It's A Cosy Life in Police State (Consumer Electronics, Bling Bling and Polonium-210 for X-Mas 2006)

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"It's A Cosy Life in Police State (Consumer Electronics, Bling Bling and Polonium-210 for X-Mas 2006)" [30 November 2006]

© pHinn 2006

[pHinnMilk Comics] (not for children)

Opening Credits: Rod Serling's Night Gallery

Rod Serling's Night Gallery


Rod Serling's Night Gallery: "The Return of the Sorcerer"

Night Gallery search results @ YouTube

In another pHinnWeb Blog's ongoing but irregular series: some great yesteryear movie and TV opening credits -- this time with Rod Serling's Night Gallery. This series was shown in Finland in the 70s and early 80s as Yöjuttu.

Serling was best known as the creator and host of the original Twilight Zone (in Finland Hämärän rajamailla) and also as the co-writer of 1968's original Planet of the Apes film.


[Previously: Saul Bass]

Collage Art: Danny Dark Records (UK)

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In pHinnWeb's irregular series of interesting collage art from around the world: I spotted the one above from the ad of a British record label Danny Dark in the latest Wire magazine.

Danny Dark Records site has more examples of their collage art: recordings section with artwork and T-shirts and posters section.

Viihde-Elektroniikka: "Submit To My Regime" (12")

After the recommendation from a fellow electro fan, DJ Autobass (check out the site for Resistanssit electro party where he will also spin records), I just purchased from Voltti Records this excellent new 12" from an act called Viihde-Elektroniikka (it translates as something like "entertainment electronics", the Finnish word for consumer electronics...).
Don't let the "heroic" heavy metal type of sleeve deceive you, stylistically this release is quite Detroit-type of pounding, minimal electro. pHinnWeb recommends!

Check some sound samples from Viihde-Elektroniikka site. All I know about the people behind this release (thanks for the info to Ville Sahlakari) is that its producer Raine Ruoppa runs Basso magazine (ex-Posse) these days, and he used to study graphic design.

Viihdeelektroniikka: "Submit To My Regime" (12")

A1. Doomsday Device (7:04)
A2. The Excessive Use of Force (6:06)
B1. Gora Elbrus (6:34)
B2. Administrative Punishment (7:36)

All tracks written, produced and performed by Raine Ruoppa. Mixed by Jukka Immonen. Mastering: Arttu Peljo. Photography: Junnu Lusa. Cover design: Sampo Hänninen. Executive Cabinet: Linda Söderholm, Pirkka Prami, AJ Savolainen, Mikko Kalso.

Listen to Viihde-Elektroniikka @ MySpace

In Memoriam: Juice Leskinen (1950-2006)

The already frail-looking Juice Leskinen with his old collaborator Mikko Alatalo in 2004

The icon of Finnish popular music has passed away. To be honest, I had been expecting this to happen for some time now, knowing Juice's well-publicised and all the time increasing health problems, caused by his decades of unhealthy living habits. The guy was a non-conformist bohemian to the bone but unfortunately that took place at the expense of his own health.

Actually, it has to be said I've never become a big fan of his music myself -- he was a very clever lyricist (though sometimes the style was admittedly lapsing too when he tried to be too clever for his own good and when, for example, a romantic couplet was followed by some obscene rhyme) but unfortunately musically most of his stuff leaves me quite cold -- even though living in Finland you really can't avoid hearing his songs all the time. So, though I've never bothered to get any of his albums, through radio and TV I too became familiar with most popular ditties (and OK, even learned to like) that have by now gained an evergreen status, and always enjoyed his Lennon-like quick and acerbic wit of those songs and his interviews. (A lot of those songs are comical or satirical, even though there is also a lot of typical Finnish melancholy with songs like 'Syksyn sävel' or 'Viidestoista yö'). Therefore, it could well be said I found myself quite sad on hearing the news of Juice's passing. I remember a comment from someone in 2001 when film-maker and comedian Spede Pasanen (another famous Finnish humourist also hailing from Savo province) died, that it's hard to imagine the world without Spede because it feels like he has always been around. I think this is also very much the case with Juice.

Juice Leskinen's creative output is undeniably a cornerstone in the history of all recorded Finnish music. I suppose Juice's (pronounced in Finnish way, "yoo-ee-seh") importance as a domestic Finnish institution is quite hard to explain to non-Finns because his work was based so much on the mastery and wordplays of Finnish language (he also published several volumes of prose and poetry).

Juice Leskinen in 1974 video clip @ YLE Elävä arkisto

Juice Leskinen performing in 1983 @ YouTube

Official site (in Finnish)

Obituary in English @ Helsingin Sanomat

Juice Leskinen info in English @ Wikipedia

In Memoriam: Robert Altman (1925-2006)

Brewster McCloud (1970): the first scene with opening credits
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10


Nashville (1975) trailer


3 Women (1977) excerpt


The Player (1992): the first scene with opening credits

More Robert Altman search results @ YouTube

Robert Altman, the groundbreaking and sometimes also anarchistic American film director has passed away. Altman is remembered for 1970's black war comedy MASH (taking place in Korean War 1950-53 but clearly pointing to what was happening in Vietnam at the time), 1973's Raymond Chandler adaptation The Long Goodbye, relocated from the 1940s to modern Los Angeles (with Elliott Gould's memorable take on Chandler's hero Philip Marlowe as a shabby and burnt-out character, reflecting the early 70s post-hippie Zeitgeist), and the country music film Nashville (1975) where the world of show business was seen with satirical eyes -- a theme which recurred in Altman's movies. Like many of his films, Nashville also utilized Altman's trademark techniques of actor improvisation and simultaneously overlapping dialogues appearing on soundtrack. 3 Women (1977) with Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek is a masterful dreamlike and impressionistic study, somehow also reflecting Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Of his latest films, Altman gained most acclaim with 1992's The Player and 1993's Short Cuts, based on Raymond Carver's short stories.

Robert Altman @ Wikipedia

Robert Altman @ IMDB

Jotain blogeista

Tampere Exotica

The first snow flakes in Keskustori, Tampere


Blizzard in Kaleva, Tampere (music by Atomik)


Laukontori, Hatanpäänvaltatie and the suburbs, Tampere (accompanied by some surreal music + a very un-Tampere-ish "booty" music video clip having nothing to do with the rest of it...)

Roy Vedas: 'Fragments of Life'

Roy Vedas: 'Fragments of Life'

Another version of this song (though I prefer myself the one above)

One of my all-time favourites is this 1998 "retro-futuristic" song from Roy Vedas (imagine a typical 1964 beat group taken through a time warp by abducting aliens into record-producing). I don't know anything else about this act except that they were two guys called Frank Di Mauro and Maxi Trusso; Trusso's vocals being manipulated here with a vocoderish effect called autotuner, which became more famous with Cher's Believe (the song which was famously parodied in South Park). Roy Vedas, apparently another act in the endless list of one-hit wonders, disappeared as soon as they emerged, but I prefer their(auto)tune to that of the queen of plastic surgery.

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The production tricks of Cher's Believe

Psychedelic Phinland - Finnish Hippie & Underground Music

Title: Psychedelic Phinland - Finnish Hippie & Underground Music 1967-1974
Format: 2CD
Label: LOVE RECORDS
Date: 15 November 2006
Cat.No: LXCD 651

From press release notes (translation from Finnish and all ensuing errors by pHinn):

The hippie ideals and that fiercer underground arrived to Finland in the mental turmoil of the end of the 1960s. Their blooming was cut short, but both left their permanent mark on pop culture. The 2-CD Psychedelic Phinland collects together the nation's first hippie troubadours, pioneers of psychedelic prog, vanguard warriors of anarcho rock, acoustic tribal musicians and the extreme daredevils of the arctic avantgarde. The album presents the mashers of the fringes of consciousness from Blues Section to Tylympi Kohtalo ("The Grimmer Fate"), the wanderers of stellar spheres from Pekka Streng to Jukka Kuoppamäki, the gravediggers for the Establishment from Suomen Talvisota 1939-40 ("The Finnish Winter War 1939-40") to Apollo, those who grasped the meaning of the holy simplicity from Those Lovely Hula Hands to Kruununhaan Dynamo ("Kruununhaka's Dynamo") and the midwives of sonic revolution from The Sperm to Sähkökvartetti ("The Electric Quartet"). It's a unique sound documentary of the alternative music of the turn of the 1960s and 70s. For those already familiar with Suomen Talvisota and The Sperm are offered some curiosities which amaze by their sheer existence. Everything essential concerning the topic is presented here -- from Jorma Ikävalko's no-holds-barred hippie comedy to the flute meditation reaching for the world spirit by Sikiöt ("The Foetuses"). This compilation produced by Jukka Lindfors includes 29 tracks from 20 different artists or bands, including self-releases, radio and TV performances and live recordings. The sleeve illustration is provided by Timo Aarniala, the court artist of Finnish underground. The whole it can be best described by the words of the poet Markku Into: "Everyone does their own thing. A symphony for every member of the family, for everyone their own alienation".

CD1:

1. Topmost: The End
2. Hector & Oscar: Savu
3. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Kukkasen valta
4. Jorma Ikävalko: Hippijortsut pöhkölässä
5. Blues Section: Cherry-Cup Cake Twist
6. Wigwam: Must Be The Devil
7. Baby Grandmothers: Being Is More Than Life
8. Eero Koivistoinen: Pientä peliä urbaanissa limousinessa
9. Charlies: Taiteen kriitikistä
10. Apollo: Ajatuksia
11. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Kasvoton kuolema ja Sirhan Sirhan
12. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Tehtaan vahtimestarit
13. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Flaggorna fladdrade i gentlemannens WC
14. Tylympi Kohtalo: Näkemiin, voi hyvin ystäväni
15. Pekka Streng: Olen erilainen
16. Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int: Zeppeliini
17. Hector: Meiran Laulu
18. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Aurinkomaa
19. Markku Into: Olen puhunut utopiaa

CD2:

1. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Tarzan apornas apa / Tarzan gregah / Jane Porter sivistyksen muurilla
2. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Menevät miehet
3. Pekka Airaksinen: Fos 2
4. The Sperm: Heinäsirkat I
5. Sähkökvartetti: Kaukana väijyy ystäviä
6. Kruununhaan Dynamo: Simple Things
7. Sikiöt: Side One
8. Sikiöt: Trippin' Together
9. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Missä on Marilyn?
10. J.O. Mallander: Degnahc Ev'uoY

Contact:

Love Records / Siboney

HÄMEENTIE 6 A 4 00530 HELSINKI FINLAND

Tel. +351-(0)9 -417 66 640

FAX +351-(0)9-417 66 650


Psychedelic rock in 60s Finland @ pHinnWeb

Early Years of Finnish Electronic Music & Avantgarde @ pHinnWeb

Love Missile F2-67, A Tribute to Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Sigue Sigue Sputnik: 'Love Missile F1-11'






Love Missile F2-67, 267 Lattajjaa label's tribute compilation to Sigue Sigue Sputnik is finally out, featuring 12 versions of their 1986 hit 'Love Missile F1-11' from different artists. It's a limited edition of 66 copies with hand-painted sleeves. You can order it directly from the label.

artist: Various
title: Love Missile F2-67
cat.no: LTJ-F267
date: 7 November 2006

artists in order of appearance:

1. KOMPLEKSI
2. JAARASMAA
3. LÖRSSON
4. GREIPPI
5. FUTURIANS
6. THE CAMPFIRES
7. POINTLESS NOTE
8. VILLE MOSKIITTO
9. SANDAL FLAMENBERG
10. THE IDEAL GUS
11. MARSUE LIME
12. WHITLOW

More Sigue Sigue Sputnik genius:


A word from Sputnik Corps


Sigue Sigue Sputnik: '21st Century Boy'


Sigue Sigue Sputnik: 'Sex Bomb Boogie' (including clips from James Cameron's Terminator)

Didn't get enough...?

Black Replica

Black Replica: 'Mathematical Eyes'


Black Replica: 'Spider Theory'

Black Replica @ MySpace

Black Replica is the new project of Heinrich Mueller (a.k.a. Gerald Donald) of Dopplereffekt and Drexciya fame.

More about Black Replica @ Drexciya Research Lab

'Sara Pain', A New Kompleksi Song Online

click to hear it

pHinnWeb Chart November 2006...

... can be found here.