Mike Not's (Noise Production, Kompleksi) IDM/experimental/electro project Kohinatuotanto has now a MySpace site where you can listen to some of his tracks:
http://www.myspace.com/kohinatuotanto
See also Noise Production's MySpace sites:
And:
Friday, September 28, 2007
Kohinatuotanto @ MySpace
Mike Not's (Noise Production, Kompleksi) IDM/experimental/electro project Kohinatuotanto has now a MySpace site where you can listen to some of his tracks:
http://www.myspace.com/kohinatuotanto
See also Noise Production's MySpace sites:
And:
Finlando - Suomalaisen Diskomusiikin Helmiä 1980-1985 (12")
Artist: Various
Title: Finlando - Suomalaisen Diskomusiikin Helmiä 1980-1985 (12")
Cat.No: FOD 002
Label: Freak Out Disko
Date: 3 August 2007
Tracks [originals in square brackets]:
A1. Vaaleaverikkö: Haluun Olla Rakkaas (3:12) [La Bionda - 'I Wanna Be Your Lover']
A2. Liskot: Liekeis (4:10)
A3. Pesäharava: Futupää (5:30) [Den Harrow - 'Future brain']
B1. Tuotekuva: Rakastatsä? (6:13) [Brand Image - 'Are You Loving?']
B2. Folke West 190: Romani (6:02) [Fockewulf 190 - 'Gitano']
Some Italodisco classics translated to Finnish...
[Via KynyNasty again. Kiitos & anteeks.]
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Veikko Ennala
Miltei kohdusta hautaan minua seurasivat kalvava alemmuuden ja kyvyttömyyden tunne, kaiken ja kaikkien epäily, raskasmielisyys, tuska- ja paniikkitilat ilman silmin näkyvää syytä ja epätoivoinen kurottelu rehellisyyteen. Kirjoitin ymmärtääkseni miten asiat olivat enkä miten niiden olisi pitänyt olla. Tämän takia minulla ei juuri ollut ystäviä.
("Almost from womb to tomb I was followed by the nagging feelings of inferiority and impotence, doubts of everything and everyone, heavy melancholy, states of pain and panic without any visible reason and the desperate reaching out for honesty. I wrote to understand how things were and not how they should have been. Because of this I had few friends.")
- Veikko Ennala in his self-penned obituary, 1991
Veikko Ennala (1922-1991) was the enfant terrible of Finnish journalism, whose specialty was stirring controversy with magazine articles and columns penned by him, often of autobiographical content; breaking all possible taboos concerning sex, death, suicide, religion, alcoholism and substance abuse, crime and the general social conditions of those living on the wrong side of the tracks. Now a long-time Ennala aficionado Tommi Liimatta (of the band Absoluuttinen Nollapiste fame and a writer in his own right) has collected from the late journalist's writings this anthology, spanning nearly half a century, called Lasteni isä on veljeni ja muita lehtikirjoituksia ("The father of my children is my brother and other magazine writings").
The 1960s was a remarkable turning point when over 300.000 Finns emigrated to Sweden after a better living, and even inside Finland population moved from countryside to its large towns as the country which had been up until now predominantly agrarian rapidly turned towards industrialisation. This served to emphasize all sorts of social frictions which became all the more visible now when the newly settled dwellers of towns often faced -- instead of the economical Eldorado with better living standards that they had been expecting -- urban alienation which replaced the cosy rural way of life they had been earlier on accustomed to: where the bonds between families, relatives and neighbours had been tight, and life went on relatively unchanged from one generation to another. In fact, the whole Finland had been up to the 60s one large village with strict and homogenous ways of thinking; the combination of Evangelical Lutheran religion and Fennomanic patriotism providing the tight moral framework for all citizens, from which any diversion was heavily frowned upon.
So, all this suddenly changed in the 60s; not to talk about the onslaught brought on by TV, media and all kinds of new cultural and social values. In the 1966 Parliamentary Election, the Left (Social Democrats and Communists) received a landslide victory and the Conservatives found themselves in the opposition (which lasted all the way to 1987). The young intelligentsia found themselves radicalised, which was reflected in all domestic cultural life. The overall global tumult of the decade has been well documented elsewhere, so suffice it to say that Finland wasn't left unaffected, though the era's socio-sexual-cultural revolution came to this country at least slightly delayed, filtered and customised to the local mentalities. However, this all was reflected by Finland's most sensationalist magazine, called Hymy ("Smile"), which was established already in 1959 by a budding publisher mogul and Hemingway-wannabe Urpo Lahtinen (1931-1994) and named after his then-wife, Hymy Lahtinen. It took over half a decade for Hymy magazine to gain momentum and reach its full throttle, but when Veikko Ennala -- who had already gained some journalistic notoriety -- joined its ranks in 1965, the time was ripe to shake things up in tepid Finnish culture.
By no means was Ennala alone responsible for Hymy's subsequent rapid ascent -- which reached its apex with the December 1968 issue, the total edition of 520.000 which was sold out, becoming the best-selling Finnish magazine of all time -- but he became to personify the magazine's journalistic agenda, which consisted of a combination of "human interest stories", accounts of all kinds of social and political injustices, celebrity interviews and naturally gossips, sensations and scandals. All sorts of illicit sex or unusual sexual behaviour, homosexuality (which those days was still a criminal offence) and perversions were in the special spotlight, often analysed in a pseudo-scientific way, and all articles naturally accompanied by revealing photographs, so that by the 70s Hymy could well be called a soft porn magazine, though one browsed through by all family, either in public or more or less in shameful secrecy.
Accounts of both physical and mental illnesses and their countless appearances filled the pages of Hymy. Crime and the asocial lives of alcoholics, drug users and addicts were covered; also the primitive and severe conditions under which inmates had to live in correctional institutes and the poor people in countryside. The abuses of religious revivalist movements were exposed, even though also paranormal phenomena and ghost stories had their place on the pages, when all things mystical enjoyed some new-found interest in the Aquarian climate of the 60s. In other words, nothing human (or inhuman) was alien to Hymy magazine; everything that whetted the imaginations of star-struck sensation seekers and potential Peeping Tom types was covered.
Though America had "Gonzo" writers like Hunter S. Thompson and "New Journalism" represented by Tom Wolfe (in the style of his Stateside "counterpart", Ennala also liked to dress dandy-like; like Wolfe, favouring posh white suits), perhaps somehow distantly related to Ennala's style, it's hard to imagine that a character like Veikko Ennala would have been produced by any other culture, with that specific Finnish combination of Arctic hysteria, melancholia, mania and depression finding all their expressions in his work full of angst and lust. The workaholic Ennala estimated that as a writer he had produced approximately 30.000 - 50.000 sheets of A4 size during his life. Despite that, he was also a stylistic perfectionist, who advised that every text has to be written over at least for six times. His style is peppered all over with literary and poetry quotes; apparently the cultured Ennala was not exactly one of your typical gutter press hacks, and might as well have taken a successful career in "fine literature" (he actually also published some novels and short stories), but why he chose scandal press instead, must have been a question of some very complicated circumstances and perhaps just a personal tendency as a social misfit to go against the grain.
Admittedly, Ennala's style can be at times corny and downright soppy when he attempts with poetic turns of phrase to paint a picture of the hard fates of his long-suffering subjects but only ends up with voyeuristic saccharine melodrama, which makes him look look a pretentious hypocrite, albeit one who knows his world literature; just like "Olli Meri", a caricature of Ennala the late film director Risto Jarva depicted in his 1972 Kun taivas putoaa ("When the Heavens Fall..."), a tragicomical satire of yellow press, especially based on Hymy magazine.
The Ennala articles in this book are collected not only from the pages Hymy but also men's magazines published under the umbrella of Lehtimiehet, Urpo Lahtinen's company, such as Nyrkkiposti, VIP, Ratto, Jallu and Kalle. From the 1950s are Ennala's articles for Apu magazine where he worked with another legend of Finnish journalism, Matti Jämsä (1929-1988), known for his daring death-defying escapades which he reported for the magazine. (Ennala got kicked out of Apu after a scandal of getting sexually involved with a 15-year old girl.) The earliest Ennala stories are from the 1940s when he worked during the Continuation War as an official war correspondent for the Information Department of the Headquarters. However, Ennala's ambitions to become the next great war writer à la Erich Maria Remarque were hindered by the censorship of high brass, who were annoyed by the realism of Ennala's combat report, unworthy as any spirit-raising propaganda, for the esteemed Suomen Kuvalehti magazine. Famous writer Olavi Paavolainen, Ennala's superior officer at the Information Dept., called young Ennala his "literarily gifted problem child". After the war Ennala also had his own column at the local newspaper of Valkeakoski, writing as "Veli-Pekka". His last articles Ennala wrote in the 80s and just before his death in 1991 for the crime magazine Alibi.
The texts here are not in chronological order but the editor Liimatta has arranged them into such thematic categories as Ennala's life, reportages, religion and church, sexuality, little man and society, alcohol and drugs, prisons and mental health, paranormal and mysticism, celebrities, columns by Veli-Pekka for Valkeakosken Sanomat, and more Ennala's life.
Some examples of Veikko Ennala's texts found from the pages of this book:
Ennala reported in sardonic tones a characteristically bacchanalic Midsummer celebration on the Yyteri Beach near the town of Pori, known for its seaside dunes and camping site. Finnish youth drunk out of their minds, I witnessed this same Midsummer inferno of Yyteri myself decades after Ennala, to notice Finns still stick to their beloved paganistic Juhannus traditions of drinking, fighting, knifing each other and drowning.
Ennala was supposed to test some LSD and write a story, but gladly his editor prevented this, being aware of the writer's tendency to heavy melancholy and depression. Instead, a young graphic artist of Hymy took the substance, Ennala and the editor monitoring the proceedings and the former writing a story, not forgetting to duly repeat the LSD horror stories the late-60s media was full of.
Ennala was constantly annoyed by his reputation as a lecherous old man, an "emperor of porn", for which his children got bullied at school, but only added petrol himself to the flames with his articles such as "How To Seduce A Woman", and his infamous condom test for which he announced for a female willing to do the test with him (and found one). However, among tons of angry letters, Ennala also received from the more liberal-minded readers praise for his candid articles about sexuality and willingness to write about some of those subject matters which had been so far taboo in the puritanist Finnish culture.
There is something of a reckless exhibitionism about the way Ennala opened to all people through his writings his personal life, drunken binges with their violent hangovers, problems with his health and marriage, though all accounts were spiced with loads of sardonic self-irony and morbid humour. There's a detailed report of his ulcers for which he was hospitalised in 1974, the surgical operation that followed and his convalescence; also his later -- and terminal -- lung cancer was duly reported by Ennala. It's always embarrassing to follow people who wash their dirty laundry in public, and Ennala -- the indisputable master of this -- is no exception with "Death of My Marriage", his bitter Strindbergian account of the failure of his marriage and the reasons leading to it. (Subsequently, the ex-wife committed suicide some years later, Ennala also writing another infamous article not included in this collection.)
One theme that followed Ennala all through his career was his constant preoccupation with all things concerning death, afterlife and the existence of God, which he pondered on and on, though considered a blasphemer by religious bigots who kept bombing the writer with letters he claimed were often surprisingly obscene: another proof to Ennala of these people's basic sexual frustrations. Despite being a thorn by the side of fanatics, revivalists and self-made "prophets" and their eschatological claims of the imminent apocalypse and such things as glossolalia ("speaking in tongues") which he openly ridiculed, Ennala was an iconoclast who kept thinking about spiritual matters thoroughly and endlessly, who couldn't exactly decide if he was a believer (of sorts), an agnostic or an atheist.
Though it's not known if Ennala was familiar with the works of English visionary poet/artist William Blake, his own motto might well have been borrowed from Blake who wrote in his Proverbs of Hell that: "Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion". Veikko Ennala's attitudes about religion seem to stem from his childhood with his tyrannical teacher father (and occasional substitute priest) who regularly beat his wife and young Veikko into submission. (Somehow, these accounts make me think of those experiences depicted in his autobiographical Laterna Magica by film director Ingmar Bergman about his own strict priest father.) Veikko's religious faith was tried by father's cruel sadism and additionally, finding out about a "whoremonger priest" of his own parish, who had been found abusing young servant maids. Gladly father also had a vast library of world literature and Veikko nourished himself with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Th. Hoffman (who also influenced Ennala's own short stories, the first of them published in a magazine when he was 11), Anatole France, André Gide, Alphons Daudet and Gustave Flaubert.
The book is concluded by Ennala's self-penned obituary that was published in Alibi #11/1991. Despite his shortcomings, Ennala was a unique character in Finnish journalism, and his passing at the age of 68 feels now like him having left us just too early. Even though the appreciation he was looking for during his lifetime seems to have been mostly posthumous: as one proof this excellent book.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Barney Bubbles
{feuilleton} also features an excellent article on the innovative British visual designer Barney Bubbles, real name Colin Fulcher (1942-1983). Mostly famously, Barney Bubbles was responsible for Hawkwind's psychedelic-science-fiction-Hell's-Angels-meet-Russian-Constructivism designs, but also for some new wave artists like Elvis Costello and Ian Dury. He also contributed to the UK underground magazines such as Oz, IT and Friends/Frendz.
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=1296
Daily Surrealism
Daily Surrealism: http://phinnweb.bombsquad.org/, the former mirror site of pHinnWeb, now hosts a Finnish discussion forum about Dalmatian dogs!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
DJ Scotch Egg, Huoratron & Desert Planet @ Café Tivoli, Rovaniemi
DJ Scotch Egg @ Café Tivoli, Rovaniemi, Finland
DJ Scotch Egg, Huoratron & Desert Planet @ Café Tivoli, Rovaniemi
Via KynyNasty: two videos of M-klubi at Rovaniemi's Club Tivoli, 21 September '07, featuring DJ Scotch Egg (JAP/UK) and Finland's own Huoratron and Desert Planet. Lunatics on the loose (this apparently is what arctic hysteria does to a person)!
Street Sounds Electro @ {feuilleton}
An article on the 80s legendary Street Sounds Electro series at {feuilleton}, a journal by artist and designer John Coulthart:
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=2386
[via Jahsonic]
Friday, September 21, 2007
Unidentified Sound Objects Video Page
The Unidentified Sound Objects (a.k.a. Helsinki's Sami "Sampen" Pennanen, an electronic musician and visual artist) site hosted by pHinnWeb has now a video page, featuring some works made for his exhibitions. And here are direct links to USO's videos:
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):
Thursday, September 20, 2007
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.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
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).
Friday, September 14, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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.
Monday, September 10, 2007
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.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
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.
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)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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.
Monday, September 03, 2007
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
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.
