7
Another solid member of the Around Your Neck family, home also to Johnny Superhero, Pestida feel like an uncovered relic from that box of albums you bought in the 1990s. Like Johnny Superhero's "Choices", "Surface parallel" feels like a beginning, akin to their 90s influences instead of synthesizing them into a 'redefined' sound. This recalls the beginning of the 'emo' and post-hardcore scenes, wonderfully oblivious to the years and years of music that has been released since Pavement's "Brighten the corners" or the efforts of bands like Mineral and Knapsack. This album is not for everyone: the vocal delivery could easily catch some ears as too quirky or off key, the songwriting's solidarity with the bands of the mid- to late-90s might seem outdated to some, but if these obstacles can be overcome, "Surface parallel" has much to offer. If you need more evidence, find the track "Another circle" and listen for yourself. It will make you miss those flannel shirts you donated to the Salvation Army and long for the nights you spent as a teenager staring up at your ceiling, listening to Sunny Day Real Estate, missing someone.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
8
Starting with Downstairs' "Oh father", I rounded off my week of new music with another Finnish act - Johnny Superhero - and successfully reverted back to the 19 year old I was in 2003. A strange, though very coherent mix of the early indie rock sounds of Failure, Mineral, Archers of Loaf, and, to a lesser extent, Pavement, "Choices" could easily have come out anytime between 1995 and the early 2000s, though this 'dated' element only adds to the album's charm. Instead of being enjoyed from a somewhat detached, archaeological standpoint, Johnny Superhero make their recreation of the early steps of indie engaging and unique. "Time" could almost pass as a Bear Quartet song, breaking at its midpoint in a distinctly similar way to how "Parking lot" ruptures in being at the end of Mineral's "The power of failing". "Schiphol" continues along in a similar vein, though also harkens back to Last Days of April's early, slower recordings. If you remember this transitional stage of music, the shift from grunge to art-rock and the avant-garde, from hardcore and punk rock towards music that is far more comparable to the efforts of today's scene, then "Choices" is worth more than just a few minutes' examination.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Via One Chord to Another comes word that Finnish indierockers Johnny Superhero have their entire recent album "Finally nowhere" available for download: http://www.johnnysuperhero.net/
Lots of other interesting Finnish indiepop tips at One Chord, so check the above link for more.
Pestida
Johnny Superhero
