pages, black & white.
Flamongo Kustannus 2007
FLAM2
ISBN 978-952-92-2319-0

Vilunki 3000 is also responsible for the layout and illustrations of Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1 ("Captain Shiva Part 1"), featuring a "soundtrack" CD. "The cult book" by Megatron Braineater is the first book release of Flamongo, a tale of 232 pages, starring the mystical Captain Shiva, and taking place in 2745 A.D. when "space travel is common everyday of energy economy and neo-postmodernism just dark history". There will be three more books of Captain Shiva's adventures, this first one having a look at Captain's childhood and his sexual awakening. According to NYT/Helsingin Sanomat #38/2007 behind the writer alias Megatron Braineater is one Maria Candia, age 30, who studies Comparative Literature, works as translator and has seen each episode of Star Wars for 60 times. The CD has ten tracks, featuring as its main architect DJ Candle In The WInd (a.k.a. Bob Luxor a.k.a. Zico a.k.a. Vilunki 3000), and also such artists as Ercola, Mesak, Kaukolampi-Nykänen-Puranen, Megatron, Neko Blaster and Jaakko Eino Kalevi. Originally based on Möytääng Shiva which will be out in 3474.

*****

There also the Flamongo Samoojat exhibition at Helsinki's Myymälä2:

FLAMONGO SAMOOJAT 13. - 26.9.2007
Flamongo Samoojat - Suomen musa-alamaailman moniottelijat Myymälä2:ssa 13. - 26.9.2007!

Flamongo Samoojain merkillinen näyttely on esillä myymälä 2:ssa syyskuun aikana. Se koskettelee kesällä ilmestynyttä, suomalaisen musiikin kätkettyjä kulminaatiopisteitä ja sarjakuvan äärialueita yhdistävää kokoelmalevyä, Flamongo Samoojat. Näyttelyn huipentuma on Rosiksen legendaarisen Hohtisjengin pingispöytä, eli gallerian aukioloaikoina kaikille ilmainen hohtopingis ja ultraviolettivalon pimeys!

Mukana myös kaikin puolin uutta science fictionia Flamongon erikoissarja Kapteeni Shivan kuvituksen käänteisfuturistisissa tunnelmissa.

Avajaisjuhlallisuuksissa Flamongo tarjoaa musiikkia ja pingiksessä voittamisen iloa läsnäolijoille. Taiteesta vastaavat Flamongon Supersidor; voittamaton Herkules ja laittamaton Vilunilkki 3000.

Myymälä2 @ MySpace

SKANDINAVIAN SKWEEE VOL. 2 (Harmönia Records)

SKANDINAVIAN SKWEEE VOL. 2 (LP, HRMN-4):
another skweee compilation from Harmönia Records... with Spartan Lover, VC, Mesak, Uday, Daniel Savio, SLA, Randy Barracuda, Claws Cousteau, Eero Johannes and Rigas Den Andre. As Harmönia claims in their press info: "In their flooding cellars these lonely men have gazed upon their reflection, found from their innermost beings something noble and precious and transformed it into art". Harmönia also promises for the Xmas market another LP, called International Skweee, presenting skweee from the US, Russia and Britain.

Press release (sorry, Finnish only):

Nyt Harmönia to-del-la teki sen!

SKANDINAVIAN SKWEEE VOL. 2 –LP (HRMN-4)

Kun maan kierto takaperin ryhdyimme edistämään skandinaavisen skweee-musiikin sanomaa, emme olisi yhtiökumppanini kanssa lainkaan uskoneet millaisiin korkeuksiin tämä siipiään kasvatteleva kotka tulisi kohoamaan näin lyhyessä ajassa.

"Skandinavian Skweee Vol. 2." on eittämättä tämän syksyn tärkein pohjoismainen tanssijulkaisu. On suorastaan järkyttävää kuulla näinä esteettisen inflaation päivinä jotain näin tuoretta ja oikeamielistä! Vettä tulvivissa kellareissaan nämä yksinäiset miehet ovat katsoneet kuvajaistaan, löytäneet sisimmästään jotain jaloa ja arvokasta ja muuttaneet sen taiteeksi. Silmänräpäyksen ajan esihistoria koskettaa multasormillaan virtuaalista tulevaisuutta, katsoo kainosti alaviistoon ja hakeutuu paikkaansa. Jos pikkusieluisuudessanne epäilette sanojeni todenmukaisuutta, kuunnelkaapa tältä mestarilliselta levyltä vaikkapa Claws Cousteaun arkkitehtooninen mellakka-crunk "Pikku-Jouni", tahi Daniel Savion tahmeasti tykyttävä goottisoul-helmi "We Call It Skweee".

Skandinavian Skweee Vol. 2 heijastaa myös muotokielellistä sukupolvenvaihdosta skweee-musiikin kentällä. Vaikka levyllä keskeisessä roolissa onkin "komea vitonen", koko skweee-pioneerien kerma, on pääpaino siltikin uusissa kyvyissä, sekä heidän modernissa estetiikassaan. Spartan Lover, VC ja Eero Johannes ovat tietoisesti hylänneet aiemman miespolven näkemykset ja seisovatkin parhaillaan makuuhuoneen oviaukon valokiilassa valmiina suorittamaan isänmurhan.

Veitset välkkyvät yössä, hymy kareilee heidän arpikudoksen peittämillä kasvoillaan. Eikä syyttä. He ovat eittämättä luoneet jotain omaa ja arvokasta. Jos Spartan Lover kirjoittaa partituurinsa epoksiliimalla, säveltää VC teoksensa koneella, jonka käyttötarkoitusta KUKAAN EI TUNNE. Eero Johanneksen "We Could Be Skweeeroes" taasen esittelee kokonaan uuden, epädogmaattisen lähestymistavan aiheeseen, romanttis-viihteellisen skweeen! Eero Johanneksen musiikki on siitä erikoista, että sen tahdissa voi autoilla, kylpeä ja rakastella!

Monasti vanhempi skweee-musiikki aiheuttaa toimintahäiriöitä ja kompleksisia tilanteita arkielämän haasteissa, mutta Eero Johanneksen soidessa kaikki tuntuu ikään kuin "luistavan". On ollut vaivalloista kirjoittaa tästä aiheesta, sillä moninaiset tunteet sumentavat järkeni ja vaivoin suolletut sanani tuntuvat lipsuvan käsistäni. Voisin kuitenkin koko koulukuntamme puolesta todeta: Jos ette usko, että naapurissanne voi tapahtua vallankumous, ei vika ole meissä, se on TEISSÄ. Tai, kuten Shakespeare kirjoittaa: Siis ovat kerjäläisemme tosi-olentoja ja hallitsijamme ja pöyhistelevät sankarimme kerjäläisten varjoja.

Syysterveisin
Team Harmönia

Levyllä esiintyvät: Spartan Lover, VC, Mesak, Uday, Daniel Savio, SLA, Randy Barracuda, Claws Cousteau, Eero Johannes ja Rigas Den Andre. Joulumarkkinoille Harmönialta ilmestyy International Skweee –LP, joka esittelee mm. yhdysvaltalaista, venäläistä ja brittiläistä skweee-musiikkia.

www.nationofskweee.com

www.myspace.com/harmoenia

Legowelt and Bunker Records Video Interviews

Legowelt: Danny Wolfers interview @ Slices (March 2007)


Bunker Records: Guy Tavares interview @ Slices (March 2007)

Legowelt a.k.a. Danny Wolfers and Bunker Records' (who released Kompleksi vs. Polytron's infamous 'Porno Tampere' in their Artists Anonymous series of 12"s) main man Guy Tavares talk here in these intriguing interviews, made for Slices DVD magazine, giving some insight to the feted electro scene of The Hague, Holland. German TV cop Derrick now living in Den Haag? Outta sight.

Legowelt & Orgue Electronique joint interview @ pHinnWeb (2000)

Bonus video:


Legowelt: 'Disco Rout'

Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield: 'Pusherman' (from Superfly, 1973)


Curtis Mayfield: 'Freddie's Dead' (1973)

Talking a bit about my influences... Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was one of those rare artists managing to combine in their music the social, the spiritual and the soulful. In the 60s addressing the issues of black liberation with his songs for Mayfield's band The Impressions, such as the much-covered 'People Get Ready', the awareness which continued all the way to his solo career, where the forward-looking positivity of songs like 'Move On Up' was counterbalanced by the chilly apocalypticism of 'If There's A Hell Below', and the unquestionable quality of Mayfield's soundtrack for Superfly ('Pusherman', 'Freddie's Dead' and the title track among those classic songs on the album which may be his greatest work) far exceeds that of the film itself. Though the social commentary in his songs might occasionally have been bleak, the whole life's work of Curtis Mayfield represented great optimism and an unceasing faith in the future, the fact that is only rendered extremely bitter by his tragic final years which he spent quadraplegic after having become paralyzed in a stage accident in 1990.

Some time ago I read People Never Give Up by Peter Sharp, a 2003 biography of Curtis Mayfield, and even though Sharp meticulously listed discographic type of info in his book, perhaps I would have liked to hear more about Mayfield as a person, what made him tick, his social environment and other such things influencing his output, so there's still yet another work to be written about this seminal character in the 20th century American music.

And yet another great Mayfield song for The Impressions, from the psychedelic soul period and with a rare video clip:

The Impressions: 'Check Out Your Mind' (1970)

manSEDANse 2007: 4-7 October '07, Tampere

manSEDANse 2007
A festival of electronic music & arts
Tampere, Finland
4-7 October 2007
@ Telakka & Klubi

manSEDANse @ MySpace

From press release:

"manSEDANse convenes electronic communities to Tampere

manSEDANse festival takes place in October with themes of electronic music, art and community-driven content.

The most interesting and intriguing movers and shakers in electronic music are convened to Tampere in the first week of October 2007 by manSEDANse festival. manSEDANse, flying high on full throttle for the second time now, will be presenting the cream of electronic music to brighten the dark Nordic nights with very exciting line-ups. The festival programme will also feature workshops, film screenings and a seminar.

manSEDANse's programme will certainly satisfy many patrons of electronic music and culture. At this point we will give you but a hint: The headliners on Saturday night all hail from Manchester."

About:

"manSEDANse is organised by MadAssRevir ry, a non-profit organization based in Tampere. The mission of MARry is to promote electronic music and culture in Finland.

The roots of manSEDANse festival date back to year 2000 when an underground rave by the name SEDAN 2000 was held at a Tamperean penthouse. After the enthusiastic welcome the underground penthouse turned into a popular club venue and SEDAN 2001 knocked the socks off Tampere clubbers with its cutting edge artists and GIGANTIC visual treats. Simply undescribable.

A series of recurring clubs, such as Comet, Slavic Walkmen, Underground Disco and the New Year Mash-up raves were organised at Klubi between 2002-2005.

The very first manSEDANse festival was organised in 2005. The festival teamed up the original SEDAN line-up with a merry bunch from around Europe: Subjex, Sickboy, Schizoide, Regina, Verde and Pylon among many others. It introduced Tampere to something that was lacking in the Finnish cultural climate: a full-fledged four-day festival of electronic music.

In 2006 MARry was raving to retro tunes with the ultimate glance to the past party, Shake That Acid! manSEDANse also provided the official festival dj's to the Tampere International Film Festival 2007. That was fun!

That's the history. manSEDANse 2007 will be the biggest, boldest and meanest festival in Finland ever. Simply undescribable. Yet again."

Information:
http://www.mansedanse.com/
info@mansedanse.com

Programme:

Thursday 4 October 2007

Location: Telakka | Time: 21-03
Night ticket: TBA

Kemialliset Ystävät live
Fonal (FIN)

Custom Drummer live
Bad Vugum (FIN)

DJs TBC

Friday 5 October 2007

Location: Klubi | Time: 21-04
Night ticket: TBA

Pangaea
Hessle Audio (UK)

Sami Koivikko live
Spectral Sound (FIN)

Toiminto live
Swaeg (FIN)

Dead-O
Clouds (FIN)

Sire
Step Ahead/MARry (FIN)

Matias Nilk
Bass & Beer (FIN)

Visuals by Hello World & Xtra
Location: Telakka | Time: 12-17
Day ticket: TBA

+
Copyright vs Copyleft
Mikä on vapaan jakamisen moraali? A seminar focusing on issues of copyright and content sharing (in Finnish).

Saturday 6 October 2007

Location: Klubi | Time: 21-04
Night ticket: TBA

Mr 76ix live
Skam (UK)

Gescom DJ
Skam (UK)

Dcom
X-Rust (FIN)

Waisted Flanders live
Swaeg (FIN)

Sttb
Swaeg (FIN)

Visuals by Hello World & Xtra
Location: Klubi | Time: TBA (daytime)
Day ticket: TBA

+
Audiohackers workshop
Modified instruments, modified software, modified sound. Artists have always hacked their tools to create unexpected results. In this workshop, various performers discuss and showcase their equipment hacks and custom-built instruments.

Sunday 7 October 2007

Location: Telakka | Time: 14-02
Day ticket: TBA

Lazy Sunday Video
(Global)

A stream of live music and visuals broadcasted from around the world. As well as receiving streamed performances we will be sending out our own stream.


All acts TBC.

Bollywood Funk

My favourite Bollywood film music collections so far have been Indiavision (2005) and now Bollywood Funk (2000, on UK's Outcaste Records).

More groovy Hindi weirdness from the 60s, 70s and 80s; with blaxploitation film wah-wah guitars, analogue synths, big orchestral interludes, the sugar-sweet vocals from the playback singer legends like Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar, and some feral yells and insane laughter!

Film clips to some of these tracks found from YouTube:


'Dum Maro Dum'
- from Hare Krishna Hare Rama (1971), sung by Asha Bhosle


'Lekar Hum'
- from Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), sung by Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar


'Chura Liya Hai'
- from Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi


'Pyar Zindagi Hai'
- from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), sung by Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar and Mahendra Kapoor

Bollywood Funk @ Outcaste Records

Starsky and Hutch Go To Bollywood (in Spanish)

@ Radio 33

20 Best Bollywood Records @ Fact Magazine

The Giallos Flame: Live From Dunwich

Artist: Giallos Flame
Title: Live From Dunwich
Label: DC Recordings
Cat. No: DCR84
Format: 12"/digital download
Release Date: 03.09.07

Track listing:
A1. Live From Dunwich
A2. Body Snatchers
A3. Out For Justice
B1. Keoma
B2. Wastelands
B3. Crime Squad

My own favourite release of this year from DC Recordings (the record label of UK's trip-hop/big beat pioneer J. Saul Kane a.k.a. Depth Charge a.k.a. The Octagon Man) must be Live From Dunwich (DCR84) by The Giallos Flame, a.k.a. Ron Graham.

(For those unfamiliar with the term, Giallo, "yellow", is an Italian term for pulp fiction -- crime, horror, science fiction -- indicating paperback novels with yellow covers, which term later on also came to encompass genre cinema from the 1960s onwards, with such crime and horror directors as Mario Bava or Dario Argento as some of its prime examples.)

This 20-minute EP or mini-album, which is officially out today, consists of some fine eerie analogue synth melodies accompanied by live drums (which seems to have of lately become a trademark sound of DC Recordings, as many of their other artists such as The Emperor Machine follow exactly in a similar vein). Graham's influences apparently derive mostly from the grindhouse cinemas and import record stores of the sleazy 70s, his sound reminiscent of the soundtracks of Italian horror films in the 1970s as produced by such groups as Goblin or John Carpenter's own film soundtracks, with some added touch from Krautrock or even prog bands like Emerson, Lake and Palmer (minus their most self-indulgent jamming and solos) at their grooviest, à la 'The Barbarian'.

According to the DC Recordings press release notes, Ron Graham has worked before this on some horror film soundtracks himself, but the atmospheric music on Live From Dunwich works great even without the accompaniment of images, putting chills down one's spine. Simply irresistible.

pHinnWeb Chart September 2007...

... can be found here.

Sonic Temple Assassins: III

Finland's Sonic Temple Assassins has a new 3" CD-R, called III (limited edition of 50!), out on French Ruralfaune label, featuring the tracks 'Kesän keijut' ("Fairies of summer"), 'Kosmos' and 'Kuuma asfaltti' ("Hot asphalt"). 'Kesän keijut' features some Krautrockish influences, with deep orchestral string synths, 'Kosmos' is an Tangerine Dream-esque excursion (recorded live at Mayday! Rock!! Crazyness!!! [sic] home festival in Tampere on Mayday Eve 2007, and also featuring one pHinn...) and 'Kuuma asfaltti' makes me somehow think of Spacemen 3. You can listen one track from this CD-R at Ruralfaune's MySpace site.

Latino Retro with Odj TG @ Nolla, Helsinki

Ke 29.8. NOLLAssa
Odj TG soittaa Brasiliasta ja latinalaisesta Amerikasta kovalla vaivalla roudattuja lattarivinyylejä 60-70-luvuilta: bossanovaa, jazzia, salsaa... välillä vähän progempaa.

Wed 29 Aug @ NOLLA, Helsinki
Odj TG (Sähkö Recordings) plays 60s and 70s Latino vinyls brought with some considerable trouble directly from Brazil and South America: bossanova, jazz, salsa... occasionally also something a bit more prog.

http://www.lifesaver.net/keskustelut/read.php?f=7&i=19493&t=19493

tai jos et pääse niin kuuntele tosta:
or if you can't make it, then listen here:
http://www.sahkorecordings.com/mix_tg_brazil_pt1.php

BISTRO NOLLA
Fredrikinkatu 56
Helsinki
¡0 € como siempre!

http://www.sahkorecordings.com

http://www.gronlund-nisunen.com

múm: 'They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded'

múm: 'They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded' (2007)

múm is an Icelandic experimental group formed in 1997, known for some interesting albums like Finally We Are No One (2002). This beautifully disturbing video (a fair warning should be added here if you're a sensitive person) is for their single "They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded", preceding the new album Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy (24 September '07).

múm @ MySpace

Blamstrain: Lowblow

Finnish IDM artist Blamstrain (a.k.a. Juho Hietala) offers his latest album Lowblow downloaded for free (or for a voluntary donation) at:

http://www.blamstrain.com

Includes 15 songs in total, 74 minutes and 59 seconds.

Blamstrain @ Discogs

Blamstrain @ MySpace

Gregorius: 'NMKY' (1979)

Gregorius: 'NMKY' (1979)

More Gregorius search results @ YouTube

Now when the world has just barely recovered from Danny & Armi's 'I Wanna Love You Tender', more disco horrors from the 70s Finland are offered by Gregorius, whose 1979 Finnish rendition of Village People's 'YMCA' (originally from TV's comedy show Hepskukkuu) has gathered nearly half a million downloads at YouTube. Featuring on synth the band leader Olli Ahvenlahti (whose 'Grandma's Rocking Chair' was a surprise acid jazz hit in the early 90s), on bass Pekka Pohjola(!), on guitar Heikki Laurila, one of the most employed studio musicians in Finland and on drums Tapani "Nappi" Ikonen.

Aamulehti reports Gregorius is one Esko Nick, who these days is a literature expert working as a librarian in Espoo, also having as a side project his own dance band called Redago (who consider switching their name to Gregorius now). Esko Nick tells the idea of doing 'YMCA' in Finnish came from Pentti Järvinen, the producer of Hepskukkuu. Järvinen had been especially impressed with Esko Nick's peculiar dance movements during one of his gigs, which prompted the producer to take on Nick as a vocalist for the 'YMCA'/'NMKY' sketch featuring Olli Ahvenlahti's band and Jari Samulin's dancers (Samulin is also responsible for the choreography of the infamous Danny and Armi video). Despite Mr. Järvinen's enthusiasm, this performance only remained a one-off, since Finnish TV audiences didn't exactly warm up to the gymnastics of Gregorius, so it took nearly 30 years and the magic of YouTube for this lost "gem" to be discovered.

(The Gregorius video is originally taken from YLE Elävä Arkisto.)

All Hepskukkuu clips @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

The Cosmos Is Red!

Signale - Ein Weltraumabenteuer - with Terranova's music

Teema, a digital channel of YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) will show during this fall some Communist-era science fiction films of East Germany's DEFA-Studio from the 1960s and 1970s in its Kino Into series. Obviously some of these were inspired by Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (and apparently Tarkovsky's Solaris too), but appropriately depicting an utopian future world where socialism has overcome. Der Schweigende Stern (1960) is based on Stanislaw Lem's 1951 book Astronauci, and the film was also released in 1962 as American dubbed version called First Spaceship On Venus. Lem disowned the movie.





From the top:

Der Schweigende Stern (DDR-Poland 1960)
Im Staub der Sterne (DDR 1976)
Signale - Ein Weltraumabenteuer (DDR-Poland 1970)
Der Schweigende Stern
Eolomea (DDR 1972)

Der Schweigende Stern a.k.a. First Starship on Venus trailer @ YouTube

Eolomea: a review @ DVD Verdict

Eolomea: a review @ The Spinning Image

Kompleksi's Album Out Now

Check the latest Kompleksi news at:

http://kompleksi.tumblr.com

Kompleksi's debut album Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco on Helsinki's Verdura Records (of Magyar Posse fame) is finally out.

Artist: Kompleksi
Title: Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco
Format: 12" vinyl LP (limited edition of 500)
Cat.no.: VERDU-24
Label: Verdura Records (Finland)
Date: 15 October 2008

Tracklist:
A1. (I Ain't No) Lovechild
A2. Spiders In The Sky
A3. Porno Tampere
A4. Gothic Robots
A5. SWT NG FCK THNG
A6. Metal Sky
B1. Bioluminescence
B2. Moscow 1980
B3. Sara Pain
B4. The Only Star In My Sky

Length: 49 minutes

Click this link to order the album directly from Verdura Records!

The album is distributed in Finland by Supersounds Music.

And this is what Supersounds tells about the release:

Tamperelaisen duon (Erkki "pHinn" Rautio & Mika "Mike Not" Paju) debyyttialbumi.
-Yhtyeen oma kuvaus musiikista on "eclectro", eli monimuotoista ja mihinkään selkeään kategoriaan kuulumatonta konemusiikkia.
-Omintakeista ja taatusti hämmentävää, tarttuvia kappaleita unohtamatta.
-Laulaja Erkki pyörittää maailmanlaajuisesti tunnettua pHinnweb.org -konemusiikkisivustoa.
-Lo-fi -estetiikka on kansia myöten hyvin hallussa!

I will add later on more info about the shops where to get it and also the international distribution that is in plans too. For now, you can find the album for example at

If Society Shop

Pitkämies

CD-Kauppa.Fi

Levyliiga

Swamp Music

Meanwhile, if you live outside of Finland and want to get your hands on the album now, I recommend you contact Verdura directly for more. It's a shining black vinyl with a limited edition of 500, so act while the stock lasts!

Album reviews:

Soundi (in Finnish) - 4 stars out of 5!

Desibeli.Net (in Finnish)

Also, the video of our debut gig of 3 October at Lal Lal Lal Festival (Kantis, Helsinki) can be seen at YouTube now.

Latest Verdura news, featuring Kompleksi

Album entry @ Discogs

KOMPLEKSI FEEDBACK, MEDIA SOUNDBITES, COMMENTS FROM OTHER ARTISTS AND FANS

On the whole Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco album:

"I'm pleased to see that Kompleksi have completed the new album Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco... It continues the strange and dark Kompleksi sound which is impossible to define."

"The album has strong elements of electro with the drum sounds, synths kicking in for the track but pHinn's vocals make for the unique end product. Some tracks are jagged, with the vocals heavily over the synths which create the truly dark sound distinctive of Kompleksi."

"A terrific overall feel to the album that will sound like no other album you have ever heard. Its hard and heavy at times and wonderfully dark." - Peter Sykes, Electrosynth blog (UK)

On '(I Ain't No) Lovechild' / 'Moscow 1980' 7" single (Lal Lal Lal Records, Finland, 2005):

"Complete with jittery bubbling bass-synth lines and vocoder, these are 2 fine European retro-electronic-pop songs.”
– Boa Melody Bar (UK)

"I like it very much, some beautiful singing going on there, very cool!"
- Catriona Shaw a.k.a. Miss Le Bomb, (Scotland/Germany)

On '(I Ain't No) Lovechild' track:

"'What the Hell are you staring at?' sneers a voice at the start of '(I Ain't No) Lovechild' by Kompleksi, which pretty much sets the tone for the rest of this song: a cynical, whiney, complain-y voice (that sounds like Devo after they finally lost their virginity) over crumpled H. League/Robert Rental tape-drums and synthmooosh-bass and splatchy percussives. There's a jagged, art-punk feel to this: it's charity-shop, not cat-walk...I love the way they've hoovered all the glam out of synthpop and drawn a felt-tip sneer and a Mona Lisa moustache on its face." - Kek, Kid Shirt blog (UK)

"There is a spooky Ramones-esque quality to the track '(I Ain't No) Lovechild', the lyrics tell a story of an unloved one, beaten & neglected by his mother and life in general. Delivered in deadpan fashion, it's wickedly entertaining and deliciously cruel." - Ann Shenton, Zoot magazine (Portugal)

"[I Ain't No] Lovechild läßt noch den Einfluß von SUICIDE erahnen. Rhythmisch-tanzbarer Low-Fi No-Wave. pHinns Gesang versucht sich mit dem Alan Vegas zu messen - zumindest in der ersten Hälfte des Liedes, bevor er kapituliert. Tribut und Parodie gehen hier Hand in Hand. Textlich wird wohl die versuchte Aufarbeitung einer nicht einfachen Kindheit geschildert, auch hier ist man sich nicht sicher, wie ernst das Ganze gemeint ist." - Richard K., NonPop (Germany)

"It is charming -- especially those wildcat yelps on the ‘Lovechild’ turnarounds."
- Larry "Fuzz-O" Dolman, Blastitude (US)

"Kompleksi (Finland) are the Ramones on synths" - Likwuid Stylez, Shejay.net (UK)

On 'Porno Tampere' track:

"I still love [the] track 'Porno Tampere' very much!"
- Gerhard Potuznik a.ka. G.D. Luxxe, Angelika Koehlermann Records (Austria)

On 'Moscow: 1980' track

“It sounds like it ought to sound like Telex, but opts instead for some sort of parallel universe rewrite of US foreign policy, aided by vocoders, clipped synthetik beats and Daniel Miller's dusty old Korg. It has a strange, twisted, shimmery beauty as it cruises the red-light district of Helsinki with a limp... imagine if Swell Maps had mugged Depeche Mode for their clothes and ended up on TOTP. Yeeeah!"

"What? Ever? Happened? To? Your? Dreams?" asks the vocalist, on the outro. For a moment, he sounds close to tears. Or drunk." - Kek, Kid Shirt blog (UK)

"'Moscow 1980' is the hit single destined to rocket up the charts, if it's not on high rotation on MTV in three months then you can spank me HARD. Even if it is, you can still spank me HARD. This is the perfect tune to have in your ultra-cool record crate next to your Finnish version of 'Moscow Moscow (Volga, Volga)."
- Tim Bray a.k.a. Casionova (Australia)

"Its not at all predictable, but then not so dark to lose the warmth of the synths which sound really retro, but with a nice edge that makes it a special track." - Peter Sykes, ElectroSynth blog (UK)

"To let you know that 'Moscow 1980' was one of the best songs of 2003, actually of the last years... the OMD style might be the best. [pHinn's] vocals reminisced my girlfriend of Ian Curtis!" - Juho Pätäri (Finland)

On 'Sara Pain' track:

"I like the 'Sara Pain' track very much!" - Danny Wolfers a.k.a. Legowelt (Holland)

"That track is deeply touching in how fragile and open it is. Few would dare."
- Kassen, Bunker Records (Holland)

On Kompleksi:

"I really like the vocals and music as well, pure own style... More music like this on MTV and on the radio, the people need it, but don't realize it in a 'perfect' world like this..." - Lukas Pettersson a.k.a. Luke Eargoggle, Stilleben Records (Sweden)

"I'm listening to Kompleksi now, it's very entertaining. Really nice, sounds like you guys had loads of fun. You must have kicked the Prozac." - Melissa Logan / Chicks On Speed (Germany)

"Wow, nice tracks from Kompleksi! It's like Residents, Flipper and Moroder all trying to fit into the same pair of swimtrunks! Great shit. pHinn has inspired and continues to inspire with his great website, labels and projects. Rock on brothers!" – Magas, Ersatz Audio etc. (Chicago, USA)

"Kompleksi is what pop wants to be... My two cents? Vocals are perfect. [pHinn's] voice sounds how my heart feels. Spot on. Intonations are magically simple. Better music could not be made to support the vox, so pass it it on. Can't wait for a full length. From a fan in Brooklyn" - Jason Watts (New York City, USA)


Check the latest Kompleksi news at:

http://kompleksi.tumblr.com

Monsters of Pop 2007 Memories

The second Monsters of Pop festival of Tampere, 10-12 August 2007, offered many cultish goodies for discerning connoisseurs, providing some sorely needed alternative to the otherwise mostly boring Finnish festival summer, with all those jaded Suomirock and metal bands circulating at every other domestic event dedicated to stinking portaloos, combat drinking and intoxicated brawls.

Here are some personal favourites as witnessed at Yo-Talo, one of the gigs venues alongside Artturi and Laterna: alas, the latter two I had no more energy to visit myself, and perhaps better so, because spending three nights only at Yo-Talo made me feel afterwards some physical strain and bodily decay... Anyway, kudos to all at Monsters of Pop organisation for setting this thing up, and also getting Mr. pHinn in, which added some welcomed sparks of light to this summer I could personally well have lived without otherwise. Already looking forward to MoP 2008!

Kukka's long-awaited comeback gig featured a very excited crowd.
I used to describe their music as "Velvet Underground meets Kraftwerk", and though this description must be grossly misleading, I hope it at least offers some pointers to their melancholic indie pop laced with some electronics. Kukka disappeared from the scene in 2001 but had already managed to gather a considerable cult reputation through their gigs and demos spreading from hand to hand, and obviously that memory has not faded, which could be witnessed with the encore song 'Chabom' with a strangely serene, even church-like atmosphere in the audience. Obviously the Helmilevyt label is going to release Kukka's old demos soon, so you might be able to hear yourself what the fuss was all about. You can listen to such old favourites heard during the gig as 'Hey Mr. DJ', 'Hot Light' and (my own fave track) 'Machine' on Kukka's MySpace site.

K-X-P: spacey excursions meeting electronic funk, which briefly visited being on the verge of prog-rock but fortunately no 20-minute drum solos were heard in the end. The line-up consisted of Timo Kaukolampi and Tuomo Puranen, both familiar from Op:l Bastards, accompanied by the live drumming of Tomi Leppänen, the real Stakhanovian hero of labour who also appeared at the festival with Aavikko (not to talk about his work with Circle, whose offshoot Rättö and Lehtisalo I unfortunately missed this year). I really enjoyed this gig with its psychedelic overtones too, making me think of some DC Recordings acts like The Emperor Machine or Giallos Flame.

Studio: I had no earlier experience with this band from the West Coast of Sweden, but what I heard was for me pounding funkish indie pop very much reminiscent of early 90s Manchester bands like Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. I mentioned this to one of the band after the gig, which he was not at all displeased to hear. Nice throbbing lights for the stage show too, though I was glad for not being an epilectic.

Pluxus, also from Sweden, visited Tampere for the third time, and had adopted a more laptop-oriented sound since I last heard them. Whereas their music used to sound for me like home-grown electro, with their current line-up of three it was now more sleek, with touches of pounding techno-house and very danceable.

Martin Rev, the keyboardist for New York's legendary Suicide must have been for many one of the most expected acts of Monsters of Pop. His one-man show consisted of very lengthy tracks made out of loops, including also some Afro-Cuban sounds, something that sounded like an old Roy Orbison backing track, one backing track from Suicide's American Supreme but added with new vocals which Rev sang with his husky voice. Wearing a sleeveless Batman comics T-shirt, red leather pants and huge reflecting ski glasses, Martin Rev's keyboard technique was a sight to see too, featuring karate chops, playing clusters with his fists and doing some quick sweeps through the keys as if they had been potter's clay to be moulded. I heard Rev's performance had quite divided people's opinions, but what I enjoyed here was that totally uncompromising attitude of his. After the gig I got to visit Mr. Rev at his own private backroom at the upstairs of Yo-Talo to change a few quick words (and to slip him some of our own music, the shameless wannabe that I am, including our live version of 'Ghost Rider' with Sonic Temple Assassins) with the living legend, who seemed to be even Zen-like calm and relaxed, with those ever-present sunglasses never leaving his face.

Aavikko's extensive touring along the years in Finland and Europe seems to bear fruit now since the floor was totally crowded with dancing people almost going berserk, and as encore was heard their perhaps biggest hit, 'Viitostie', paying homage to Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn'. Wearing grey terylene slacks and black shirts, Aavikko ("Desert") looked and sounded like a parody of Finnish dancehall "humppa" crowd, but their ecstatic organ instrumentals have stealthily added a more electronic sound, making them distinctly different from the drunken iconoclasts like Eläkeläiset.

And some brief clips from the last year's Monsters of Pop:


Rättö ja Lehtisalo: 'Saamari kantaa olympiasoihdun stadionille' (11 Aug '06 @ Yo-Talo)


Rättö ja Lehtisalo: 'Ihanan syyllinen pallokala' (11 Aug '06 @ Yo-Talo)

Kompleksi Video to Oulu Music Video Festival

Kompleksi's 'Sara Pain' video by Tina Ulevik has made it to the Finnish showcase screening ("Kotimainen katselmus") no. 6 of Oulu Music Video Festival, 5 - 9 September 2007, Oulu, Finland.



The video will be seen also at Sydney Underground Film Festival (you can download its program here as a PDF document). [More]

Advanced Art

I recently found out there's a MySpace page for Advanced Art. AA were a pioneering Tampere electronic/EBM/industrial techno act who were together from 1985 to 1995. The line-up consisted of Pasi "Jana" Jantunen (voice & words) and Petja "Vince" Valasvaara (music & machines), and their assorted cohorts. They released a couple of singles and EPs, and one longplay called Product for Poko Records in 1993.

I've had an Advanced Art page at pHinnWeb for some years, featuring a biography written by Jana (with some nice self-ironic touches which you can also find from their MySpace site) and their discography. The page is now updated with some band and record sleeve graphics sent to me by Jana, and the MySpace site tells Advanced Art "is now working on a compilation, possibly with some new remixes and 07 versions". Hats off to these pioneers.

The Return of Op:l Bastards

A long-awaited return! Helsinki's Op:l Bastards has remastered and re-released their 2001 album The Job with four bonus tracks. Also, some Op:l Bastards comeback gigs are now promised...




Artist: Op:l Bastards
Title: The Job
Format: CD
Label: Jupiter / Lefta
Cat.No: JUP 027CD
Year: 2007

Tracklist:

1 Funking
2 Tantor
3 Spraybeat (Eagle Mix)
4 Scorpius
5 Deal
6 Masqued Lover (Andante)
7 At Tuamo's
8 Jet Black Man
9 Sinulle (For You)
10 Sagittarius III


Bonus tracks:

11. Money
12. Don't Bring Me Down
13. Brewski (Snake Blissken 1996-Mix)
14. Telephone

Release entry @ Discogs






Op:l Bastards: 'Scorpius'

Links:

Op:l Bastards @ MySpace

Op:l Bastards @ Discogs

Op:l Bastards @ Wikipedia

Tony Wilson R.I.P.

Tony Wilson interview in Hulme, Manchester

Tony Wilson, the founder of Manchester's legendary Factory Records, which gave the world such influential acts as Joy Division and New Order, has died at the age of 57 due to complications arising from kidney cancer. Incidentally, Finnish TV4 showed a while ago Michael Winterbottom's amusing film 24 Hour Party People (2002), a semi-documentary dramatization of Manchester scene in 1977-1997 where among all, played by Steve Coogan, Tony Wilson meets God (who is no one else than Tony Wilson, naturally).

Tony Wilson remembered:

by BBC News

by Momus

by Paul Morley

by Simon Reynolds

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 40 Years Anniversary

It's been forty years since Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn came out on the 5th of August 1967, mostly being the expression of the personal vision of the late lamented frontman Syd Barrett (1946-2006). Whenever asked for people's all-time favourite albums, this has been my own No. 1 choice for years. Always a joyous shock for the people who perceive the Floyd merely as a vehicle for sombre prog-rock ego trips of the Roger Waters-era and The Wall.

I first heard 'Interstellar Overdrive' in a documentary film about the making of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper and the music scene of summer 1967, now also known as the "Summer of Love" (well, the people who went through the Egypt-Israeli Six-Day War in June '67 must have experienced it a bit differently).

In a black & white film excerpt I saw a bunch of weird guys in sunglasses playing that hypnotic, suggestive tune while their giant shadows flickered on the wall in strobelights. The tune (in fact, a combination of Love's rendition of 'Little Red Book' and the theme music of an old British TV show Steptoe & Son!) instantly caught me and haunted me like an insistent glitch in my nervous system; I had to know more about what was happening here. Soon I got to my hands a vinyl version of The Piper..., and that was like an explosion in my cortex. This was truly strange, even scary music.

AMM's lengthy improvisations, The Beatles, The Byrds, John Coltrane's jazz, Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind in the Willows (which gave the album its title), I-Ching, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stockhausen, The Who... all condensed into one lysergic free-for-all, Barrett's guitar painting the soundscape with spacey echoes from his Binson delay unit, Rick Wright's "Turkish Delight" organ and his jazzy piano licks, Roger Waters' pulsating bass and Nick Mason's turbulent drumming anchoring the whole madness down. Garage rock grooves of 'Lucifer Sam' and stereo panning to and fro going mad at the end of the album version of 'Interstellar Overdrive'.

The Floyd also drove their producer Norman "Hurricane" Smith mad, who afterwards called the album sessions "sheer hell" and accused the band of the lack of musical proficiency -- so pure psychedelic punk, then! Heavy tape edits are obvious in many places but only positively adding to the sense of psychedelic fragmentation and its time lapse experience. Sheer sonic fantasy, both futuristic and mythical, which always takes me into some other dimension outside of time and space; a realm of interstellar (overdrive) journeys, mystical cats called Lucifer Sam and fairy stories where a thousand misty riders climb up higher once upon a time...

There will be this month out a 3-CD 40th anniversary edition, including both stereo and mono mixes of the album, plus all Barrett-era Floyd singles and some out-takes (including an alternative lyrics version of Mathilda Mother) -- most of this material owned by fans and collectors already, and still no sign of the official release of such shelved-since-the-time-of-their-recording Barrett/Floyd gems as 'Vegetable Man', 'Scream Thy Last Scream' or 'She Was A Millionaire' (most of which, however, have found their way to the hands of aficionados as bootlegs or "Have You Got It Yet?" downloads).

The 40th anniversary edition also features a facsimile of Syd Barrett's 1965 Fart Enjoy book of his art, collages and text, even though for "legal reasons" omitting one page. You can see it here, though:

The 40th anniversary edition news @ Neptune Pink Floyd

OK, sorry about the old fart content again. Let's talk about dubstep now. Or...

YouTube

Tididii Tididii Tididiididii @ Mutant Sounds

Mutant Sounds now mentions and offers downloads of Tididii Tididii Tididiididii (LTJ-05/06), a 2003 release on Hannu Haahti's CD-R label 267 Lattajjjaa. With 160 minutes of music from psychedelic folk to improvisation to electronic noodlings, this compilation was like a Who's Who of Finnish underground music scene of the time, with some international guest stars included too.

And oh, yours truly and his mighty(?) Yamaha Portasound can be heard there also, as part of No Scene (Disc 2, track 25: '230801'): the track is an electronic-ish improvisation jam taped at No Scene club in August 2001 at Tampere's Telakka.

No Scene was another sadly short-lived electronic music club, run by American ex-pat and electronic musician Nathan Siter who lives here in Tampere (check his 12" on German label Zhark). I recall the people playing on the track were at least Nathan, Joonas of Toiminto, Perttu Piirto of Ever Had (another criminally underrated Tampere electronic musician!) also playing Syd Barrett-like electric guitar there, pHinn and some other people (including a female vocalist) whose names elude me now. This ensemble consisted of different artists and DJs playing at the club, who gathered together at the end of the night to do this jam session, on a "free-for-all" basis. Because I remember the pained expressions on some punters' faces who had to listen to our extended improvisation... To save your own nerves, the track is edited for the compilation.

Buy Kompleksi's Album @ iTunes!

Good news for the Kompleksi Kontingent!

Kompleksi's debut album Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco can now be purchased as digital download from iTunes! With the cult favourite tracks 'Porno Tampere', '(I Ain't No) Lovechild', 'Moscow 1980', 'Sara Pain', 'Gothic Robots' and more!

Get the info on how to get the album by clicking here.

(Note: you must have iTunes downloaded to your computer or be an iPod user before you can purchase the album.)

And keep tuned for more info also on other digital download stores where to get this in the future.

*****

Then some video news...

Kompleksi's 'Sara Pain' video by Tina Ulevik/Spul Films Australia will be screened at Manning Bar (a 200 person venue) on the 4th of September 2007 as the Sydney Underground Film Festival contingent of the Verge Arts Festival (an established Sydney University 2 week arts festival).

pHinnWeb Chart August 2007...

... can be found here.

Michelangelo Antonioni In Memoriam

Il Deserto Rosso by Michelangelo Antonioni
(September 29, 1912 - July 30, 2007)


Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni has also passed away. It's an interesting coincidence that his death took place exactly on the same day as Ingmar Bergman's, since both directors exemplified European art cinema of the 1950s-70s era. Antonioni, for some reason, is not remembered today perhaps as well as his contemporaries Bergman and Fellini, but especially in the 1960s and 70s his films -- such as L'Avventura, L'Eclisse, Il Deserto Rosso, Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point, Professione: Reporter -- with their alienated characters and meandering scenes were obligatory watching among the intellectual modernist audiences.

Antonioni also had an eye for contemporary fashions and styles: who can forget The Yardbirds' guitar-smashing performance for the catatonic audiences in the 1966 "Swinging London" study Blow-Up or Pink Floyd's hypnotic music for the infamous explosion scene of Zabriskie Point (1970)?

Obituaries:

BBC
CNN
The New York Times

Michelangelo Angelo search results @ YouTube

Michelangelo Antonioni @ pHinnWeb

Jani Hellén's Latest Podcast @ Foxy Digitalis

Lemmy out of Motörhead talks Hawkwind, wrecks hotel room

Music from The Schizophonic Workshop
"Schizophonia is taking me home".. :: by Jani Hellén (29 July, 2007)

Featuring: Ramblers & Leo Adamson, Kemialliset Ystävät, seht, Memphis Goons, Valerio Cosi, Aan, Keith Jarrett, Kompleksi vs. Polytron vs. Javelin, Kraus, Loner Deluxe, Pefkin, Motörhead, Terveet Kädet, Witthüser & Westrupp, Aphrodite's Child, Clay Ruby.

[Or click here and Save As to download (54.6MB mp3).]

Ingmar Bergman In Memoriam

Interview

Ingmar Bergman (July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007)


Ingmar Bergman, the acclaimed and influential Swedish film director and one of the icons of the 20th century cinema has passed away. Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Persona, Cries and Whispers... just too many classics (and personal favourites) to list here.

Ingmar Bergman search results @ YouTube

Links:

Obituary @ BBC News
Obituary @ CNN

Monsters of Pop Festival, 9-11 August 2007, Tampere

[I wrote a bit about this festival in English here.]

TIEDOTE: TAMPEREEN POPKANSAA HEMMOTELLAAN 9.-11. ELOKUUTA

tiedote 26.7.2007,
julkaisuvapaa heti

TAMPEREEN POPKANSAA HEMMOTELLAAN 9.-11. ELOKUUTA

Suomen persoonallisin musiikkifestivaali Monsters of Pop valtaa Tampereen kahden viikon kuluttua 9.-11. elokuuta. Kolme päivää kestävä festivaali esittelee kolmella eri klubilla kattavan otoksen koti- ja ulkomaista indiemusiikkia. Festivaalin ennakkoliput ovat tehneet kauppansa, joten tunnelma tulee viime vuoden tapaan olemaan katossa kaikkina kolmena päivänä.

Torstaina Monsters of Popissa kuullaan perinteistä kitaravetoista indiemusiikkia. Illan aikana esiintyvät muun muassa vastikään Ääni ja Vimma -kilpailun voittanut Pintandwefall, suomalaisen psykedeliapopin kruunaamaton kuningas Sister Flo, odotetun paluun tekevä Kukka ja tukholmalainen Don't Be A Stranger (SWE).

Monsters of Popin elektroninen perjantai-ilta painottuu Yo-Talolle, jossa ensimmäisen Suomen keikkansa tekevät Suicide-legenda Martin Rev (US) ja varsinkin brittimediassa viime aikoina kovasti hehkutettu Studio (SWE). Lisäksi kuullaan Op:l Bastardsista tutun Timo Kaukolammen uutta KXP-yhtyettä. Perjantai esittelee Monsters of Pop -yleisölle kolmannen tapahtumapaikan, Ravintola Laternan, jossa kitaroitaan kurittavat Kuopion garagerock-prinsessat The Micragirls, psyke-kraut-folk-rokkarit Plain Ride, sekä Aamulehden Valo-liitteen ja Monsters of Popin Bit 07 -kilpailun voittanut Genzale. Alkuillan odotetuin artisti on avopuolisonsa Hot Coken kanssa Artturissa esiintyvä monialataiteilija Anssi 8000, jonka Monikkotrilogia-nimellä kulkeva kolmen elokuvan kokonaisuus esitetään elokuvateatteri Niagarassa lauantaina 11.8. klo 16.00.

Lauantaina Yo-Talon lavalla nähdään elektropop-hengenheimolaiset Aavikko ja Pluxus (SWE), joiden välinen ystävyys on kestänyt jo lähes kymmenen vuotta. Varmaa on, että lavalla nähdään hurja analogiurkujen taisto. Monille tämän vuoden festivaalin kohokohta tulee olemaan Ravintola Laternan lauantain Fonal-ilta. Fonal on noussut 2000-luvulla yhdeksi maailman arvostetuimmista kokeellisen folkin levy-yhtiöistä, jonka julkaisut myyvät loppuun kerta toisensa jälkeen. Lavalle nousevat Fonalin kärkinimet Paavoharju ja Islaja, sekä ihka ensimmäisen keikkansa soittava porilainen Eleanoora Rosenholm.

Lisätietoa Monsters of Popista ja sen esiintyjistä löytyy festivaalin nettisivuilta www.monstersofpop.net. Ennakkoliput ovat myynnissä Yo-Talon verkkokaupassa osoitteessa www.yo-talo.com ja levykauppa Platassa Tampereella. Tapahtumakohtaisten lippujen hinnat vaihtelevat 5-12 euron välillä. Kolmen päivän festivaalipassi maksaa 38 euroa. Lippuja ja passeja voi ostaa myös tapahtumapaikkojen ovilta festivaalin aikana, ellei niitä ole myyty loppuun.

info [at] monstersofpop.net
www.monstersofpop.net

www.myspace.com/monstersofpopfestival

Medialle tiedoksi:

-Kaikkien bändien esittelyt ja promokuvalinkit löytyvät osoitteesta www.monstersofpop.net/esiintyjat.html.

-Akkreditointipyyntöjä otetaan vastaan vielä tämän viikon loppuun asti.

Olliver Hawk, The Show Hypnotist

Olliver Hawk, born as Olavi Hakasalo (1930-1988), was a self-learned and controversial Finnish show hypnotist who created a sensation in the 1960s and 70s with his stage shows. This 1968 ad is for one of his teach-yourself-hypnosis guidebooks.

Links in Finnish:

Olliver Hawk TV interview @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

Olliver Hawk @ Apu

Olliver Hawk @ Tamperelainen

Sex-On (1968)

click for larger image
This ad for the ladies' deodorant called Sex-On from 1968 promises to "make You sexy and to wake up the lion slumbering in men".

Ø: Ikuinen 12" (Sähkö Recordings)

Finland's Sähkö Recordings announces that the new 12" by Ø (pronounced "ohm") a.k.a. Mika Vainio of Pan sonic, called Ikuinen ("Eternal"), is out now.

Artist: Ø
Title: Ikuinen
Format: 12" (45 rpm)
Cat.No: SÄHKÖ-021
Date: July 2007

tracklist:

A: Ikuinen
B: Ikuinen - Version

Info & sound samples @ Sähkö Recordings

Avarus Story @ Cleveland Scene

Cleveland Scene features a story on Finnish psych/improv unit Avarus:

http://www.clevescene.com/2007-07-04/music/cosmic-or-drunk/

Oh my, they have also quoted yours truly in the story:

"Scoffing at the 'Yankee critics' who perpetuate this Garden of Eden rubbish, the Finnish blogger pHinnWeb (a.k.a. Erkki Rautio) recently posted a jpg of Tampere, the city where Avarus came together in 2001. The photograph captures an industrial river cutting through aging factories and black smokestacks. It's the Flats.

pHinn believes indie types from the United States and the U.K. need a haven -- even if it exists solely in their minds -- where they can hide from the ugly, post-9/11 world their countries have created. That place is exotic Finland, and you can get there by listening to hip bands with wondrously unpronounceable names like Kemialliset Ystävät, the Anaksimandros, and Avarus."

Avarus @ Last.FM

(By the way, whatever happened to MySpace Avarus site...?)

Noise Production MySpace Page Now Opened

Mike Not, the other member of Kompleksi and studio wizard extraordinaire, has finally opened a MySpace site for his solo project Noise Production.

This one is dedicated to Noise Production's industrial/gothic/dark ambient style of output but Mike Not also plans more MySpace sites representing Noise Production's other styles like IDM, electro, techno and so on. Just stay tuned!

http://www.myspace.com/noiseproductionfinland

Kompleksi's 'Sara Pain' @ Astro Unicorn 14

I heard 'Sara Pain' has been played at Astro Unicorn 14 Netradio show of CBS (a.k.a. Cybernetic Broadcasting System, a Dutch Website/Web radio/network on electro music) on 11 July 2007. Can anyone give me the whole tracklist for the show?

Peter Watkins: Punishment Park (1971)

Punishment Park (1971): trailer

And the whole film in its entirety @ YouTube:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Punishment Park overview with Peter Watkins:

1 | 2 | 3

pHinnWeb has already featured War Game and Privilege, controversial "mockumentary"-type of 1960s films by the British director Peter Watkins. Common for Watkins' films were political, dystopian and even apocalyptic themes, critical of mass media, mind control and propaganda, and often taking place in a bleak near-future science fiction setting. Heavily reflecting on the heated political atmosphere of the Vietnam war and the Kent State massacre era, his 1971 film follows a group of dissidents who have chosen -- instead of a lengthy jail sentence -- to spend three days in the desert attempting to reach an American flag, as a sort of a survival game, while chased by police and National Guardsmen as part of their field training.

Info @ The Masters of Cinema / Eureka Video

Wikipedia

Seconds (1966)

Title sequence by Saul Bass


Trailer


Interviews

Wikipedia

What The Future Sounded Like (2007)

What The Future Sounded Like: film teaser (Australia 2007)

As the latest addition to pHinnWeb's list of documentary films on the history of electronic music, the 27-minute What The Future Sounded Like (Australia 2007), directed by Matthew Bate and featuring some Super 8 animation and hand-painted sequences by UK's Ian Helliwell (who also visited Helsinki's Avanto festival some years ago), sounds like a very interesting one...

Synopsis:

Post-war Britain rebuilt itself on a wave of scientific and industrial breakthroughs that culminated in the cultural revolution of the 1960s. It was a period of sweeping change and experimentation where art and culture participated in and reflected the wider social changes. In this atmosphere was born the Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who utilized technology and experimentation to compose a futuristic electronic sound-scape for the New Britain. Comprising of pioneering electronic musicians Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who series) and genius engineer David Cockerell, EMS’s studio was one of the most advanced computer-music facilities in the world. EMS’s great legacy is the VCS3, Britain’s first synthesizer and rival of the American Moog. The VCS3 changed the sounds of some of the most popular artists of this period including Brian Eno, Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. Almost thirty years on the VCS3 is still used by modern electronic artists like The Emperor Machine (DC Recordings, UK). What The Future Sounded Like colours in a lost chapter in music history, uncovering a group of composers and innovators who harnessed technology and new ideas to re-imagine the boundaries of music and sound. Features music from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Roxy Music and The Emperor Machine.

Click for larger images: the anti-Moog stance EMS seems to have in this ad is quite interesting, and I also wonder if their perceived target market were sex-starved synthesizer geeks... would perhaps not happen in these more "politically correct" times.

What The Future Sounded Like: official site

What The Future Sounded Like @ MySpace

History of Electronic Music @ pHinnWeb

The Parallax View (1974)

The Parallax View (1974)

Trailer

@ Wikipedia

pHinnWeb Chart July 2007...

... can be found here.