Welcome to my blog, in which I'll be trying to give some useful listening tips to those of you who want to hear what the Finnish independent music scene has to offer.

Why I've decided to set up this blog

Although I was active in Aberdeen (a city in Scotland)'s music scene before moving to Finland, primarily with the bands Dedalus and Hookers Green No. 1, I lost interest in music around 2006. For instance, I bought about four albums between summer 2006 and the end of 2010.

At the same time, I was only ever an avid music fan from around 1997 to 2000 – the years when I religiously bought Kerrang! (or read it in the newsagent's I worked at). Therefore, I have a pretty decent knowledge of loud music from the late 1990s as well as of rock history before that, but everything else is a bit of mystery to me.

In the summer of 2010, I got back some of the passion I used to have for music while reading Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991. During the following autumn this rekindling of interest in music was strengthened as I researched and wrote an article about straight edge in Finland:

http://sixdegrees.wm.fi/6d/index.php/society/39-society/320-out-of-step-with-the-world

Becoming acquainted with some of the individuals and bands involved in Helsinki's hardcore scene, as well as attending my first gigs in four years, inspired me to delve further into the Finnish independent music scene. What I found I liked, and I'd like others to benefit from the raking I'll be doing in the coming weeks, months and maybe even years.

Do I see myself as a music critic, then?

No! No! No!

The most negative thing I'll say about a band I encounter is that I'm not too keen on certain small details of their music; nearly everything else will be positive, and as such I don't think I can be called a (good) critic. If I don't like a band, I won't write anything about them. Local bands have a hard enough time trying to build up a following without middlemen putting potential fans off before the latter have even heard the music for themselves.

Of course, my blog could, if anybody ever ends up reading it, be accused of doing something similar, as my highlighting of the bands I like may sway readers in one direction and not another. However, I see my blog in "positive sum" rather than "zero sum" terms. In other words, if somebody comes across my blog, it's unlikely they'll be a Finn, as there are better sources of information about this topic written by Finns themselves. Instead, readers probably won't know much about Finnish independent music to begin with and anything I write will, at best, help them to find out more about a somewhat unknown and impenetrable music scene they wouldn't have found out too much about otherwise. Maybe I'll be proved wrong. Let's see what happens!

What is Finnish independent music?

I'm not too sure yet, as I've only listened to a handful of records thus far. I'm basically interested in bands that aren't signed to big labels and who play some sort of guitar music. Maybe, as I listen to more records, I'll have to widen my definition of "Finnish independent music", but it'll do for now. One thing I should say is that I won't be writing anything about really, really heavy bands, as I simply can't tell the difference between a poor super-heavy band and a great one. I'm not saying that this music isn't good; it's just not my thing.

Leading on from this point, I should also say that, as noted above, I'm no music expert, so something I find impressive and exciting in Finland's independent music scene may, in fact, be a complete rip-off of some band I've never heard of. At worst, though, I'll be recommending competent, generic bands.

Okay, I think that's all for now. Hope you benefit from what I have to say!

Al, Monday 17 January 2011

Thursday 9 June 2011

Manifesto Jukebox

During my absence of two months, or whatever it was, I was listening to a lot of music but just never go round to writing about it here. This was one of the bands I was listening to at the time.

Manifesto Jukebox play uplifting chord progression-based melodic punk. There's something slightly Hüsker Dü-like about them, although they don't necessarily sound like the former: maybe it's the combination of hardcore-derived vocals and melodic guitars that reminds me of those Hüsker Dü songs sang by Bob Mould.

Manifesto Jukebox are no longer on the go, but they released three albums (all of which I've listened to) and a few EPs (none of which I'd listened to properly because they're only available on vinyl. Some tracks off these EPs can be heard on the band's website – www.fireinsidemusic.com/manifestojukebox) before calling it quits.

I like all three of the albums, although my favourite is probably their second (from 2002), Remedy.

The only (album-version) track from the album I could find from the band's website, YouTube and the band's official Myspace page was "When Bubbles Burst" (www.fireinsidemusic.com/mp3/bubbles.mp3). However, if you have Spotify, which I've just gotten this very minute (although I'm not sure if I'm entirely comfortable with whole albums by bands on independent labels being available there free of charge), the following tracks are worth a listen:

"Remedy", "Consent" and "Signs of Life".

As for the band's other albums, again, I couldn't find any album versions of tracks from the band's debut album, Desire, but the tracks "There's Always Someone" and "Our New Lenins" are available (along with the rest of the album) on Spotify.

The band's final album, Strain, sounds, at least to my ears, slightly different from the first two albums. I think it's the way the guitars have been recorded that differentiates the album: I'm not so good at identifying different recording techniques, but the guitars seem treblier and less distorted, which reminds me of the little I've heard of Kurt and JR Ewing (the band, not the '80s soap opera character).

"Rise and Shine" is arguably the best track on the album, something the band seems to agree with, as that's the song from the album they've made available on their website (www.fireinsidemusic.com/mp3/MJ_riseandshine.mp3) and have also allowed to be used on one of their record label's compilations.

Apart from "Rise and Shine" and "If I Had A Soul" (www.fireinsidemusic.com/mp3/mj_ifihadasoul.mp3 – a noisier version of the Strain track from one of the band's split EPs), I couldn't find anything else from the album on the internet, but here's a live video of the songs "Insto"/"What's Left Of Our Answers" that should give you some idea of what two of my favourite tracks from the album sound like (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJrVMdxAew from 4.04 mins).
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