Eero Aarnio Annoyed By Piratism

Finnish designer Eero Aarnio (b. 1932) recently got annoyed in Berlin when a TV interview with him was arranged to a car retail store. To his horror, Aarnio found out the store's two Ball Chairs (also known as Globe Chairs) -- his most famous design -- that were planned to be used as backdrop for the interview were actually copies. Aarnio says there are numerous pirate copies of his globe chair manufactured around the world, but it's nearly useless to sue the manufacturers because of the varying global copyright laws, which Aarnio thinks often leave the rights of the original designer nearly non-existent. Ball Chair was created by Eero Aarnio in 1966 and it (or its copies) has been featured in several movies, music videos, countless fashion shoots and so on: basically whenever a piece of stylish retro design is required.

The retrospective exhibition of Eero Aarnio's works "Retropop, Phantasie und Tagträume" is now on display at the Finnish Embassy in Berlin from November 8, 2007 to January 4, 2008.

Related news in Finnish @ MTV3

A Futuro House Sold in Paris for 140,000 Euros

Futuro video clip 1


Futuro 2

On Tuesday 27 November 2007, one of the remaining Futuro houses was sold at Christie's auction in Paris for 140,000 euros. Futuro was a flying saucer-shaped fibreglass house designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968, reflecting the era's futuristic space age dreams. Futuro was the subject of Mika Taanila's 1998 documentary film Futuro - A New Stance for Future and also appeared on Jimi Tenor's video The Year of the Apocalypse.

Related news @ YLE

Gregorius, Lordi and Finnish Perceptions of Otherness

Finnish Humour

An interesting interview concerning among all the recent Gregorius YouTube phenomenon and some Finnish perceptions of "otherness":

http://sanseverything.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/the-music-of-finland-an-interview-with-sanna-peden-2/

I Wish Life Could Be Swedish Magazines (a.k.a. Post Robust Profits)

[large image]

"I Wish Life Could Be Swedish Magazines (a.k.a. Post Robust Profits)" [23 November 2007]

© pHinn 2007

[pHinnMilk Comics] (not for children)

Anki Lindqvist (1945 - 2007)

Finnish folksinger Anki Lindqvist (27 October 1945 - 15 November 2007) has died in Muonio after a severe illness. Born as Agneta Elisabeth Lindqvist, Anki released her first single, 'Neiti yksinäinen' ("Miss Lonely"), with the surf-guitar band The Savages in 1962.

She came into prominence along the Finnish folk music boom of the mid-60s, when she recorded as a trio with Bosse and Robert Österberg among all some Finnish translations of Johnny Cash and The Kinks, but also her own solo songs, 'Paha tyttö' ("Bad girl") perhaps the best known of them. Furthermore, the Pomus.net entry lists 'Ne kesäyöt' (Marianne Faithfull's 'Summer Nights'), 'Sunny', 'Jos nyt menet pois' (Jacques Brel's 'Ne me quitte pas'; known also as English version 'If You Go Away', recorded at least by Nina Simone and Scott Walker) and 'Elät yhä muistoissain' ('Dream A Little Dream of Me' by The Mamas and Papas) as some of the most successful Anki songs of the period 1965-69.

Both in 1966 and 1967 Iskelmä magazine voted Anki Lindqvist as the most popular female singer in Finland. During the late 60s Anki also toured the country as a member of "Danny-Shows", the summer entourages of Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen, and in 1969 she appeared in Finnish version of Hair. In the 1970s Anki was a member of the band Cumulus, alongside with Heikki "Hector" Harma, Cay Karlsson, Sakari Lehtinen and Petri Hohenthal. Anki Lindqvist also worked as a producer and director for the entertainment department of Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE's Swedish language TV.

Official site (in Swedish/Finnish)

Anki Lindqvist @ Finnish Wikipedia

Video clips @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

Anki Lindqvist @ YLE Äänilevystö

Ira Levin R.I.P.

The American suspense novelist Ira Levin (1929-2007) has passed away. Levin was best known for such works as Rosemary's Baby (1967), The Stepford Wives (1972) and The Boys From Brazil (1976), all of them also turned into film adaptations: the most successful of them Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), which is very faithful to the original book.

One of Levin's strengths was to take what were some current trends in society and turn them into masterful works of suspense and paranoia that did not took place in any traditional Gothic settings such as haunted castles with their mad scientists and horror film monsters, but in (superficially) familiar and mundane everyday settings of urban/suburban life, where the uneasiness of main characters gradually grows as the events unfold.

Such mentioned trends of the time were in Rosemary's Baby the interest in occultism and re-assessing of the religious issues in the 60s (arguably, there might not have been such "Satanic" book and film hits of the 70s as The Exorcist or The Omen had Levin not paved the way with his work); or the same era's rise of female emancipation, as reflected in The Stepford Wives, a horror/sci-fi/satire on some robot-like and very un-emancipated suburban housewives.

["Stepford wife" has now even become a catchprase in everyday usage -- according to Wikipedia it is: "usually applied to a woman who seems to conform blindly to an old-fashioned subservient role in relationship to her husband, compared to other, presumably more independent and vivacious women. It can also be used to criticise any person, male or female, who submits meekly to authority and/or abuse; or even to describe someone who lives in a robotic, conformist manner without giving offense to anyone. The word 'Stepford' can also be used as an adjective denoting servility or blind conformity (e.g. 'He's a real Stepford employee') or a noun ('My home town is so Stepford')."]

Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford's Wives also make use of a very similar premise in both of them: an ordinary housewife finding herself in a new life situation -- young Rosemary Woodhouse getting pregnant with her first child and all subsequent hopes and fears arising there; a modern and feminism-orientated Joanna Eberhart with her husband and children moving from city to a suburban small town with some very conservative and old-fashioned values as to the place of woman in family and society -- and her slowly growing suspicious, even paranoid, towards the people in her nearest environment, where everything is obviously not as it seems.

Ira Levin @ Intercourse With The Dead


Trailer for Rosemary's Baby (1968)


Trailer for The Stepford Wives (1975) -- Levin himself was not particularly excited with this adaptation, though it has now become a cult film (which was also remade in 2004).



Time magazine published in April 1966 its famous "Is God Dead?" issue, which Levin also featured in Rosemary's Baby.

Pan Sonic Vs. Keiji Haino Tonight In Berlin

Keiji Haino @ No Fun Fest 07, Part 1 of 3

A real treat is offered for Berliners tonight when Pan sonic meets the legendary Japanese guitarist and experimental musician Keiji Haino at Berlin's Volksbühne. Also Mr. Schmuck's Farm (a.k.a. Dirk "Schneider TM" Dresselhaus and Hildur "múm" Gudnadóttir, both Ilpo Väisänen and Pan sonic collaborators, respectively) will appear. And if my mostly-forgotten school German serves me right, also an album collaboration between Pan sonic and Keiji Haino is to be expected...

In Tonstudios an unterschiedlichen Orten Europas braut sich Unheilvolles zusammen: Nach Informationen aus gewöhnlich gut unterrichteten Kreisen arbeiten gegenwärtig zwei Giganten der Noise-Musik erstmals an einem gemeinsamen Album: Pan sonic, berühmt-berüchtigtes Elektronik-Duo aus Finnland mit Wohnsitz in Berlin und Barcelona, treffen auf Keiji Haino, Ausnahmegitarrist aus Osaka, der bereits vor zwei Jahren mit einem fulminanten Konzert als Solist bei Zeitkratzer in der Volksbühne und zuletzt durch seine Auftritte bei einem Projekt mit dem Künstler Raymond Pettibon und dem Theatermacher Schorsch Kamerun in den Sophiensaelen für Furore sorgte. Bevor er nach getaner Arbeit zurück nach Japan fliegt, stellen Haino und Pan sonic das mit Sicherheit hochgradig explosive Ergebnis ihrer Kollaboration exklusiv in der Volksbühne vor.

Auch im Vorprogramm wird ein erlesenes Kooperations-Projekt präsentiert: Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM) und Hildur Gudnadóttir (Múm), die unter dem Namen Mr. Schmuck's Farm bereits ihr gemeinsames Album Good Sound veröffentlicht
haben.

Pan sonic vs. Keiji Haino
Date: Thursday 15 November 2007
Venue: Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Time: 2100 hours -> (Grosses Haus)

Address:
Linienstrasse 227
Mitte
10178 Berlin
Germany

Circle: Saturn Reality

Finnish postrock/post-Krautrock/NWOFHM band Circle is the subject of Saturn Reality (a.k.a. Saturnus Reality, 2007), described as a rock documentary meeting experimental film fantasy; inspired by the works of such as Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. The director/cinematographer of the 60-minute film is Esko Lönnberg. Saturn Reality will have its world premiere at Helsinki's Avanto Festival 2007.

Screenings:

Kiasma Theatre on Friday, 16 November at 7 pm,
second screening on Saturday, 17 November at 7 pm.

Saturn Reality introduction by Mika Taanila @ Avanto site

'Sara Pain' Video to Stuttgarter Filmwinter

More film festival appearances for Kompleksi's 'Sara Pain' video, directed by Tina Ulevik/Spul Films (Australia)... Now the video has been chosen to the Supporting Programme of the 21th Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 16-20 January 2008 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Uusitalo: Karhunainen

The ever-productive Sasu Ripatti (a.k.a. Vladislav Delay a.k.a. Luomo) has a new album out under his Uusitalo moniker, called Karhunainen ("Bear Woman"). You can listen to some tracks from the album at Uusitalo's MySpace site.

Artist: Uusitalo
Title: Karhunainen
Label: Huume Recordings
Cat.No: HUUME14
Format: CD, Album
Date: 12 October 2007

Tracklisting:

1 Vesi Virtaa Veri
2 Korpikansa
3 Tohtori Kuka
4 Konevitsa
5 Sikojen Juhla
6 Karhunainen
7 Satumaa
8 Nälkälaulu
9 Himo Perkele
10 Puut Juuriltaan

Album info, press release notes, artwork & MP3 @ VladislavDelay.com

Entry @ Discogs

A review @ Pitchfork

Etoiles Polares Finland @ Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Festival of Finnish popular music in Ghent, Belgium

'Etoiles Polares Finland', a festival dedicated exclusively to Finnish music, will take place at Vooruit Arts Centre, Ghent, Belgium, on December 12 - 15.

The festival focuses on the alternative domains of popular music, especially electronic and progressive styles. The hand-picked performers include Kimmo Pohjonen, Cleaning Women, Circle, Kuusumun Profeetta, Magyar Posse, Aavikko, Shogun Kunitoki, Kusti Vuorinen and Pekko Käppi. On two special occasions, Jimi Tenor and Pan Sonic will collaborate with Belgian artists Flat Earth Society and Arne Deforce, respectively.

Some of the concerts feature visuals and video art by Marita Liulia, Maippi Ketola and Samuli Alapuranen.

'Etoiles Polares Finland' is produced by Vooruit Arts Centre with additional programme consultation by Fimic, and with the support of several Finnish institutions and foundations.

Vooruit Arts Center is a prominent cultural house hosting two venues with standing capacities of 1200 and 300. Music aside, it programmes regularly contemporary dance, plays, performance art, and installations.

Programme:

Kimmo Pohjonen & Marita Liulia Animator
Vooruit Theaterzaal
December 12, 2007

Kusti Vuorinen / Jimi Tenor meets Flat Earth Society & Maippi Ketola
Vooruit Theaterzaal
December 13, 2007

Cleaning Women
Vooruit Cafe
December 13, 2007

Pekko Käppi / Kimmo Pohjonen & Eric Echampard / Kuusumun Profeetta
Various Vooruit venues
December 14, 2007

Shogun Kunitoki
Vooruit Cafe
December 14, 2007

Magyar Posse / Circle / Pan Sonic meets Arne Deforce / Aavikko & Samuli Alapuranen
Various Vooruit venues
December 15, 2007

More info:
http://www.vooruit.be/ -> http://www.vooruit.be/nl/series/36

[via Fimic / It's A Trap]

Helsinki Complaints Choir

Helsinki Complaints Choir

"Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen collected the pet peeves and angst-ridden pleas of people in Helsinki and then composed this choral work around the list of complaints. Music composed by Esko Grundström.

Please visit the project website for more info:

http://www.complaintschoir.org/"

Complaints Choir @ Wikipedia

[via Tina]

Some Classic Electro Videos

Afrika Bambaataa: 'Planet Rock' (1982)

Wikipedia


Herbie Hancock: 'Rockit' (1983)

Wikipedia


Newcleus: 'Jam On It' (1983)

Wikipedia


Egyptian Lover: 'Egypt Egypt' (1984)

Wikipedia

.

A link.

Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four

The Jack Kirby-era Fantastic Four (1961-70) on Marvel Comics has been a big favourite of mine for a long time, though my efforts to collect these works have been somehow haphazard and mostly reliable on irregular Finnish translations. The latest of these is Ihmesarja 12 (reviving the title under which Marvel's comics were published in Finnish for the first time in the 60s) on Egmont, a compilation which features from 1969 and 1970 the last Fantastic Four adventures Kirby created for Marvel Comics before he left the company.

Kirby's was an elegant and cinematic style of illustration (I especially love his beautiful female characters) owing a great attention to detail and vast cosmic visions, with a certain occasional touch of surrealist pop art too (some of his singular comic book panels could be works of art in their own right): Marvel Comics enjoyed a cult following among the members of the 60s psychedelic counter-culture; having a certain hipster appeal with characters like Silver Surfer (who had his first appearance in FF #48, March 1966) who was a philosophical galactic beatnik/hippie never ceasing to wonder humankind's war-like habits.

The storylines themselves -- with pompous cosmic villains of over-theatrical lines and their universe-conquering delusions of grandeur combined with the silly comedy antics of our heroes' domestic lives -- seem quite childish these days when pop culture is inhabited with psycho serial killers and even Batman has become a dark right-wing vigilante à la Frank Miller, but obviously it's this old-fashioned naivety for which the vintage Fantastic Four holds a great appeal.

Comics @ pHinnWeb

Juha Rautio's Exhibition of Flamenco Paintings

Juha Rautio and his paintings [click for large version]

My brother Juha Rautio recently had an exhibition of his flamenco paintings at the Library of Mukkula in Lahti, where he lives now; combining two of his interests, art and playing flamenco guitar himself. I hope to have in the future some of Juha's paintings presented also in this blog.

[next]

From We Sing For The Future Launch @ The Foundry, London, UK

From Walter & Sabrina's We Sing For The Future launch event @ The Foundry, London, 27 October 2007 where Kompleksi's 'Sara Pain' video by Tina Ulevik was also shown. I couldn't make it to the event myself, but Walter Cardew told it went very well.

More images from the event and info @ Danny Dark Records

pHinnWeb Chart November 2007...

... can be found here.

NSI. Plays Non Standards.

A new Sähkö Recordings release...

Artist: NSI (Non Standard Institute)
Title: Plays Non Standards
Format: CD
Cat.no: SÄHKÖ-022
Date: October 2007

Tracklist:
(23 untitled piano pieces)

Press release info:

Non Standard Institute
Plays Non Standards

Non Standard Institute is a piano drone project by sound engineers Max Loderbauer (Sun Electric) and Tobias Freund (Pink Elln, Sieg Üeber Die Sonne), both prominent techno producers whose careers date back the mid-1980s.

Compared to their earlier work in, Plays Non Standards is an exploration into a completely different direction. The music is based on the sounds of the grand piano played by Loderbauer and the subtle electronic "treatments" by Freund, with the help of vintage Roland DEP-5 and Roland TR-808 machines.

Very minimalistic and Spartan, yet rich in its attention to detail and sound, Plays Non Standards is a soundwork in the tradition of Brian Eno's Music For Airports. Yet, the music produced by Non Standard Institute is fully improvised, with "mistakes" being a vital part of their ambient experience.

Recorded over a two-year period in Berlin, Plays Non Standards does an outstanding job in blurring the line between modern acoustic piano music and the more philosophical end of electronic music.

Info & sound samples @ Sähkö Recordings

Entry @ Discogs

Sähkö Recordings: official site

Sähkö Recordings @ pHinnWeb

Mauno Paajanen

Mauno Paajanen
Psyko - Kaikki levytykset 1977-1980 (2-CD)
Rocket Records
ROK-004
24 Oct 2007

1CD:
Poste Restante (Titan 1978)
01. Kasikympin lätkä
02. Yamaha ja Havanna
03. Siirry vähän James
04. Kadun väärällä puolella
05. He veivät lapset pois
06. Kaikki kulkee niin hiljaa
07. Poste restante
08. Aito suomalainen ranskatar
09. Patakuningatar
10. Bonnie & Clyde
11. Tyttö pieni (pelkäätkö mua?)
12. Haavelintu

2CD:
Psyko (Silver Blue 1979)
01. Omena
02. Missä Liisa on?
03. Mrs. Brook
04. Yksin
05. Kundi meikkaa
06. Claudia Cardinale
07. Billyn lähtö
08. Nauruihminen
09. Puuttuva rengas
10. Alfa, Romeo
11. Anne
12. Vain tuskaako tein?
13. Omena
'Yläkerran psyko' 7" (JP-Musiikki 1980)
14. Yläkerran psyko
15. Hait tyttöjä syö
Unreleased tracks (1980)
16. Fahrenheit 451
17. Sähköinen soturi
18. Avoin ovi

Mauno Paajanen (b. 1960), also known as Twiggy Oliver, is a Finnish artist known as the writer of the song 'Kundi meikkaa' ("A guy makes up") that was later famously covered by the synthpop act Organ (who will have their comeback gig at Avanto 2007 Festival). Now Tampere's Rocket Records has released a 30-track retrospective 2-CD of Paajanen, called Psyko - Kaikki levytykset 1977-1980, which includes in their entirety Paajanen's LPs Poste Restante (1978) and Psyko (1979), also the single 'Yläkerran Psyko' ("Upstairs psycho") and some previously unreleased tracks from 1979-80. Furthermore, Rocket Records is going to release the CD I Can't Sleep In Hell (ROK-005, late '07) of Paajanen/Twiggy Oliver's other project provocatively named The Voice of Mengele, who finished this debut LP of theirs in summer 1987, though the album was eventually shelved except for one promo single from it. Alongside Paajanen, the band's line-up featured among all Antti Reini, Jesu Hämäläinen, Måns Kullman, Ilkka Rantamäki, Frej Stenfors and Vesa Häkli. Also a Twiggy Oliver solo album is promised by Rocket Records for 2008.

Finnish Wikipedia tells that Paajanen's recording career was started in 1976 when as a member of a band called Claudie three of their tracks were released on a various artists compilation Fireball. In 1977 Paajanen released his first solo single, '80 lätkä'/'Poste Restante', and his debut album Poste Restante was to follow on the Fonovox sublabel Titan in 1978. Paajanen's second album, the 1979 Psyko for Silver Blue label, gained a cult reputation, having 'Kundi meikkaa' as one of its tracks. 1980 saw the single 'Yläkerran psyko'/'Hait tyttöjä syö' ("Sharks eat girls") which received little attention, so it took years before Mauno Paajanen would record under his own name again. In 1986 Kaktus label released a compilation record Aito suomalainen ranskatar ("A genuine Finnish Frenchwoman") featuring tracks from his two albums and the 7" track 'Hait tyttöjä syö'. There were also some promo singles in 2003 and 2005, respectively called 'Musta kuu'("Black moon") and 'Sokea mies ruusun toi' ("A blind man brought a rose"). Paajanen has penned songs for such Finnish artists as Tulip, Maria Hänninen, Tarja Merivirta, Esa Saarinen (better known as a philosopher and celebrity), Frederik, Outi Popp and Tin Janine.

Mauno Paajanen's other incarnation as Twiggy Oliver represented Finnish new wave/New Romantic synth pop of the early 80s, releasing on Q label the singles 'Play With Fire' ('81) and 'Pick Up Girls' ('82), and being featured on the 1983 compilation The Art of Breeding (tracklist at pHinnWeb Early Years: Synthpop).

Update: I just purchased this 2-CD, and musically it's Suomirock-style guitar pop with some occasional electronic flavour (Moog synth) on Psyko; Poste Restante also features some well-known studio musicians and even occasional string arrangements. Paajanen's vocals and lyrical approach (with tragicomic, bittersweet and even morbid song subjects combining dark romance and everyday kitchen sink realism, often described with a certain charming naivistic style) make me think of such names as the late Gösta Sundqvist of Leevi and the Leevings, Kari Peitsamo (and Peitsamo's "son"/musical heir apparent, Risto) or even Kauko Röyhkä. David Bowie influences are apparent all the way through, though Paajanen clearly developed an original style, which came into fruition on Psyko. Perhaps Finnish audiences of the day weren't exactly ready for Paajanen's twisted vision, so here's hoping this release will find the artist vindicated.

Listen:

Mauno Paajanen @ MySpace

'Kundi meikkaa' & other Paajanen tracks @ Rocket Records MySpace site

Links (in Finnish):

Mauno Paajanen thread @ Pop-lehti

The Voice of Mengele album info @ Rocket Records MySpace site

Mauno Paajanen @ YLE Äänilevystö

Mauno Paajanen @ Finnish Wikipedia

The Voice of Mengele @ Finnish Wikipedia

Bonus Video:

Bela Lugosi club @ YLE Elävä Arkisto