Yona - Pilvet liikkuu, minä en

Here’s an interesting new artist from Finland presenting a surprising mixture of influences blended with a beautiful voice almost comparable to the wonderful Johanna Iivanainen. What’s more, they have the same first name. In the cover above, Yona (Johanna Louhivuori) is standing in misty water like a spirit of the forest. In the back cover she’s standing in an empty container terminal wearing urban clothes. Inside the booklet she even does a breakdance move. These covers are actually very descriptive for this record that mixes jazz, iskelmä and hip-hop seamlessly. Even though the first two are most obvious on the record and fit well Yona’s voice, for me the highlights of the album are “Pilvet liikkuu, minä en”, “Kevätfiilis” and “Vedenpaisumus” all of which combine elements of all three music styles and also show Yona’s skills as a lyricist. Like the music, the lyrics combine elements of traditional Finnish poetic song-writing and rhythmic and rhyming writing of hip-hop artists. Not all songs on the record are as capturing as these, but this album feels like a new approach and makes me enjoy some musical element I have despised before. Pilvet liikkuu, minä en is also a must listen album next midsummer.

Yona @ Myspace

Music for the mind

I just listened a new track by one of last year’s most interesting newcomers, jj. The song is called “Let go” and it will be on their forthcoming second album jj no 3. It’s available for free download on Secretly Canadian’s web site. “Let go” starts with a haunting harmonica, and along with some sounds of soft waves comes jj’s distinctive airy sound. This very short song takes the listener to a world similar to the one heard on their debut album. One can imagine sitting on a beach in August enjoying the little warmth trapped in the sand while the winds from the sea already force you to grab a blanket around you.

Listening to these three minutes on repeat and feeling that August wind in you makes it even more strange to think that this is the same duo I saw live two weeks ago. They were then visiting a club in Helsinki on a Thursday evening. It really wasn’t the best time for me to go to see any gig, but I had to find out what this mysterious duo was really about. I already thought I’m going to miss most of their gig having to leave early, when electronic beats changed to a classical orchestral piece and people started to gather around the small stage. After that came some hip-hop samples, and a shy girl with a huge hairdo sat alone behind a mic. My hopes were still up when the familiar rhythms from jj no. 2 filled the room while wide sceneries where displayed on the screen behind the beautiful voiced singer. Very soon, though, it started to seem more like a farce. Everything came from the tape, a short song after each other. The singer smiled shyly and looked away most of the time. A few times she chose the wrong moment to drink her beer and one could hear some vocals coming from the tape as well. And what’s more, after 20 minutes it was all over. The tape was over and she climbed down.

Although I was disappointed, I realized that jj’s sound would be impossible to recreate live with a large band. That dreamy sound doesn’t really ask for anyone to present it live at all. For me, this sort of music deserves to be listened with an open mind that creates its own imagery. Therefore, after the show I chose jj no. 2 from my mp3 player, and suddenly I was flying above savanna in the heat of the African sun. The next moment I was diving among colorful fish and finally sitting on a beach at midnight watching a bon fire and the people dancing around it.

There are bands that drive us into crazy euphoria along with the ten thousand other people in the crowd. And on the other hand, there are albums that take us to places on earth, and beyond, where we’d never get to go otherwise.

Listing music

I’ve always loved lists of music. As a child I used to record songs from the Finnish weekly top 40 chart to a c-cassette and loved to watch TV shows listing best music videos. Nowadays I avoid looking at the best-selling charts but instead wait eagerly for year-end lists – and lately decade-end lists – by music magazines and web sites. There’s always excitement in the air while going down the numbers, finding many of your own favorites and speculating the number one.

On the other hand, I can’t help but to think about the insanity of placing albums in a numerical order, especially when some albums have been given a whole year time to affect you while others are brand new. The effect of different release dates is the more relevant the longer the time span observed. So in addition to the problem of making lists of twenty or even hundred albums out of all the albums heard during a time span of ten years people making lists of a decade’s music have the impossible task of comparing albums like Is This It and Kid A, which have had time to effect the musical world, to albums like Merriweather Post Pavilion or the XX, which still seem quite fresh and whose effects on future releases are yet to be seen.

The consideration of the effects a music release has on other music leads us to another problem in making lists: the criteria on which to compare albums. The listings I’ve been talking about, as well as traditional album reviews, tend to emphasize on originality or uniqueness of the sound and the effects on the musical world that the music or the phenomenon around it have caused. This is natural for music media since these are two of the most objective criteria for judging music. However, when a listing is made by a single person, who represents only his or her own opinions, there are no obligations to be objective. Instead, a personal list of albums is a list of albums important and meaningful for an individual. The albums can be pieces of a person’s history with strong memories involved or just great sounding albums which you feel you never want to stop listening to.

Whether a list of music is made according to the music’s cultural effects, memories connected to the music or just by thinking what feels right at the moment doesn’t really matter. As I see it, the task of a list is to allow us to organize the music, as well as knowledge, memories and feelings connected to it, in our minds. For an active music listener, especially in today’s world where all music is a few clicks away, there is an enormous amount of information to deal with. Making lists is one way to keep it all together and bring forward the more important things while leaving behind less relevant ones. In year-end or decade-end lists this listing is combined with the units of time used in our culture. This allows us to group all that musical information in our heads in a hierarchy and network of overlapping categories and subcategories. We use this network as a map when travelling on our own world of music and when we explore areas of the musical world previously unknown to us.

Firekites - The Bowery

Today I was checking 3VOOR12 Luisterpaal for records they had for free streaming. I noticed one album, called The Bowery by Firekites, was tagged "kings of convenience" and I wondered if there was yet another side project to this great Norwegian duo. I found the album from Spotify, pressed play and was instantly taken away by the music.

The Bowery is 38 minutes of gentle, warm guitars, simple percussions, beautiful violin, some additional instruments and two soft voices, one male, one female. Percussions consist of snaps, claps and a few carefully played drums. All instruments sound great together and the guitars create a very solid atmosphere. And it's not just the atmosphere but the songs are capturing as well.

Turns out Firekites are from Australia and they don't seem to have anything to do with Kings of Convenience. They just represent the same acoustic, soft and harmonic sound based on guitar and singing as KoC does. The Bowery, released 2009, is their only album so far.

It's extremely rewarding to find albums like The Bowery that feel so perfect right from the first notes. I don't know if this record will start to sound like sleepy background music (which wouldn't be too bad either), but for now I'll enjoy every little note on it, make friends with each ten songs and probably press play for the sixth time.

http://firekites.com/
Firekites @ Myspace
Firekites - The Bowery @ Spotify

Also check out the stunning video for Autumn Story:

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Pikku Kukka

The band I’ve listened most during the past few weeks is the charming finnish band Pikku Kukka. Their music is characterized by harmonized singing of the two girls Emilia and Lotta who both write songs and play the keyboards. They’ve released two albums Palma (2007) and Pois ympäröivä maa (2009) with a backing trio including the bassist and guitarist from the Finnish “wire-metal” band Viikate.

Covers of Palma (2007) and Pois ympäröivä maa (2009)

I bought the previous album a couple of weeks ago and the second album just before New Year. Right now I’m listening to songs from both records on shuffle while shaking my head, singing along and playing imaginary drums along with the catchy rhythms. I find the two albums very similar although Pois ympäröivä maa has a slightly refined sound and includes a bit more solid song material. At any case, I see Pikku Kukka more through their songs, not by albums.

I find Pikku Kukka’s songs playing in my head all the time. There are lots of hooks, but it doesn’t mean that they are boring easy-come-easy-go songs but instead I can listen to the same songs again and again finding myself still not having enough. The combination of beautiful, catchy melodies sang with full voice (which I learned to love recently seeing gigs by First Aid Kit and The Tallest Man On Earth) and harmonies and the tight rhythmic work by the backing band is simply irresistible.

The first band that Pikku Kukka brought to my mind was Ultra Bra, a Finnish band from the late 90s, because of the lyric-driven multi-voiced songs. Another comparison could be made to PMMP which is similarly a Finnish duo with two female vocalists writing impressive lyrics and performing with a three-piece band. I also find Pikku Kukka’s sound a surprising combination of naïve junior high school band sound and skillfully-played progressive rock. I usually like a sort of rough, realistic sound instead sterile, over-produced sound but with Pikku Kukka I feel that a bit more modern sound could suite the songs. On the other hand, it could take away the organic, oldies sounding side of Pikku Kukka that I’ve learned to like.

For me, having listened lately to a huge number of indie bands singing in English with lo-fi sound, electronic influences and all that, Pikku Kukka feels fresh, interesting, personal and real. Even though knowing the band for only a short time, it’s hard to imagine that I’d get bored of songs like Hiljaisuus, Tyttö ja poika, Hän tanssi minut, 14 varista, Kaarnalaivat or Valtaosa.

Pikku Kukka @ Myspace
http://pikkukukka.blogspot.com/