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

Friday 12 August 2011

Baxter Stockman

A couple of weeks ago I was becoming a little exasperated by the constant stream of hardcore bands I kept coming across. The more I search for new bands, the more I'm starting to think that Finland is absolutely hardcore mad!

While in the pits of despair – not really! – I came across Baxter Stockman. Having a Myspace page with the URL www.myspace.com/baxterfucksyou wasn't a promising beginning, but it just goes to show how misleading first impressions can be.

Baxter Stockman may not be exactly what I'm after on this Finnish music voyage I've embarked upon, but they come pretty close. They're very tight and seem to draw on similar influences to Fun (mentioned earlier on the blog).

The band have only released two EPs, and one's long been out of print, according to the band's drummer. So there's only their second EP, six songs long, and a couple of tunes on their Myspace page from that first EP for you to peruse.

The Myspace page is definitely the place to start, as three of the tracks off EP 2 are there – "Cart" is particularly good, in my opinion. If you like what you hear, maybe this video will be of interest to you as well. The first song they play ("Madonna With Two Heads") is another of my favourites.

EP 2 is available from the band's record label's website. Despite the list price being €7, I got mine for €5 (including postage). A very good investment, indeed!
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