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.

Kompleksi @ Zoot Mag

[Large version]

Zoot, a Portuguese fashion/music magazine in English has published in its issue #5 (Winter 2006) a featurette on Kompleksi, written by Ann Shenton a.k.a. Large Number (formerly also a member of Add N To (X)):

"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."

"Their cover artwork is of the cut and paste punk ethic: torn pages of fashion magazines, sci-fi imagery and Japanese graffiti adds to their unique brand of 'kooky-ness'."

[Note: the song 'Sarah Payne' mentioned in the article was later on re-named 'Sara Pain' after we learned about a horrible UK murder case featuring a young victim of this name -- the song (and its video) had nothing whatsoever to do with this case, of which we have been totally unaware here in Finland, though it was big news in England. Another spooky coincidence, believe it or not...]

Plat Ypus @ Mutant Sounds

I wrote here some time ago about the art of Ilkka Vekka, also a member of the interesting exp/electronic-tinged rock group Plat Ypus. Now Mutant Sounds, one of the most fascinating music blogs around (dedicated to some extremely rare and obscure exp/electronic/psychedelic/punk/Krautrock/etc. record releases from 1960s onwards, also featuring downloads of these records), has featured there an entry of Lörsson/Plat Ypus 3" split CDR (a limited edition of 30!) released in 2003 on Helsinki's 267 Lattajjaa label (a brainchild of one dedicated fringe music fanatic called Hannu Haahti -- we were featured with Kompleksi on the label's Sigue Sigue Sputnik tribute compilation last year). This is what Mutant Sounds writes about Plat Ypus: "Vascilllating between rhythm box-driven vignettes of ass-backward mulched electronica, mid-period Boredoms spasming art splatter and post-rock repetition". Too bad Plat Ypus seems to gone on hiatus these days (even though one member of the band, Perttu Makkonen, just sent me an interesting CDR of his latest project, about which more here).

Aarne Rautio In Memoriam

Aarne Iisakki Rautio (25 July 1916 - 25 June 2007)

My grandfather Aarne Rautio has passed away at the age of 90 in Lapua, Finland. He is survived by one son and three grandchildren. A WWII veteran, who made his life's work as a mailman (as his own father had before him), I remember "Paappa" as an exceptionally kind, modest and calm man, who never lost his temper; almost seeming to have a patience of a saint and always willing to give his help. His memory will live on.

Aarne Rautio, ca. 1946, with his younger son Matti (1946 - 1999)

See also:

Pertti Rautio In Memoriam

Kompleksi: Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco

Click for larger images.

If anything goes as it should, soon we hope to have Kompleksi's debut album Sister Longlegs Dances In The Disco as a Net release. The album has been finished since May 2006, but so far no record label in their infinite wisdom has shown interest for our jagged "eclectro" sounds (tragicomic DIY electropunknewwavesynthpoppsychedelicdiscowhatever), so this will be self-released under pHinnWeb's own "imprint", pHinnMilk Recordings. Which I already planned killing off, since usually distributors of electronic (dance) music haven't shown interest in taking on any CD-R releases (unlike in improv/psych-folk scene where CD-Rs just seem to flourish). So, I don't believe that I will have energy to publish any more CD-Rs under pHinnMilk, and any other possible releases there will be Net only.

[Of course, if there's still anyone out there willing to put out Sister Longlegs... out on their own label, we are always open to all suggestions, but sometimes self-help is the best help!]

Anyway, happy Juhannus to everyone!

Sister Longlegs... review @ Electrosynth blog

Kemialliset Ystävät: 'Älyvaahtoa' video

Kemialliset Ystävät: 'Älyvaahtoa' ("Intelligent foam")

Directed by Jonna Karanka.

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