Juhannus 3000 by Mallisto

U P C O M I N G !
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Erikoisdance 13
Artist: Mallisto
Release: "Juhannus 3008" (CDr)

Release date: August 2009
Running time: 18+ minutes
File under: electronics, ambient synth folk, psychedelia, pop, home recording

Mallisto, founded in Helsinki by Christer Nuutinen (kb/v) and Jukka Vallisto (bg) in the mid-nineties, was active off and on for several years with slightly varying lineups, Nuutinen and Jenni Rope (kb/v) being present in most of the incarnations. Either as a duo or with Vallisto, and later with Ilja Karsikas on guitar.

A year or so of semi-active live playing (at events ranging from ordinary club gigs to art show openings and private house warming parties in tiny student flats) gradually saw the bands output evolve from childish instrumental electro pop to a peculiar lofi sound, mixing synth pop and psychedelia. The only recording to enter the public sphere during Mallisto's active phase was the self-released EP Polku, performed and produced in 2000 by Nuutinen and Rope as a duo.

Quite sadly, as the band continued to further refine its trademark sound — finally matured into their very own specific blend of Lofi Ambient Folk Pop — their active phase also seemed to slowly but firmly grind to a halt. Today, not even the members of Mallisto themselves are sure if the group still exists.

Juhannus 3008 compiles 5 tracks, originally recorded in separate sessions, during a timespan of almost 15 years, but still managing to sum up as one solid body of work.

Here a charming array of old electric pianos, organs and beautiful analog synths are paired with frail lullaby vocals and the occasional hand picked guitar to a most enchanting effect. Melodies — melancholic, warm and inviting — hover mid-air, gently held afloat in the almost invisible, ethereal embrace of buzzing oscillators, reversed tape loops and a strange kind of audible silence. The bands instantly recognisable sound is simultaneously both rich and humble, intimate and spacious.
A remix provided by Erikoismies is also included.

Sound clips:

Laulu numero 1

Laulu numero 2

Juhannus 3008

Halkio

Syysjami

Juhannus 3008 (Erikoismies Bongo Mix)

Artwork

Erikoisdance online

New Releases from Luovaja

Finnish CD-R label Luovaja delighted me with three fresh releases from their roster; two of them of Finnish origins, one from Russia.

Paanpa is the singer–songwriter–multi-instrumentalist Pasi Palonen from Tampere. His home-grown electropop draws comparisons to such Finnish luminaries as Risto and TV-Resistori. Vega Stereo is vintage analogue ambient from the Moscow duo of Alexey and Nastya. Bearly Queen is a one-man ambient project of Heikki Kippola (also known for his Palasokeri prog and Krautrock page) from Oulu. Follow the links to sound samples, further info and how to order.



Artist: Paanpa
Title: Ihmisen ja koneen välisestä ystävyydestä
Format: CD-R, edition of 50
Cat.no.: lvjcdr011
Label: Luovaja (FIN)
Date: May 2009

Tracklist:

1. Aina kun mä tuun, mä kuolen pikkaisen (3:33)
2. Sokkarin liukuportaat (3:13)
3. Robootti (3:18)
4. Oi, Bianchina! (3:56)
5. Avaruushissi (3:06)
6. Rakkauslaulu robootille (3:56)
7. Kone rokkaa (3:23)
8. Hei beibi, drillaa mua (3:21)
9. Tottele minua kone (3:14)

Total length: 31:20

Press release notes:

Sci-fi–lo-fi–indie-synthesizer-pop-rock from the singer–songwriter–multi-instrumentalist Pasi Palonen's (also of Popsicle People) solo project Paanpa. After last year's wonderful demo Mehujääihmisten uneton uni (which can be downloaded here) comes Paanpa's debut album, philosophical comment on the delicate relationship between man and machine.

Can a machine feel love? Can even a human being feel love? Can a human and a machine ever find each other, romantically? What about an intimate relationship between flesh and cold, cold metal? These are important questions of which no-one has ever written even a doctoral thesis(!).

As a human being, as a machine of flesh, I've been coded with these biological scripts that cause us to feel crush, hate, the need to touch and be touched, the ability to feel sorrow and even so-called love - these are emotions, electrical phenomena going on in the brain, that man has located and given them names. These are the days of making a consumer product from every basic need man has, so that these needs can be sold for example as part of TV's programme flow or as a sex shop's services (not to mention all those dating sites over the Internet).

The world we try to perceive every day is after all created by man. Man has also created every machine and every human being of today. Form is discretion, and there is no soul... So, I make a profound question: Is there really a difference between a creature grown in a womb and a machine, built up piece by piece in a factory? These both creations have (in most cases) some sort of an operating system with some sub programs.

As an individual raised by science fiction literature, I strongly feel the urge to ask, to speculate about the thing called 'reality'. I do not expect getting neutral answers, if any. I also feel that pop music is as good a format to make these questions as a scientific (or a science fiction) publication is.

I have been honoured to feel a machine kind of love, to be a guinea pig for a sadistic dentist's dark fantasies, to mourn my own loneliness, and between all of this I've been conceiving and amending my own views of this planet, Earth.

I recorded this record in my bedroom where I also wrote most of the songs. When Jaakob Karhu contacted me about making this CD-R, about half of the songs existed in a form or another. Quickly I understood what it was going to be, even if my songs tend to take a direction of their own and crawl out of my reach. If I believe in something, it is that things tend to work out somehow - may the results be for good or bad. This happened to 'Ihmisen ja koneen välisestä ystävyydestä', too.

– Pasi Palonen, Tampere in May 2009

Artist: Vega Stereo
Title: Quark
Format: CD-R, limited edition
Cat.no.: lvjcdr01
Label: Luovaja (FIN)
Date: June 2009

Tracklist:

1. Green Beauty
2. Blue Up
3. Green Charm
4. Red Truth
5. Blue Down
6. Red Strange
7. Blue Beauty
8. Red Down
9. Green Truth

Total length: 61:11

Press release notes:

Moscow duet VEGA STEREO – Alexey and Nastya

Long suite of hypnotic ambient landscapes, electronic minimalism and relaxed floating through soft spaces of colors – created with vintage analog synthesizers. The other member of this mysterious Russian duo is also known for his project Analog Concept.

Artist: Bearly Queen
Title: Void, Oh The Void
Format: CD-R, edition of 50
Cat.no.: lvjcdr014
Label: Luovaja (FIN)
Date: June 2009

Tracklist:

1. Void, Oh The Void

Total length: 44:14

Press release notes:

Even though the title of the previous album may have suggested otherwise BQ hasn't split up. There was some hesitation however if the next album should be something different. After working awhile simultaneously with two different tracks BQ soon realised that these two songs were not ment to be together on the same album. Both needed more space and time. The spacier of the two caught more attension because it had the spirit BQ had been searching for; this could be BQ's Atem? So instead of something different you get more of that familiar slow and dark BQ sound you have learned to love. Better luck next time. Maybe.

H. K.

Official site