The very fun finnish act Pintandwefall is heading to Germany in September:
09/08 - Grüner Jäger (Band of the week Party), Hamburg
09/09 - tba, Berlin
09/10 - Gladhaus, Cottbus
09/11 - Schwankhalle (Sitzdisko), Bremen
09/13 - Ampere Cafe, München
09/14 - Cafe Glocksee (Ruby Tuesday), Hannover
09/15 - Moritzbastei, Leipzig
09/16 - Keller Klub, Stuttgart
09/17 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt
has confirmed two new releases on the horizon -- first up is The Man-Eating Tree, the new band from ex-Sentenced drummer Vesa Ranta, who will be releasing their debut full-length "Vine" in September. Samples here. Second is a split between finnish extreme metal acts Sotajumala and Deathchain which will feature one new song plus one Iron Maiden cover each, with Deathchain taking on "Purgatory" and Sotajumala covering "The prowler" with guest vocals from OG singer Paul Di'anno. That release will be available on April 28.
finnish act Radiopuhelimet have a new video: https://vimeo.com/10789793
finnish indiepoppers Cats on Fire have lined up a few international dates:
05/29 - HungryBeat, Los Angeles, CA
05/30 - Rickshaw Shop (San Fransisco Popfest), San Fransisco, CA
06/12 - Songs for Children, Hong Kong, China
Stalker Music interviews finnish punkrockers I Walk the Line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDEETAXyjFc (in finnish w/English subtitles)
finnish synthpop act Viola are celebrating the 1st anniversary of their free singles club with something completely different: https://www.violamusicclub.com/2010-04-chaos-shall-reign
will be releasing the new album "Lifelines" from finnish punk/hardcore act Presley Bastards (ex-Endstand) either late this month or in early May. Read all about it: https://cobrarecords.fi/?n=15
finnish music site on the clever marketing schemes of Wedding Crashers: https://www.glue.fi/2010/03/30/wedding-crashers-electric-butt/
Despite the embarassing title, I actually do think it's an okay track.
finnish act Villa Nah will be releasing a 7" via 's famed singles club featuring the track "Running on" b/w "Ways to be". Official release date is May 3, listen to the flipside at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/villanah
The duo's new full-length album "Origin" comes out on May 17 via /
RubikCritics are apt to hear "Dada bandits" opener "Goji berries" and label Rubik as frenzied pop auteurs, a sort of Scandinavian Animal Collective. And "Goji berries" does go from screamo-addled Beatles to punchy-drunk keys punctuated by Sufjan flutes, to a Dan Bejar saloon romp that segues into a typically eastern Beirut horn jam. While "Goji"'s schizoid scheme is certainly noteworthy -- it seamlessly switches gears and genres while never betraying its Nordic pop sensibility -- it's hardly metonymical of the album at large. Yes, Rubik's "Bandits" lifts considerably from all of the best in blog-ready sounds, but they do so with the canvases of entire songs. What results is not, strangely, a sugar-coated Scando take on guitar indie, but a rolodex of an album with a virtuoso aesthetic. Rarely is a musical contact called upon twice, and even after repeated listens, you're left reeling at the incredible scope of an album that's stacked like the Yankees.
"Goji berries" phantom-tempo midsection precedes the Canadian guitar battalion of "Radiants", "Wasteland" borrows Idioteque percussion before settling for an anthemic power pop chorus. "Fire Age" and "Richard Branson's crash landing" are album highlights, the former plotting Stars' vocals around a ska-synth breakdown, the latter a glimpse of Scandinavian twee perfection. Its swirling synths wash beneath upbeat melodies and falsetto-and-horns chorus to convince you that this is what Loney Dear's "Dear John" should have been. Rubik reloads and refires, each song an impressive foray into new sonic territory, strung together by catchy hooks and wiry guitars, underpinned by the astonishing depth of the arrangements. It's only on the fifth or six listen that you even hear the complex synth arpeggios buried under "Karhu junassa", or the jaunty riffs beneath "Fire age".
There's little bad to be said about this album. The mix occasionally favors layered instrumentation over Artturi Taira's vocals -- much of the album finds Taira swimming in his own arrangements. While that's likely a tactic to secure more finnish listeners in their native country, it obscures the beauty of Taira's lyrics. His voice can adequately be characterized as "British Effeminate" indicative of all of those post-Radiohead mope-and-hope rockers that plagued the aughts in Western Europe. But Taira's falsetto exchanges their currency of faux-pathos for a well-placed sense of urgency, his yelps best on "Karhu junassa" and "Radiants" when buttressed by instrumental imitation.
So where is this album? It's tailored for the blogs in almost every way, it has registered heaps of e-praise, yet Rubik has no plans to return to North . Maybe this album will be saved from obscurity by a forward-thinking movie director or cell-phone marketing exec, and maybe it won't. I might just like it better if it remains a diamond in the rough -- quietly pretending to 2010's indie throne.
- Nathan Keegan
have picked up finnish hardcore/indie act Disco Ensemble for their roster.
is expanding their finnish punk + hardcore vinyl reissue business and will be releasing two old LPs from a pair of the label's more recent acts: Endstand - "Never fall into silence (, 2002) and Manifesto Jukebox - "Desire" (, 2000). No exact release date yet, but they should both be available in May.
finnish indie act Cats on Fire will be releasing the new odds'n'ends collection "Dealing in antiques" on May 12 via , compiling together much of the band's old EP and single material along with two new tracks including recent download-only single "The Hague" and a cover of "Your woman" by White Town.
Watch Moto Boy perform a couple songs in a Helsinki parking garage: https://vimeo.com/10287852
I tend to prefer the live versions of his songs, so this is definitely worth checking out as far as I'm concerned.
has announced that the next two 7"s in their classic finnish punk reissue series will be Eppu Normaali's "Jee jee jee" and Briard's "Fuck the army". As always, keep an eye out for when they go up for sale because they'll probably go fast. In other label news, hardcore act Deathbed will be releasing their new album in May and samples should be posted soon. I've heard some of the demos (somewhat illicitly, I must admit) and am pretty excited to hear the final result.