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, 18 February 2011

My new favourite band? – Echo Is Your Love

Not to put too fine a point on it, Echo Is Your Love are absolutely fantastic. They've recorded five albums (all of which I've listened to) and a bunch of singles and split records (none of which I've listened to because they're only available on vinyl and I don't own a record player). I first came across them while watching a 5-minute documentary about their record label (which is run by two members of the band):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdfeltLnCSk&feature=feedlik

The song "Step in step inside" (available at www.ifsociety.com/echo/human.html and www.myspace.com/echoisyourlove) was used in the background and I liked what I heard so got hold of their stuff.

"Step in step inside" is on Humansize, the band's second most recent album from 2006. At the risk of giving you the impression I'm a little fanatical, this album is, to my ears, almost perfect. In fact, there are only two things in the whole albums I would change, and these are so minute and insignificant that if you blink (for five seconds) you miss 'em. Although I'd recommend having a listen to "Step in step inside" to sample Echo Is Your Love's greatness, the rest of the album doesn't sound much like this. There are a heap of different styles in there and each is pulled off with style. The other song off the album on the band's website and Myspace site is "Peace song", which is also really, really good. I can't recommend this album enough!!!

Next I listened to Heart Fake, their album from last year. In my opinion, it's not quite as good as Humansize, but it's still most commendable.The two songs off the album on the aforementioned sites aren't the ones I would personally use to promote the album, but that doesn't mean they're bad songs – far from it! The best songs for me on this album are the understated "Someone Took Advantage Of Her" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEm5Izau7JU), "Song Against Hate And Rockets" and "Silver Sufferer" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCi15WCnVF4).

Paper Cut Eye is the band's third album. On their Finnish-language Wikipedia webpage, it says that "[t]he band are often compared to Sonic Youth and Blonde Redhead." When I read this for the first time, I didn't see the connection between Sonic Youth and the Humansize or Heart Fake. Paper Cut Eye is where the Sonic Youthiness begins to show, and it only gets more visible from here on in. "Pleasures Unknown" (on Myspace) and "Children in Lines" (on the band's website) are two of the best songs on a very decent album. Why I like Humansize and Heart Fake more than Paper Cut Eye and the two earlier albums I haven't mentioned yet is because of the noise:melody ratio – I like melodic songs with a bit of noise (i.e. Echo Is Your Love's most recent albums) as opposed to noisy songs with a bit of melody (i.e. the band's earlier stuff).

Then it was 8 Hours, the band's first album. I really disliked this the first time I heard it, but it's grown on me since then. "a song for Sea Scouts" (on the band's website) is one of my favourite songs on the record, while "Wake Up" (on Myspace) will give you fair idea of the album's overall style.

Last up is Sheets of Blank Fucking Paper. Very noisy, with a lot of Sonic Youth and Joy Division in there. Not really my thing, but judge for yourself – "Black and Red Lies on Yellow" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER32A4zq6Ps).
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Saturday, 29 January 2011

Endstand & Confusa

Endstand

As part of writing the article I speak about at the top of the page, I interviewed Janne Tamminen, the man behind the leading independent label Combat Rock Industry (www.fireinsidemusic.com), so It'd make sense to start with a couple of bands off this label.

The first, in fact, features Tamminen himself – arguably Finland's most celebrated hardcore punk band, the now defunct Endstand.

Hardcore is a musical genre I sometimes "get" and at other times don't. For example, I can enjoy listening to the Bad Brains, Black Flag, Gorilla Biscuits and (in 20-minute spurts) Minor Threat. However, a band such as Youth of Today I just find incomprehensible.

So whether me thinking the three Endstand albums I've listened to (Spark, The Time is Now and Never Fall Into Silence) are all pretty decent tells you something about Endstand's brand of hardcore, I don't know. Spark is, in my opinion, the most sophisticated, well-rounded of the three, something the Combat Rock Shop seems to agree with:

"After 11 years together, Endstand offer up their best album."(www.fireinsidemusic.com/shop/item/endstand-spark--cd)

The band's myspace page (www.myspace.com/endstand) has three of the songs off that album on it. Unfortunately, one of these isn't my favourite track off the album ("Eyes Shut"). The other tracks should give you the basic idea, though.

The Time Is Now is a big darker than Spark but is probably as good an introduction to Endstand's music. I couldn't find my favourite track off the album, "Lost Balance", on Myspace, YouTube, the band's website etc., but here's another track instead ("Right From The Start" – which isn't one of the "darker" songs"):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQkib20CIM

Never Fall Into Silence is a far lighter affair – it's slower and less aggressive. Although I like the two aforementioned albums more, NFIS isn't too shabby itself. Type in "Never Fall Into Silence" into YouTube and there's plenty to sample. One of my favourite tracks is one of the album's heaviest but also its slowest ("Someone Is Watching You..."):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-meTv0vS5WA


Confusa

Confusa are a punk band comprising four women and one man, although this last fact isn't really worth mentioning (n.b. are The Pixies or Sonic Youth ever described as bands comprisng three men and one women?!).

Their songs, in terms of melodies and harmonies, are quite simple but contain interesting, well-executed time changes from a hyperspeed meter to a Sex Pistols-esque one. Quite rare for a loud Finnish band, the band's two singers sing/scream/bark in Finnish.

The band only seem to have one album out. Luckily for you, the album's opening track ("Viisaammat"), one of the best on the album, is up on their Myspace site (www.myspace.com/confusaband) and their own website (www.confusa.net/index.php?section=discography).

Most of the song is sung are breakneck speed, so much so that I have difficulty hearing what's being said even with the lyric sheet in front of me. The repeated chorus lyric "Meitä viisaammat kirjoissaan" is more discernible, however. What does it mean, I hear you ask? Poetic considerations aside, I'd translate it as, "Those who are wiser than us in their books". I'll save you a lecture this time around on how Finnish grammar makes conveying the same message possible in only three words.
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