Just in case anybody's wondering why I haven't posted anything here for over three months, my wife gave birth to our second child at the end of August, and finding time to do the necessary listening, locating links and writing isn't proving to be so easy.
Monday 28 November 2011
No time to post anything right now
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!
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!
Monday 1 August 2011
Tv-resistori
For a change, here's an entry about a Finnish (indie-) pop band.
I'm not sure where I came across Tv-resistori (Finnish for, unsurprisingly, "TV resistor") – maybe while listening to a band recommended to me by a colleague on YouTube. Maybe.
Although a far cry from "my" music, Tv-resistori write nice, catchy songs. That's not to say I love everything off the three albums of theirs I've listened to, but there's a lot of good stuff in there.
The first Tv-resistori song I heard was "J.o.v.h.m.l.s.o.a.m.o. (love)". I liked it so decided to have a listen to the album that song's from – Serkut rakastaa paremmin ("Cousins Love Better", whatever that means).
Initially, I was completely turned off the whole album by its titular, opening track. However, the more I listened to the song, the more it grew on me, until I caught myself humming the chorus one day. Yet before this occurred, I'd already decided that other songs on the album, such as "Numerot on meidän puolella" ("The Numbers Are On Our Side"), "Ratsasta mun ponilla" ("Ride On My Pony") and "Kerro poika" ("Tell [Me] Boy"), were pretty listenable. "Serkut rakastaa paremmin" and "Numerot on meidän puolella" can be heard on the band's website.
Serkut rakastaa paremmin was released in 2006 and seems to have marked a departure for the band away from, what the webstore Diogenes describes as, music with "bubblegum keyboards" to something generally more acoustic instrument-based, or at least electronically generated acoustic instrument-based, if you get what I mean. The acoustic instruments were, I should say, there from the beginning, but they started to dominate on this album.
Earlier this year the band released Tv-resistori. They've very generously put four of the album's 11 tracks on their website, of which I'd recommend three in particular : "Funtsi" ("Think"), "Ilta aikaa" ("Evening Time") and "Koputan puuta" ("I Knock On Wood").
Lastly, the band's debut album, which is a bit too quirky for me but at times displays the same melodic strength as on the other two albums when not overpowered by, in my opinion, pretty irritating synthesizers. Again from the band's website, "Intiaanidisko" ("Native American Disco") is nice, as is "Centrumi" ("Centre", I presume, although I'm pretty sure "centrumi" isn't a real word), which is available on Spotify.
I'm not sure where I came across Tv-resistori (Finnish for, unsurprisingly, "TV resistor") – maybe while listening to a band recommended to me by a colleague on YouTube. Maybe.
Although a far cry from "my" music, Tv-resistori write nice, catchy songs. That's not to say I love everything off the three albums of theirs I've listened to, but there's a lot of good stuff in there.
The first Tv-resistori song I heard was "J.o.v.h.m.l.s.o.a.m.o. (love)". I liked it so decided to have a listen to the album that song's from – Serkut rakastaa paremmin ("Cousins Love Better", whatever that means).
Initially, I was completely turned off the whole album by its titular, opening track. However, the more I listened to the song, the more it grew on me, until I caught myself humming the chorus one day. Yet before this occurred, I'd already decided that other songs on the album, such as "Numerot on meidän puolella" ("The Numbers Are On Our Side"), "Ratsasta mun ponilla" ("Ride On My Pony") and "Kerro poika" ("Tell [Me] Boy"), were pretty listenable. "Serkut rakastaa paremmin" and "Numerot on meidän puolella" can be heard on the band's website.
Serkut rakastaa paremmin was released in 2006 and seems to have marked a departure for the band away from, what the webstore Diogenes describes as, music with "bubblegum keyboards" to something generally more acoustic instrument-based, or at least electronically generated acoustic instrument-based, if you get what I mean. The acoustic instruments were, I should say, there from the beginning, but they started to dominate on this album.
Earlier this year the band released Tv-resistori. They've very generously put four of the album's 11 tracks on their website, of which I'd recommend three in particular : "Funtsi" ("Think"), "Ilta aikaa" ("Evening Time") and "Koputan puuta" ("I Knock On Wood").
Lastly, the band's debut album, which is a bit too quirky for me but at times displays the same melodic strength as on the other two albums when not overpowered by, in my opinion, pretty irritating synthesizers. Again from the band's website, "Intiaanidisko" ("Native American Disco") is nice, as is "Centrumi" ("Centre", I presume, although I'm pretty sure "centrumi" isn't a real word), which is available on Spotify.
Saturday 23 July 2011
Am I being a hypocritical, self-righteous twat?
Just thought I'd share something that occurred to me yesterday while I was doing the dishes and planning a future post about the Finnish indie pop band Tv-resistori.
Murmansk
Murmansk describe their music as perhaps being "shoegaze with aggressive edge", which is a far better way of putting it than what's said on the band's Finnish-language Wikipedia page – "Murmansk's music has been described as indie rock, alternative rock, krautrock, shoegaze, noise rock, stoner rock, psychedelic rock, post-punk, hardcore punk, goth rock, math rock and progressive rock."
While some of that is bollocks, it has to be said that Murmansk are somewhat eclectic. Maybe not when one considers all the different genres of music they could choose from, but you probably get my point.
On their latest LP, some of that eclecticism (i.e. the dictionary tells me that's a word) has been replaced by more consistency. Whether that's a result of them signing to a subsidiary of Universal Music International (embarrassingly called Spinefarm) is worth some consideration even if it's the completely wrong conclusion to come to.
I've had a listen to the two LPs of Murmansk's I was able to lay my hands on, but since this blog isn't interested in corporate releases, I'll just tell you about the first of these albums. Admittedly, though, you'll come across tracks from the former if you follow the links below, and some of it's definitely commendable.
The independent album in question is Chinese Locks, whose titular track is available on the band's Myspace page (www.myspace.com/murmansktheband) as is the sort of Tool-esque track "Pale", which I'm not so keen on. I can't seem to be able to track down anything else from the album, unfortunately. The songs "Vague Language" and "Shallow End" are worth a listen, especially if you come across better quality recordings of them than what's found here and here.
While some of that is bollocks, it has to be said that Murmansk are somewhat eclectic. Maybe not when one considers all the different genres of music they could choose from, but you probably get my point.
On their latest LP, some of that eclecticism (i.e. the dictionary tells me that's a word) has been replaced by more consistency. Whether that's a result of them signing to a subsidiary of Universal Music International (embarrassingly called Spinefarm) is worth some consideration even if it's the completely wrong conclusion to come to.
I've had a listen to the two LPs of Murmansk's I was able to lay my hands on, but since this blog isn't interested in corporate releases, I'll just tell you about the first of these albums. Admittedly, though, you'll come across tracks from the former if you follow the links below, and some of it's definitely commendable.
The independent album in question is Chinese Locks, whose titular track is available on the band's Myspace page (www.myspace.com/murmansktheband) as is the sort of Tool-esque track "Pale", which I'm not so keen on. I can't seem to be able to track down anything else from the album, unfortunately. The songs "Vague Language" and "Shallow End" are worth a listen, especially if you come across better quality recordings of them than what's found here and here.
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).
Monday 6 June 2011
Alamaailman Vasarat
Alamaailman Vasarat (Finnish for "Hammers of the Underworld") are one of the most unique bands I think I've ever heard. Although they seem to be most at home playing klezmer music, they aren't afraid of cranking the cello amps all the way up to 11 or pulling off other unconventional tricks.
I've only had the chance to listen to the band's first album, Vasaraasia, and what's available on YouTube, but that's enough of a basis to say that Alamaailman Vasarat are definitely worth a listen or twenty.
"Astiatehdas" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PlKlsOdZA) is a good song to start with, especially as the video is fantastic.
As for songs off the first album, "Mamelukki & Musta leski" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BHWEqVMQyE), "Lakeus" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSxE1zqOYe4) and "Merikäärme" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35OXRA0ckA from 2.16 to 6.00 mins) will give you a good idea of what the band's capable of.
This last link is to a silent movie someone seems to have created their own Alamaailman Vasarat soundtrack for. From what I watched of the film, that could be a really interesting way to acquaint yourself with the band's music.
I've only had the chance to listen to the band's first album, Vasaraasia, and what's available on YouTube, but that's enough of a basis to say that Alamaailman Vasarat are definitely worth a listen or twenty.
"Astiatehdas" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PlKlsOdZA) is a good song to start with, especially as the video is fantastic.
As for songs off the first album, "Mamelukki & Musta leski" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BHWEqVMQyE), "Lakeus" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSxE1zqOYe4) and "Merikäärme" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35OXRA0ckA from 2.16 to 6.00 mins) will give you a good idea of what the band's capable of.
This last link is to a silent movie someone seems to have created their own Alamaailman Vasarat soundtrack for. From what I watched of the film, that could be a really interesting way to acquaint yourself with the band's music.
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