August 07, 2004
Fu-Tourist: The Universe Is For Us
CD, Sony Music Entertainment Finland 2002
Track list: Amaze - You Come Alive (Take Control) - Remedy - Night Ride - Ordinary - You Could Be Mine - Big Trouble - The Universe Is For Us - Out of Your Head - New World Stranger - Getting to Know You - King Kong of the Dancefloor
I bought this cd for only 20 cents. That was a no-brainer, King Kong of the Dancefloor is already enough reason to buy this album for such a low price. Unfortunately there isn't much more. Fu-Tourist's style is very French, it reminds me of Air or Daft Punk. Vocoder is a cool effect, but overused like nothing else. There's some of that, hypnotic beats and some 80's sound. All in all, it's a pleasant enough but doesn't really impress. **
January 28, 2003
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult: 13 Above the Night
CD, Interscope 1993
Track list: The Velvet Edge - Delicate Terror - Badlife - Dirty Little Secrets - China de Sade - Dimentia 66 - Final Blindness - Blue Buddha - Starmartyr - Electrical Soul Wish - 13 Above the Night - Disko Fleshpot - Savage Sexteen
13 Above the Night is a curious mix of industrial dance beats, distorted lyrics about various more or less pleasant activities, samples from various ungodly sources, all wrapped up in one big psychedelic groove jet. This is excellent party music for alternative uses. Groovy, yet dark and strange. Definitely recommended to goth dj's and like. 13 Above the Night is less useful for home use, but surely has it's fans. Who could resists music so satanically groovy? ***
January 22, 2003
Electric Hellfire Club: Unholy Roller
CD, Cleopatra 1998
Track list: Unholy Roller, He Who Holds the Lightning Rod (Ranchero ReMix), Prince of Darkness (Black Version), Hellfire (Cytophuk ReMix), Prince of Darkness (Mutated Mix), The Root of All Evil (Bring Me the Head of Bob Larsen), Prince of Darkness (Laughing All the Way ReMix), Shout at the Devil, Prince of Darkness (Darkest Version), Book of Lies (Ether-eal Mix)
Unholy Roller is mostly a remix album from the happy gang of camp satanists. Prince of Darkness gets many treatments, some of which are actually quite nice. Unholy Roller is a nice anthem track and Shout at the Devil an excellent cover song. It's not the best starting point (I'd suggest Burn, Baby, Burn) and I wouldn't pay much for it; I bought mine used. ***
Six Months Later:
Yeah, three stars is pretty good. Few good tracks, but rest of it is pretty hum-drum. Also, the multiple versions of Prince of Darkness means it's pretty boring to listen through. Rip the tracks as MP3's and use that way. ***
August 04, 2002
Verde: Karhun epäillään paskantaneen golfkentälle
CD, self published 2002
Track list: Valkoisella mersulla lyömään golfpalloja joutsenia kohti - Golfpelaajan harjoituskenttänä oli lintulahti - Karhun epäillään paskantaneen golfkentälle - Haamukalja - Talouskasvu - Metsässä näkemäsi eläimet ilmoita poliisille - Hakkuuaukko n:o 2 - Osta lisää - Kasvukeskus - Käsi nousee jo - Ohi kelistä välittämättä
Verde paints aural pictures. The curious and intriguing track titles feed the imagination and the music does the rest. Most of the songs are instrumental soundscapes, only "Käsi nousee jo" has "lyrics": a young girl is featured as a sports commentator. In a slightly silly way, indeed. So, watch out - you might be puzzled by this one. ****
June 13, 2002
Merzbow: 1930
CD, Tzadik 1998
Track list: Intro - 1930 - Munchen - Degradation of Tapes - Iron, Glass, Blocks & White Lights
Merzbow is the very intense music - if you can call it music. Ask any Joe Average, and the answer you get is no. Merzbow crafts sound, creating terrifying atmospheres and emotionally heavy soundscapes. There's more to it than just random noise. The key to enjoying 1930 is to listen to it loud enough - it's probably best to do with headphones, unless you live far enough from other people or don't mind getting evicted. 1930 is not an album you would like to listen to twice in a row, but every now and then, it works wonders. ****
Six Months Later:
I think I have listened to 1930 exactly once. I guess I should refresh my memories one of these days... But still, I feel some sort of shock and awe - it's a bit scary, and definitely impressive. ****
Laibach: Kapital
CD, Mute 1992
Track list: Decade Null - Everlasting in Union - Illumination - Le Privilege des Morts - Codex Durex - Hymn to the Black Sun - Young Europa Pts 1-10 - The Hunter's Funeral Procession (From the "Wunderhorn" trilogy) - White Law - Wirtschaft ist tot - Torso - Entartete Welt (The Discovery of the North Pole) - Kinderreich - Sponsored by Mars - Regime of the Coincidence, State
Kapital features Laibach gone techno. This very long album is full of Laibachian grandeur and over-the-top dramatics. And that, my friends, is good and well. In the end, the tracks sort of blend into one big mass of similar beats and vocals, with few notable differences - "Hymn to the Black Sun" being the most explicit one. Gods, the song features a guest star rapper as a vocalist! That's something I didn't expect, but it works out well. Other key tracks include "Wirtschaft ist tot", "Le Privilege des Morts" and "Sponsored by Mars". ****
Six Months Later:
Kapital is indeed one of the stranger Laibach albums. I really had trouble with it the first time I heard it, but I've since grown to like it better. It's not something I'd recommend to people new to Laibach, but for those who know the band already, it's worth checking out. ****
June 07, 2002
Panasonic: Kulma
CD, Blast First! 1996
Track list: Teurastamo - Luotain - Vapina - Puhdistus - Jakso - Murto neste - Kylmä massa - Hahmo - Aines - -25 - Säätö - Kurnutus - Rutina - Moottori
Kulma is a challenging album. The whirr and click of machinery presents a problem to the listener. How to react? I react with enthusiasm. However, I'm not as enthusiastic about Kulma than A or Aaltopiiri - they are definitely better albums than this one. Why? I'm not sure, but I'd say it's because they are even more minimalistic than this, the essential is even more concentrated. Don't know for sure, but that's how I feel. Still, Kulma is a challenging alternative to the boring realm of catchy pop music. ****
Six Months Later:
I agree. The bleeps and clicks are cool, but A and Aaltopiiri are a lot cooler. Therefore "only" four stars: ****
May 27, 2002
Avanto 2001
CD, Avanto Recordings 2001
Track list: Kari Aronpuro: Urkertomus ("Kammottava vale") - Fennesz: Tradition Is the Handing on of Fire and not the Worship of Ashes - Alexei Borisov: Total NII - Es: Experimental Songcycles #1-5 - [The User]: LPT1 - ZGA: Miners - Toshimaru Nakamura: nimb #9.2 - Ruins: Untitled - Bas van Koolwijk: TST.04 - Jari Haanperä: Indoor Light - Comae: Portadyne - Shogun Kunitoki: 5.36 - Pekka Airaksinen: Epistemological Word Error - Sachiko M: div 1 - farmersmanual: Sonderzeichenmassaker - Circle: Sarvet - Otomo Yoshihide: FF - Op:l Bastards: Copenhagen - Semiconductor: LinEar - Keuhkot: Käynnistys on suuri hetki - Kari Aronpuro: Timokratian jänis
Listening to this CD makes me regret a lot that I didn't go to Helsinki to hear all these amazing acts live. Fortunately Circle and Ruins visited Tampere, too, so I didn't miss all the fun. Ruins definitely was fun, but that doesn't come through on this album as clearly. However, many other strange and confusing things are here to puzzle the listener. Tracks vary a lot, only common thing being their somewhat experimental nature. Most are also quite electronic. Some of my favourites include [The User], Sachiko M and Circle. This compilation probably doesn't compare at all with the real experience, but is a very interesting and quite challenging album on it's own. ****
Six Months Later:
Even though the single tracks are good, Avanto compilation was a bit of momentary interest for me. I'd rather listen to something that is a bit more coherent. ***
May 17, 2002
Pan Sonic: A
CD, Blast First! 1999
Track list: Maa - Pala - Lomittain - Joskus - Askel - Ahdin - A-kemia - Johto 1 - Havainto - Etäisyys - Aleneva - Aktiivi - Rajatila - Johto 2 - Telakoe - Särmäys - Voima
The very reason why I give A the best grade is this: the album has everything necessary and nothing else. For some reason, I enjoy Pan sonic's buzzing and clicking minimalism very much. It takes a little more than a single click to make an interesting track and the magicians Vainio/Väisänen are very skillful to figure out what that little is. Grab a good pair of headphones, crank up the volume and concentrate. *****
Six Months Later:
It's still closer to perfection of electronic minimalism than anything else I've ever heard. *****