MOJO DECEMBER 2013 REVIEWS – LEE RANALDO AND THE DUST LAST NIGHT ON EARTH

New York.

NORWAY’S FOLK MUSIC FROM THE OUTSIDE

A piece written to offer a perspective on Norway, its own music and the path taken to get to where it is now: Norway’s Folk Music From the Outside

A few of the things touched on.

MONEY - MOJO RISING INTERVIEW AND THE SHADOW OF HEAVEN REVIEW

Wrote this on Money, and reviewed The Shadow Of Heaven album too.

REVIEW – ICELAND AIRWAVES 2013, REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND

Review here: The Arts Desk Iceland Airwaves 2013

Some more pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

MUSTA PARAATI – PEILITALOSSA IN RUMBA MAGAZINE

Finland’s RUMBA magazine has just celebrated its 30th anniversary (the issue dated 0.9.2103-18.10.2103) and I was asked to write for it – a privilege. The piece was on Musta Paraati’s Peilitalossa, an album I’d never heard beforehand. They were RUMBA's first cover stars.

This was written after receiving the Svart Records reissue, but I didn’t read its liner notes so as to have a completely fresh impression. After much brow furrowing, Joy Division didn't bubble up from the mix.

Below is the piece in Finnish as it appeared and below that, for non-Finnish speakers, the English version. 

Coming to Musta Paraati’s Peilitalossa cold is a daunting experience. Here are four young men gathered on the sleeve amongst the columns of what appears to be a cathedral. Only one of them is looking at the camera and he’s doing that sideways. On the back, they seem to be in the process of leaving somewhere. It’s an album declaring “don’t look me in the eye, don’t work out what I’m about.” Whatever Musta Paraati may have been saying back then, 30 years later I’ve been asked to react to encountering the cover stars of Rumba’s first issue for the first time.

Outside Finland in 1983, Musta Paraati meant nothing. In its Christmas 1983 issue, achingly trend-conscious British music weekly New Musical Express revealed its top album for the year: Elvis Costello’s Punch the Clock. Michael Jackson’s Thriller was at five. The Top Ten also included Tom Waits’s Swordfishtrombones, Billy Bragg’s Life a Riot With Spy vs. Spy, Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers, King Sunny Ade’s Synchro System. Echo & the Bunnnymen's Porcupine – possibly on Musta Paraati’s wavelength – was a lowly 32. The NME’s competitor Melody Maker picked Eurythmics’s Touch as its top for the year, with Big County’s The Crossing at two. Our musical bibles weren’t thinking about Finland.

In their reader’s poll of 1983, published in the fourth issue, Musta Paraati were Rumba’s second best band – between Hanoi Rocks and Eppu Normaali. Peilitalossa was the top Finnish album. Inside the first issue, interviews with Lords of the New Church and Grandmaster Flash were complemented by features on Sticky Fingers, Van Hurskas and the still-extant Yö. Finland had music to celebrate and wasn’t totally off the map: New Order played Helsinki with fellow Factory Records’s band Section 25 in September 1981. It was the first time “Temptation” was aired live.

Nowadays, Finnish post-punk is less familiar than punk, largely due to the incredible Punk Ja Yak! box set. Eppu Normaali and Ratsia are – relatively – well known outside Finland. And Ratsia’s fantastic 1982 album Jäljet is – for me, so far – Finnish post-punk’s peak moment. Spending time with Peilitalossa was going to be an education.

Musically, Peilitalossa’s roots are explicit. The bass guitar and rolling drums opening “Ennustus” are reminiscent of Killing Joke, as is a lot of the album’s forward-motion chug. Bizarrely, the Killing Joke song most coming to mind in relation to “Ennustus” is “Eighties” , the future basis of Nirvana’s “Come as You Are”. Bizarre as “Eighties” was issued in 1984, a year after Peilitalossa.

The other British band bubbling up are tribal punks Southern Death Cult. Musta Paraati’s “Veitsen Terällä” could easily be reconfigured as the sort of anthem The Cult – who evolved from Southern Death Cult – later doled out. To a lesser extent, New Model Army and The Sisters of Mercy are in there too, both of whom first attracted attention in Britain in 1982. There is nothing American about Peilitalossa, which clearly draws from a deep knowledge and enthusiasm for the UK’s alternative scene.

But Peilitalossa is not British and does not sound British. This is about more than language, which obviously informs the rhythmic bed. Although Musta Paraati would have had no problem taking Britain’s stages in 1983, their songs are structured idiosyncratically: choruses and verses are split from each other by short segments diving off elsewhere. Some of this is to accommodate texture from synth and the odd snatch of drum machine, but it’s a sensibility unique to the band.

Whether Musta Paraati considered it or not, the most striking thing about them is that they would have brought something fresh to Britain in 1983 and found an audience. What they were singing about would not have mattered. Our loss, Finland’s gain. Naturally, the NME would have hated them.

MOJO NOVEMBER 2013 REVIEWS – AGNES OBEL AVENTINE, FRANKIE ROSE HEREIN WILD

Denmark and Brooklyn.

REGINA – A FEW QUESTIONS FOR FINLAND’S SUBTLE EMISSARIES OF EMOTION

As a Finnish band choosing to sing in Finnish, Regina might initially appear to have put limits on their appeal. As is always true though, language is no barrier. And, helpfully, their Mikko Pykäri was willing to answer a few questions.

It’s the right time to check in on Regina as, with Sami Suova, Mikko is one half of the terrific Shine 2009 who, a couple of months ago, signed with Modular. The duo have also recorded as Cup. This leaves Regina on hold, but not actually defunct.

Regina’s music, Iisa Pykäri's vocals and the atmosphere of longing generated is enfolding and seductive. Melodies are yearning, almost hymnal. That they do this by merging the organic with the electronic makes them all the more special. For evidence: the wonderful "Unessa" (below).

In addition to Iisa and Mikko Pykäri, Regina’s remaining third is drummer Mikko Rissanen, who joined after their first album. To date, there are four Regina albums: Katso Maisemaa (2005); Oi Miten Suuria Voimia (2007); Puutarhatrilogia (2009); Soita Mulle (2011). They chart an increasing confidence: an assuredness climaxing on the classic – classic if it were from anywhere – Soita Mulle, where a folk-like melodic sensibility intertwines with the lightest of nods towards Technique New Order. A beautiful, emotive and subtle sound.

It seems absurd that a band who have charted in Finland have such a low profile outside their own country. The US label Friendly Fire did work with them, but that appears to have not caught light.

Mikko Pykäri says he's currently “waiting for the Shine 2009 album release later this year, and also finishing Iisa's solo album which I'm producing. Regina is slowly starting to write a new album but it's going to take a while.”

Whether Regina’s music is geography specific – could it have been created anywhere else? – is a question Mikko (quite reasonably) dodges. “It's difficult to say and to be honest I don't care if we sound Finnish or something else,” he says. “ Finland as a country has a certain meaning for us, sure, but that's nothing to do with the message we are delivering. For us being Finns [singing in Finnish] is not unusual. Iisa is careful about the lyrics and feels she can be more exact when writing in her native language. I think we've always been what we are. It's more interesting to think only about the direction you want to go and to not care about others.” Iisa Pykäri is also currently writing lyrics for HMC Music Publishing.

On the development of their sound, Mikko explains “We've tried to simplify our music and to concentrate on the key elements and leave everything else out.”

Shine 2009’s progress and the release of Iisa Pykäri’s solo album might mean Regina become overshadowed. Let’s hope not.

Also only on Kieron Tyler worlds of music:

• Eplemøya Songlag - Möya Og Myten: Interview With Norway’s Musical Story Tellers
• Fonal Records / Shogun Kunitoki
• Grísalappalísa– Iceland’s Instant Wonder Band 
• Helmi Levyt - Finland’s Voice Of Love And Madness
• Hubro Records – A Welcome To Norway’s Bold: Interview With Andreas Meland
• Frida Hyvönen - To The Soul, And What Came Before
• Imandra Lake: Seesamseesam
• Joensuu 1685 And Brad Laner On Splendour Records
• Kiki Pau – Interview: Through Finland’s Psychedelic VortexTo The Pines 
• Mari Kalkun
• Mr Peter Hayden And Born A Trip – Interview With Finland’s Guiding Light On The Horizon 
• Anna von Hausswolff – Ceremony And Singing From The Grave With Sweden’s Mischief-Maker
• Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi – Not For Finland Only? 
• Motorama – Interview With The Sound Of Young Russia
• Papir - III: Interview With Denmark’s Non-Hierarchical Instrumentalists
• Röövel Ööbik: Young Godz Have Fun
• Seksound – Estonia’s Enigmatic Label And Tartu Popi Ja Roki Instituut
• Jessica Sligter – Interview: From Fear And The Framing To The Ultimate Embodiment Of Human Communication
• Susanne Sundfør: A Night At Salle Pleyel
• Susanne Sundfør: Spot Festival 2010 And The Brothel
• Susanne Sundfør: The Silicone Veil