microphones in the trees: finlandia
Showing posts with label finlandia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finlandia. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

terlu / uton / wave temples

 
 devotional astral island music cult esoteric minimal experimental 
nature recording meditational ocean jazz

por favor...que dejen de salir tantas cintas bonitas juntas, no hay tiempo material y sé que me repito como la cebolla. nueva hornada de Field Studies y Worn Habit, nuevo disco de x.r.y en el horizonte y mil delicias más que nos recuerdan que el verano no se ha ido del todo, que aún nos quedan días cálidos por disfrutar. lloro de emoción con este hornada perfecta de department tapes, con sus diseños y tipografías estupendas y el gusto exquisito a la hora de elegir muy cuidosamente lo que editan. coherencia, mimo y minimalismo. evasión de qualité que, en un mundo menos feo y con más gusto que éste, les llevaría a agotar todas las copias en un segundo. primero jccg y ahora estos tres tesoros. pero Terlu es un mundo aparte. no, qué digo, Uton y Wave Temples también son un mundo aparte. algo que podría llamarse weird lounge si eso existe y es posible. es música ratonil y tropical que desprende esa sensación de libertad creativa absolutamente amateur que también tienen cetacean nation cassettes, pacific city, taped sounds,... incansables buscadores de lo exótico y lo diminuto, de los sonidos que son texturas y que lo colorean todo, del máximo impacto con el mínimo impacto. 

Wave Temples ya me había enamorado con 'breathing under water in three movements', cuyas dos canciones forman parte de 'in the shade of the island' (escuchad con atención lo que ocurre ~o no ocurre~ aquí a partir del minuto 2:42....:') y con su anterior cinta en Rainbow Pyramid (todo está unido). y vuelve a hacerlo con esta preciosidad para lo que no puedo decir mucho que no haya dicho antes. composiciones somnolientas y deslabazadas... apuntes, sueños, ráfagas, esbozos, retazos. todo flota, todo es abstracto e intangible, cada nota parece suspendida en el aire, ingrávida, acogedora y siempre, cuando se acaba, sientes que necesitas más.


'noyo harbor' (un puerto rodeado de árboles y colinas) es la belleza dividida en dos partes de apenas diez minutos cada una. dos canciones recogidas y llenas de pequeñas sorpresas. la primera se sostiene sobre un trémulo piano rescatado de 1880. una suite ambiental destartalada y evocadora que suena a gloria, de un contenido lírico y romántico inusitado que te atrapa a poco que dejes el resto de cosas de lado y te entregues. y la segunda es un pequeño mandala de lánguidas notas de sintetizador con ecos del omnipresente Spencer Clark. música que fluye, que hace cosquillas, infradiminuta, sutil, delicada, dulcísima. Terlu es ya otra debilidad.




 "Uton arrived into our earthly presence in 2001. It happened in Tampere, Finland. Since that it's been transporting mysterious and cosmic visions to our life. Uton is reality, and the reality is Uton."

cada día más firme la convicción de que Jani Hirvonen es un alien. nuestro alien favorito. él sí que no da a basto con tantas cintas, cd-rs y vinilos editados. imposible abarcarlo todo. y seguro que cientos de canciones inéditas que almacena en su habitación. mi fascinación, casi diez años más tarde, se mantiene intacta. y así seguirá si vuelve a regalarnos tonadillas primitivas y encantadoras como 'kyrpos' o 'kest', que es Uton al cien por cien: surrealismo mágico susurrado con irresistible toque finés y cierto aroma a los delirios electrónicos de Delia Derbyshire, Raymond Scott y Daphne Oram. casi al mismo tiempo que salía su anterior cinta en makrame, de repente otras treinta canciones maravillosas e indefinibles que duran un suspiro (ninguna llega a los dos minutos), treinta sonidos del más allá o de la tierra y sus ancestros, en donde puedes oir desde radios mal sintonizadas hasta la trompeta de Rene Kita, kalimbas, flautas, pajaritos, melodías sublime frequencies, acoples, retransmisiones desde otros planetas...en su mundo, rústico y reciclado, todo puede ocurrir.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

uton

 uton ~ say hello to the butterflies 3'' (makrame, 2013)

"deep sounds recorded under the sea... hearing this you can reach the depth of the ocean"

"Uton is the one-man project of Jani Hirvonen, hailing from Tampere, Finland. Hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the Finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Paavoharju and Lau Nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases.


the music of Uton is drawing inspirations from psychedelia to free jazz to pure ecstatic drones and noises using a wide range of acoustic instruments from various parts of the globe and a bulk of electronics. recorded in glorious lo-fi the mystery of Hirvonen's sound is difficult to pinpoint; sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze ~ gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust." fma

un puñado de misteriosas mini sinfonías marinas y frecuencias alienígenas muy Louis & Bebe Barron. Jani Hirvonen, tantos años ofreciendo discos preciosos...


listen ~ buy

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

tulasi


"exotic cocktail party; appetizer salad. moving magnetic tape. ether weaving sound tapestries. belly-dancers who disappear at the blink of an eye. bulgur with a snake of paradise wriggling in it. the rhythm of movement and breathing. 19th century orientalism in the 21st century Finland. an eye emerging from a beautiful hand. on top of the buffet enjoyed a day standing, but very extracted coffee." 

"perfectly described as Kutomo and Kulkija make music with Alice in Wonderland. rhythm carries everything slimey and bazaars gets on fire. sometimes pure madness, sometimes calm as sleeping corn field. not the duality, diversity. this flower pot carries every seed in new Noah's ark."

music & sounds by Tulasi: Ikävalko & Koho
recorded at Metsälä and Kallio, Helsinki, Finland in 2011-2012.
same tracks on both sides.


Saturday, March 02, 2013

uton


"Echoes in the Wonderland" is the first full-length LP by Finland's Jani Hirvonen since 2009's "Unexplained Objects" and is no less weird than his previous excursions from the outer regions of the cosmos to the minds' innerspace. something deliciously nocturnal and otherworldly. as the album title could say, this is a way to the "wonderland" which shouldn't be mixed with the adventure's of the famous Alice ~ though it might give some idea about what is going to happen, but that's just the start of it all ~ the start of nothing else but listener's mind. what are the "echoes" then? they are something which is coming from beyond to here where we stay ~ so the album is a link between these worlds; inside outside; like they are working together. psychedelic transmissions of conciousness.

It's been recorded in Bretagne, France, using old school four-track tape recorded for catching the sound from sources, like electric guitar, synths, percussions & vocals. sound is mostly improvised, multi-layered experimentations, made for headphone listening (other ways are possible too), letting go; eyes closed if possible. something relaxing, something a bit noisy & out of mind, something strange... something where a mind can wander in peace." dnt / uton

cuánto echábamos de menos a Jani Hirvonen, uno de nuestros finlandeses favoritos. su discografía es inmensa pero echoes in the wonderland, que llega justo en el momento adecuado, es para mí lo más bonito y asbtracto que ha hecho nunca con permiso de Grykë Pyje. puedo casi oirle diciendo que echoes in wonderland es un cuento para niños recién salido del catálogo acuático de Library Music. todas sus canciones despiertan el misterio de la infancia, la fascinación, abrir los ojos de par en par y ver dioses y espíritus surgiendo de la noche, monstruos marinos, medusas, calamares gigantes, corales, sirenas, un tren surcando el mar...emprender el viaje y disfrutar de esta alucinación sonora, epopeya experimental donde Jani invoca tradición folk y electrónica para transformarlas en una experiencia sensorial indescriptible. todo es perfecto, la portada pintada a mano por Jani, los títulos sugerentes y marinos, el ambiente, un tempo que nos desliza o nos suspende, hipnotizados por la exhuberancia de cada ruidito extraño (texturas, efectos, didjeridoos, percusiones, gongs, flautillas, el viento, los grillos, trinos alienígenas, burbujas, campanillas,...). como Lewis Carroll, Jani eleva el cuento infantil a la categoría de obra de arte, un verdadero artesano del sonido capaz de conjugar magia, maestría, humanidad, sueño y realidad e imaginación infinita.

Monday, October 08, 2012

asio otus


"equipped with improvised acoustic recordings ~ electronically processed, sliced, looped and mixed ~ the Asio Otus begins its flight with the first shades of twilight to look for UFOs in the finnish sky and detect alien lifeforms. but the owls are not what they seem and we highly suspect Taneli Lehto and Jaakko Padatsu to be the otherworldly creatures they pretend to find in outer space. the far out Sunburned-Sternenmädchen-Sounds are giving proof that the duo ~ if not of alien nature itself ~ must have been abducted at least once. anyway: the truth is out there and the music’s on tape for now!" sicsic

foto: cosestesse

"las películas que vemos son las que dictan casi siempre nuestra forma de asociar sonidos e imágenes. fuerzan nuestra interpretación a través de la simple repetición de las mismas situaciones. sabes que estás ante algo especial cuando es al revés, cuando, gracias a los sonidos que escuchas, creas nuevas imágenes y ves cosas que no existen. Sun Ra lo consiguieron con Atlantis, en 1967: de hecho podías ver ese Objeto Volador no Identificado acercándose al continente en los primeros minutos del disco. pero ¿y si te dijera que auténticos sonidos de Ovni no sólo fueron grabados, sino procesados electrónicamente, cortados en bucle y mezclados por Asio Otus, el dúo formado por Jaakko Padatsu and Taneli Lehto, los cuales todavía pasan sus fines de semana vagando por los bosques buscando un lago misterioso que habían descubierto hace quince años en Pudasjärvi, Finlandia? así es como encontraron esa caja de grabaciones acústicas improvisadas. más tarde volvieron para seguir investigando pero ya no había rastro de ese lago. nadie había oído hablar de él. y no aparece en los mapas.

sería absurdo intentar reducir su sonido a un único estilo. la segunda canción, 'an american indian humanoid announced the year’ (traducido del finés) transforma evocaciones místicas que recuerdan a Sunburned Hand of the Man en momentos de poderosa percusión tribal con sabor a kraut y viceversa. para de repente encontrarnos con extraños sonidos dub de profunda naturaleza ambient, seguidas de 'the humanoid from Mätäsoja ditch’, una canción que fácilmente podría pertenecer al maravilloso disco Taste Tribes de Harth, Irmler and Müller. otros momentos recuerdan a la banda sonora de The Thing de Ennio Morricone y a Cluster. visitarás lugares y estados de ánimo totalmente diferentes. y algunos de ellos todavía no existen." cookshop


para seguir indangando en esta bonita historia-leyenda sobre vida extraterrestre en los bosques de finlandia, podéis ver, leer y escuchar sendas (y divertidas) entrevistas a Asio Otus (se llaman así en honor a este búho de orejas largas) en foxy digitalis y was ist das?, ésta última grabada en vídeo al borde de la carretera, además del prólogo de la cinta para sicsic tapes que también es otro trocito de entrevista. tal y como documentan de forma detallada aquí, esta vez sí podríamos creer a pies juntillas que no se trata de una historia idílica inventada por asio otus y sicsic tapes, pero aunque lo fuera no me importaría. que a la vez sea un disco apasionante a la par que entrañable (Fonal meets Sunburned Hand of the Man meets The Twilight Zone meets Fringe) es ya lo de menos.

sold out ~ download ~ listen/buy

Friday, June 22, 2012

joonatan elokuu


"'Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun' was recorded and mixed in the Dutch countryside, and mastered at Maito Records. It's perhaps the most personal piece of music I've ever put down on tape. The songs were written while I was hospitalized because of a serious illness. During the ambulance ride I was given a heavy dose of morphine, and while drifting in and out of consciousness, I had a vision of an angel with a peacock's features. I also heard the sound of animals, birds and wings flapping all around, mixed with the drone of the engine (which morphed into a weird harmonic layer of sound) while the chatter of the paramedics faded slowly out. The first ten minutes of the album were definitely influenced by this experience. It's definitely not a happy album, but a very spiritual and personal one. I hope that the album could serve as a reminder of the beauty and fragility of our existence, and that there is a light at the end of even the darkest road. I recorded the music on a handheld recorder as I started my recovery from the operation. While I was really happy to be alive and well, I had to deal with thoughts of death and loss not only because of my own experience, but because my father was also seriously ill during this time.

I have started recording the new album, and it might take quite a while until it's ready for release. I want to record the album in a proper studio with plenty of time, because it will feature some of the best songs I've ever written. After 2012 we will disappear into Asia for a long time, and I hope I have the chance to record the album before this. It will be available as a CD on a different label, more info on this will be available in time. Meanwhile, there should be a compilation release coming out on Hear Records, let's hope they'll have this out at some point." joonatan

Monday, December 12, 2011

mi and l'au

"After exploring their creative impulses through strings, horns, pianos, and varied folk influences, Mi and L'au decided to venture into a newer, more electric environment on their newest record. If Beauty is a Crime doesn't feature a single guitar. In fact, you won't find a traditional instrument anywhere on it. But, along with Mira and Laurent's redefined approach, something familiar found its way into their music. While making the album, both musicians noticed the specter of familiar melodies and rhythms haunting their work; the inspiration wasn't from a specific song or melodic line, but from a mood or an idea buried somewhere in the past. As they investigated this anomalous influence, they uncovered a shared memory of films enjoyed during childhood, specifically those scored by French composer François de Roubaix, who was known for his use of synthesizers, drum machines and folk elements. The connection between his work and their current endeavor was obvious. Subsequently, Mi and L'au immersed themselves in his music even as they continued to produce their own. Whether by fate or by coincidence, de Roubaix's music found its way into their lives just as they were beginning to explore what electronic sounds could do for them. So, in the end, they dedicated If Beauty is a Crime to François."

vuelven después de muchos años, como jakob olausson, hope sandoval o songs of the green pheasant. lo mismo pero diferente

foto: miroslav tichý

Thursday, July 28, 2011

paavoharju

"...Ikkunat näkevät EP is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks with a first appetizer - its title track. Ikkunat näkevät belongs to their slower, more dreamy tracks, but still, more accessible in the way Laulu was. It features grieving, lamenting vocal with roots in Finland’s rural folklore. Its clear structure and slow build are nicely interconnected with Paavoharju’s usage of classical instruments - piano and violin - which make this more a classical folk ballad than band’s typical electro-acoustic experiment. Ikkunat näkevät is a nice introduction to Paavoharju’s calmer and more romantic soul." tomas slaninka

Sunday, July 10, 2011

hertta lussu ässä

"Kuupuu (Jonna Karanka), Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) and Islaja (Merja Kokkonen),  all together in one band - it's like the dreamiest Aquarius daydream come true! All three of these ladies have been responsible for some of the most mystical and beautiful recordings of the last few years, all of which have become permanent favorites with everyone here. Lau Nau, and Islaja's recent recordings have shown them moving toward a more direct approach in their songwriting, but this project really lets all of these ladies dig deep into their textured, experimental roots.
It's a bit like listening to a seance happening miles away. Distant and subtle rumblings, murmurs, and gently conjured spells. One of those records that you can't identify what instruments/electronics are being used, with many of the sound sources seeming to be drawn from nature. Hertta Lussu Ässä use their voices as another haunting instrument that glides in and out of these four long tracks. It has us thinking of the Jewelled Antler crew performing an Arvo Part piece, or Grouper and Hala Strana collaborating on the soundtrack to a pagan solstice ceremony. Completely breathtaking!" aquarius records

...y poco más puedo añadir a lo que nos cuenta aquarius. la emoción en estado puro. dicen que este nuevo disco de islaja, laura y jonna es como un sueño hecho realidad. jewelled antler interpretando una pieza de arvo part, o grouper y hala strana colaborando en la banda sonora de una ceremonia pagana. tan sólo añadiré que las risas, murmullos, susurros, palmas, flautas, maullidos y pianos, convierten a estas cuatro canciones nana en otro disco familiar y acogedor del que no quieres salir. y que jewelled antler y finlandia es lo mejor que le ha pasado a la música en los últimos diez años. alabados sean por siempre ^^

foto via jesse treece

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

tsembla

 tsembla ~ fauna (ikuisuus 2011)

"The Turku-based Marja Johansson aka Tsembla use traditional acoustic and electric instrumentation to create oddly affecting folk miniatures that combine the scrabbly forest-folk sound of Kuupuu, Lau Nau, with nostalgic keyboards and variously displaced sonics." volcanic tongue


"Decay and copulation rites flourish around a trash raft that fish take for a coral reef. The sun blinds your eyes, but you can see a figure there... And in the desert, wind, erosion and echoes work the surroundings of Poly Styrene’s ex-hang-out, an oasis filled with lively people and empty beer cans. Ornamental carpets and fresh water, too. There it is again! It’s Tsembla playing her modified samples, strings, reeds, percussion and the whole range of modern psych instruments to create fiestas with strong twists of pop music. Sounds old and new and like nothing you’ve ever heard before." n~m

 
"...this is perfect music for those staring at the sun" flow festival

fotos: sara gossett

Monday, March 28, 2011

joonatan elokuu

"The second album by Joonatan Elokuu reminds me even more of In Gowan Ring, singing minstrel-like songs in his own modest way, with a warm introspective expressive way of singing with two acoustic guitars and accordion, and with the addition of some second female voice (Helena Halla) here and there. Only after a few songs different arrangements occur, like some flute with echo on “Silk Road Sunrise”. Special to hear also is the “Born again with a hedgehog's heart” intro with a dialogue from a movie of someone seeking for birds/nature-like spiritual freedom. “Nancy” is expressed with more spoken word with warm ambient electric piano and synthesizer. More stretched in acoustic improvisation with harmonium, zither and sitar is “Like Christ and Osiris”. The last track concludes the album by adding whistling. Another good one from this new psych-folk artist. Released as a CDR in an envelope with some artwork". psychedelic-folk

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

rambling boys

"Keijo Virtanen, Jukka Nousiainen, Lauri Puttonen and Sami Virtanen join together to put a spin on the dust bowl ballads of Woody Guthrie. After two incredible lathe cuts, Rambling Boys finally throw down a full album of what were once simple road songs, now pulled apart at their roots and tossed into the basement to be jammed into something completely new and unstoppable. Heady rolling guitar licks, fuzzy harmonica wails and snapping drums drift in and out of each other, locking in perfectly only to split back into the mumbling open." cabin floor esoterica

ain't got no home, de los ilustrísimos rambling boys, ¡por fin! 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

keijo & jarmo

"We were not tired, but we were cold. We sat on a campfire and started to sing. There was someone at our home who had forgotten us. There was nothing left for us. Some black man sat by us. Or was it a woman? It opened its mouth and did not have any teeth. The song was cold, the song was warm. We were not afraid anymore." ikuisuus

"Finnish artists Keijo & Jarmo sing the most stripped down suicidal traditional blues and folk on Talkin Bout Death Past Gone. I really wonder what inspired this harmonica induced primitive Americana folk in Tampere." undomondo

Monday, June 07, 2010

keijo

"The Finnish free folk elder statesman Keijo Virtanen is back with another album in his vast discography. However, this work is titled "First Time". The album follows his recent output of his own very open approach to blues. But no W. Guthrie covers here, only Keijo's own pieces, with help from friends on two tracks. This is where free folk meets blues in the most beautiful and stunning way. Cardboard sleeve with photocopied collage pieces, hand-stamped cdrs. 100 copies." full of nothing

foto: vamitos

at night, at night, at night....

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

blue mongolians

"Spiritual cousins musical meeting: collection of songs recorded in Helsinki, mostly in Gallery Mutageeni basement and in local music-library's instrument-room - used the bass & electric piano of the place, along with their own stuff like guitar, effects, bells, flute and crazy voice. Spaced out hippy sounds, almost new age, almost music, almost folk, almost mantra, almost something else." ikuisuus

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

keijo

"Maailma syntyy ('The World is Born') derives from the Finnish cosmogonic myth. The way of singing here is Keijo's adaption of the tradition he had learnt in the mid 1990s in Jyväskylä from Ville Elonheimo (who, by turn, had learnt it from his grandmother). For many years Keijo and Ville performed material influenced by ancient poems, such as this tale of creation.

Yön hetkinä ('At The Moments of Night') is named after the moments when the fragments of it were born, at night one is open and able to hear, when it is possible to hear other ways and other things than the day. The soundscape of the piece is like the night, you swell and churn, and sometimes something solid may come up." luovaja

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

keijo & uton

"space ambient drones meets the blues, simple and out there" om ha sva ha ksha ma la va ra yam

"first duo collaboration of keijo & uton. here is seven songs of droney and spacey blues jams, sometimes far away in cosmos, sometimes rockin' the ground again"

armónicas, palos de lluvia, percusiones, pajarindos...no podemos pedir más, el encuentro perfecto y soñado

foto: eylowrance

Monday, February 01, 2010

keijo

"Keijo's songs draw from country-blues sources, as is often the case with his releases, there's a couple of Woody Guthrie interpretations included here. Harmonicas whine and woe, but also keep up the rhythm of keepin' on. In these songs, people get up early and travel in a land "that used to be your land." It's a place where luck comes and goes, just like the people that you meet. The girl knows how to hit you like rolling thunder, the workers are left unpaid (the boss ain't), the ones with no work are standing in the welfare line, your "true love" throws you a suitcase and shows you the door, there's working in the country and in the cities, an anonymous wanderer carries the blues wherever he goes...but it's bigger than just being down: you don't see me worrying, 'cos I've got nothing left to lose. That's why we all share the blues." ikuisuus

todas sus canciones podrían dar vida a un western mágico...don't remember me, don't remember me when i'm gone. y tanto que sí, larga a vida a keijo virtanen!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

aalto



"Aalto are a Finnish “ethnic folk” five piece, whose instrumental repertoire includes a doshpuluur, a didgeridoo, a sitar, a clarinet, and throat singing, as well as the more predictable percussion and guitar. This self-titled CDR consists firstly of five tracks recorded with this present day line-up, followed by four solo recordings by Sampo Salonen, recorded under the Aalto name before the present line-up had formed..." digitalis

abuela nieve, llévame a finlandia.



fotola: vamitos

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

kuupuu

"although finlander jonna karanka has been slowly leaking out little kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow it’s taken just that long to materialize her first ‘proper’ album. maybe it has something to do with the time she’s devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, included Hertta Lussu Assa (with Islaja and Lau Nau), Anaksimandros, Avarus, and many others… but, you know, i always figured kuupuu music didn’t have much to do with ‘time’ anyway. it’s music from another reality, to put it bluntly. a beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. you could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much… post-everything? pre-birth folk? bedtime acid-art? naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop…now play backwards in slow motion… surreal might just be an understatement… " time~lag

foto: roraadear

listen, the snow is falling...
 
(gracias toxinho)