Japanese side of things and hardcore

Hi all!

This time I concentrate on my latest cds I´ve bought. Af for Tori Amos show in Ice Hall, there´s nothing new to tell. Just remember to wear something warm, the place is cold. Usually they have flea market there in weekends. As for the pic, I think it´s properiate since this time we travel to Japan and from there to germany/Netherlands.

Let´s start off with Japanese side of things. There are many good bands hailing from there and they even have their own personal music style called Shibuya Kei. Shibya style is bit hectic clubpop with anything goes attitude. Definetly worth trying!


And bit of Shibuya Kei we go off. Fantastic Plastic Machine has the honour of starting things. Absolutely fantastic and weird band like this is worth mentioning. Can I say anything bad of album which opens with 3 second track called Beautiful? The track is a man saying I am beautiful and that´s it. Brilliant way to open album, made me laugh. Rest of the album is pop/house mixup. There are some pure house tracks (Love is psyhedelic) and some pure pop. As always with japanese, this one has also lot of strings in it. Same is with highly recommender Lonesome Echo Strings/Lonesome Echo Productions. They use both variants of the name. Album has a bonus track Take me to the disco, which is absolute killer. Track goes Take me to the disco at the end of the world. Also nice bit slower track is God save Mona Lisa. If you´re into not yer typical pop, chech this out. There´s also track called Lotto, which I have to mention eventhough it´s not from this album. The track is dance track sung in German:)

Some tracks:

Take Me To The Disco

Love Is Psychedelic

God Save Mona Lisa

There Must Be An Angel (Eurhythmics cover, not from album)

And let´s move on then to beautiful and talented Utada Hikaru and her album Exodus


I just love this album, eventhough it´s pop/r&b fare but still. Lyrics are mostly normal love stuff and some, like Exodus 04, are different. But still if you´re looking for deep lyrics, this ain´t your cup of tea. If you like good quality r&b/pop this might me for you. Utada tried to break it in US with is album and it shows. Well produced r&b is the main thing here, but the whole album isn´t like that. It´s enough varied pack to keep things interesting and has good melodies. And I do like Utada´s voice. Devil inside for example is housier dance tune which was released as single with 11 mixes. You make me want to be a man is also personal track. Besides those two standout track for me is Exodus 04. Beautiful slice of pop music. Hotel Lobby is more slow pop with good melody and nice rhythm. Some tracks:

You make me want to be a man

Exodus 04

Devil Inside

Hotel Lobby

I´ve also been grooving to Fiona Apple´s Extraordinary Machine.
I guess most of you have heard this album already, so I won´t spend much time to introduce this one. It´s good album and the songs are varied, which is always good. I find that problem with Aimee Mann that songs sound so much similar that it´s hard to separate them. I do like Aimee, let´s make that clear. Opening track Extraordinary Machine flirts with jazz and old musical/cabaree style and pulls it off. Not about love goes more to rage department and Oh Sailor is good catchy pop song. Good album overall and it will be interesting /if/when Fiona makes a new album which direction she´ll take.

Extraordinary Machine

Not About Love

Oh Sailor

From my trip to Mayday I bought lot of cds (some were good, some bad). One good collection is Hardstyle Germany.

2 cd mixed pack here. There are 20 tracks on earch cd, so it doesn´t give much time for each track to build. Mixing is solid and techincally good. Selection works and if you listen to it as mix, it works. If you listen to it as compilation, it doesn´t work that well, since the tracks are just snippets and almost like previews. Same problem is always with Ministry Of Sound releases, tracks playing maybe 2min each. Hardstyle Germany is from the more accessible end of hardstyle sound, with melodies and good drive. There are couple of cheesier tracks (Losing My Religion in hardstyle anyone?), but they don´t ruin the set. If you´re new to this sound, this is good place to start. Solid mix, good selection and rolls well.

Showtek The Colour Of The Harder Styles

Vorwerk Cambodja

Zero Vision Overdrive

And move on to harder sounds. It´s time for Hellraiser compilation Claimed By Darkness


2 cds and a dvd with report from the party. Nice pack indeed. Only problem for me with these compilations is that some tracks are too hard. Luckily there aren´t many of them, total 3 of 28 tracks ain´t bad. This the true sound of what I call hardcore. Also this has hard techno tracks thrown in for good measure. And as you can guess, some tracks have samples from Hellraiser movie. The tracks aren´t mixed, but there isn´t much of a break between them, so djs be careful. Good point with this cd is that it´s mostly mainstream hardcore, which is much more accessible than the old stuff. Nowadays hardcore has melody and sometimes also vocals, but vocals are more typical for UK hardcore. There is a big difference.
On the dvd is main report and report from vip area. Also included are visuals and trailer. Dvd isn´t bad if you wanna look at party report of dancing people, djs and of overall look of the party. And it´s well done dvd too, main report clocking over 20 minutes.

That´s it for now, next time we have couple of more hardcore cds and hopefully Damien Rice´s B-sides collection, but that´s up to the mailman if I get it. Also coming up is review of Tom McRae´s Streetlight collection (also as soon as I get it) and RE.M.´s latest Collapse Into now.

Untill next time,

Tommi

Quick Update

Hi all!

Just a quick update today, since my hand is sore. Tickets for Tori Amos concert in Helsinki will go on sale next wednesday. The show will be at Jäähalli, so wear something warm, the place is cold. Tickets start from 50,30€. Show will have half-time, which sounds really odd and Tori will perform with a band. That´s all the information for now. For tickets goto www.lippupalvelu.fi or www.tiketti.fi

I heard new (for me at least new) track by Fever Ray called The Wolf. Good, solid track that would´ve fitted either Fever Ray´s album or on Silent Shout by Knife. Wolf is similar to those records, so if you liked Fever Ray´s album, you´ll like this one too. It doesn´t offer anything new or revolutionary, but who cares since the track is good.

Have a great weekend and more to come during it!

Some unsung heroes and Finnish music

Hi All!

Welcome to yet another edition of Music All Around! Hope you had a nice weekend. Weather here is sunny now and pretty warm (finally summer is here). So this time we have bit more sunnier artists to feature. I will also let youin Finnish music scene from alternative point of view. Let´s start off with true unsung hero, who is multi-instrumentalist hailing from Wolverhampton. Let me introduce you fantastic Ben Christophers!


Here we have truly talented man who hasn´t gotten the attention here clearly deserves. He has worked with Bat For Lashes and toured with Imogen Heap on her Ellipse tour. I had the pleasure of catching Immi´s show at Helsinki where Ben opened for Imogen. I had never before heard of this man but there was something magical about his music. I decided to buy the slef titled minialbum from the gig and that blew me away big time.


The album opens with They Make Sparks With Their Claws, which became one of my favourite songs of alltime. On the album Ben plays lyra, piano and guitar. Lyra and his voice on They Make Sparks creates magical atmosphere that draws you in and makes you really listen. Rest of this mini lp is also personal singer-songwwriter material. Nobody Knows is beautiful piano song with darker atmosphere. Snow brings lyra back and has slowdragging bassline from time to time. Arty and alternative, but luckily not art for art´s sake. This oozes soul. Circle goes on heaby rhythm tripand is hypnotic track. Because my english is bit rusty (and I always concentrate on song as whole) I won´t comment on lyrics, only the feeling I get from the records ad the songs as whole. The album is pretty relaxed, but still has something dark and sinister atmosphear in some song. If you want something truly special and personal, buy this one or Viewfinder. I´d start with those. Spoonface and My Beautiful Demon are more straight up pop/rock vein and haven´t opened up to me as yet, eventhough I like those albums too. But this is the one for me. More of Ben Christophers and albums availabe here. Some songs:

They Make Sparks With Their Claws from Ben Christophers mini lp

These Are The Days from same album

Leaving My Sorrow Behind from My Beautiful Demon

Live In Holland 2005

I´d also like to take this opportunity to feature also this songstress before heading to Finland.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Amanda Ghost!


Hails from London and is best-known for co-written James Blunt´s (awful) You´re Beautiful, Beyonce´s Beautiful Liar and for Ian Brown´s I Did It For The Glory just to mention few. She´s also sang on Dark Globe´s Break My World, which was minor hit and beautiful song and sang backing vocals on Prodigy track. One of the latest works I´ve heard is duet with Boy George on Time Machine, nice pop song. On this article I´ll concentrate on her album Ghost Stories. Overall good album, but not without few faults. Opening track, Dirty Mind, doesn´t fit rest of the album at all. Dirty Mind is your dance track, perfect for saturday night disco time. Rest of the album leans on acoustic guitar singer-songwriter genre. Rest of the album is bit repetetive, songs reminding eachoter quite a lot, sam trouble I find with Aimee Mann. There are standout tracks like Idol and Cellophane. I´m not saying this is bad record (or Aimee´s records either, they are good), I´d say it´s seminal and could be bit more personal and versatile. Still nice album worth listening to. Songs from the album:

Filthy Mind

Cellophane

Idol

And now time for local talent! Finland is mostly known as heavy meta/rockl country and those two genres do dominate here radiowaves. Luckily there´s more to this country than Sunrise Avenue, Rasmus, Amorphis and Lordi.

There are some singer-songwriters over here and my favourite is definetly Jippu and her debut album Salaisuuksia, Joita Yksinäiset Huutavat Unissaan (translates secrets, that lonely ones scream in their sleeps.).



She has really beautiful lyrics and the way she sings is just heartfelt. She truly sings straight from her heart and you can hear the pain in her voice. Second album took direction towards radio-friendly pop, so that album did nothing for me. If you don´t mind her singing in finnish, try her music. Here´s one of the standout tracks from the album, Kaksi Kauneinta (Two most beautiful)

If you´re into smoky bar-jazz (might be finnish term), you might like Sir Elwoodin Hiljaiset värit band (Sir Elwood´s silent colours) and especially their older albums. Later ones went also into the radio friendly area, which is truly a shame. The band did get wider audience, eventhough they´ve always been respected band here. They are big over here and here´s a good song by them, sung in finnish. Sellaista se on and Jumala rankaisee Helsinkiä tänä yönä (God punishes Helsinki tonight).

Finland is also known for it´s electronic scene. British media has reviews electronic weirdos Pan Sonic (really bleepy, buzzing) and house/techno of Jori Hulkkonen. Jori has also made a mix album for Tiga´s Turbo label and is gigging abroad. He´+s also collaborated with Jon Foxx on his latest album. Quite a achievement for man hailing from north part of Finland, small city called Kemi. Here´s Jori with John Foxx Never Been Here Before.

Exogenic is one hot label abroad consentrating more into breaks/psy/experimental side of things. They have released albums by Accu for example. Accu has made some excellent tracks, eventhough I never got into the albums. I have to mention here Nightfreak which is excellent, sleazy slice of discofied house. The vocals sound to me bit sleazy, but damn the track kicks ass. This is them at disco side of things. Here you go: Nightfreak get ur freak on:) Second track I like is Out Of The Blue, featuring vocals by Laura Närhi. Laura is mainly known for as vocalist on Kemopetrol, a finn trip-hop band. They were successful, but now disbanded and Laura is pursuing a solo career with pop songs. Out Of The Blue is beautiful downtempo track that is just magic. Here you go: Out Of The Blue

Moving on to tougher sounds, next logical stop is trance/drum&bass. As for trance, dance music press has given great reviews for Super8&Tab album Empire. The album is your typical progressive house/trance stuff. Well produced, but still nothing groundbreaking. Orkidea is also well-known dj/producer. Tapani as known for his mother, is known for melodic approach to progressive house/trance scene. He´s released 2 albums (if I remember right) Taika and mixed album A Place Called Happiness. He is part of the Unity collective, who used to organize parties in Helsinki which were always sold out. One of the landmarks on his career is classic track Unity, which was licensed to Gatecrasher collection. And boy what a track it is, I give you Unity.



Harder we venture and next stop is freeform/nrg/hardcore scene. Harder sounds can be summed up to one name: Proteus. Local dj who won title of best hard dance dj at hard dance awards and has been gigging a lot abroad and making his own tracks. Also he´s done remix work and released classic track London Helsinki Underground with Kevin Energy. First ever hard dance track to get into single chart in Finland. Proteus has also released official mix compilations: Pharmacy 3 Down with Sickness and Hellfire club. Unofficial and rare is his Hard NRG series, get it if you find it anywhere. As part of Säde collective, he´s reponsible for putting up memorable hard dance events and clubs here. Here´s one of his best tracks: Venla

Also worth mentioning would be Alek Szahala (releases on Nu Energy, Camel, Electronic), FINRG label which played big part on the scene. Their agency put parties up at Lahti, creating mayhem there with solid foreign guest djs. If we talk about hard dance scene, there is no way to forget these two acts, who are really classics: Carbon Based and Pain On Creation. Both making freeform and being popular live acts, they have released classics on labels such as Nu Energy (now R.I.P.), Electronic (also R.I.P.) and of course on FINRG Hard.

Here´s Pain On Creation with Lu

Carbon Based: Cyclone

And some video from Säde party, which I mentioned earlier with Dj Guld from Japan.

Until next time!

Tommi

Lesser known artists special

Hi All!

Seems like I update the blog daily basis:) There are so many artists I want to feature here and I´ve got time, so why not update this! I think it´s time to introduce some unsung heroes/heroines of music world, who´d definetly deserve wider audience.

Who would be better artist to start with than Happy Rhodes? A true unsung heroine of music world, whom I have huge respect. She´s got amazing voice and string of excellent albums behind done with true diy attitude. She even makes the wonderful covers herself I´m told. I haven´t heard a bad album from her. Every album is different from previous and that keeps it interesting. Acoustic tracks are just beautiful and more electronic are really moody and sometimes a bit haunting. The key is always melody and her incredible voice range. Most albums are these days very hard to find and collectible (Rhodes 1 for example sellig for 100€), but some can be bought from Cd Baby. As for albums I think I´ll mention Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, since it was first album I ever heard from Happy.


It´s one of those albums that just grab you right away and make you listen to it carefully. This is Happy in more electronic mood than some records and the soundscapes are truly beautiful. Strong on melody as always and using her full range of voice makes it bit haunting but soulful. Good example of being haunting, melodic and soulful would be Ra Is A Busy God. Mellow soundscapes and her voice make this one of the standout tracks of the album and show her talent. I honestly don´t know what to say of this album except it is beautiful, melodic piece of electronic music. Well crafted and produced, sounds are well-balanced. You can hear a bit of influence of Kate Bush in her music as a little spice, which makes it more tasty and so does her dark sense of humour as well. I´d say it flirts with ambient sometimes, but not going there full way. This is one of those albums that isn´t easy to review especially when you love the album and is lost for words. I could keep telling how excellent it is over and over and that´d be boring, so let the music speak for itself and you make up your mind. More of Happy can be found here.

Here´s some tracks from the album:

If wishes were horses how beggars would ride

Many Worlds Are Born Tonight

Hold me live (From album Building The Colossus)


Next up is Latvian rock band which should have made it big, but didn´t break through outside Scandinavia (Especially Estonia and neighbouring countries). I never ever thought I´d feature here a band who went and won Eurovision Song Contest (My Star), but here we go!
Besides winning Eurovision, they Opened shows for R.E.M. on their Around The Sun tour. Brainstorm is excellent live band playing pop and rock and creating happy atmosphere. Everytime I´ve seen them live, I left the concert with smile on my face. You can honestly sense their joy of playing life, they just radiate it onstage. Songs are good, the aren´t your typical pop/rock songs ompletely. Some are, some have that twist that make them more personal. I always thought this band has what it takes to make it big, but somehow they never broke through. My star is weakest song in thei repertoire, I´d prefer Day Before Tomorrow for example, which live works like a charm. Here are some samples:

A Day Before Tomorrow

Thunder Without Rain from latest Years And Seconds album

Lonely Feeling To Be Lonely

Weekends Are Not My Happy Days

If you like Kate Bush, you might like our next artist


Hannah Fury!

Talented singer/Songwriter who has made only 2 albums for far and a string of eps. First Album, The Thing That Feels, leans on piano and her voice. The combination works like a charm and is a winner. Lyrics are dark, bit morbid even but suit the songs. We could even say it´s baroqesque as is her image. They go neatly hand in hand.

Second album Through The Gash is more varied pack. More experimental than previous one it is bold move to make. Through The Gash reminds me bit of Kate Bush´s Dreaming. It has same experimental feel to it and again dark lyrics. Carnival Justice shows she´s really pissed with some guy (forgive me if I´m mistaken). This album also leans more on heavier basslines, which were absent from Thing That Feels. I can´t wait for her to make another album and see which direction it will take. I have no idea what to expecet thanks to these two being from two different worlds. I also have to recommend the eps, if you can find them from somewhere. They have good b-sides and even odd cover of Abba´s Winner Takes It All. That cover is almost hard to recognize, it sounds (luckily) nothing like the original. Web site is here: Mellow Traumatic

Meathook from Thing That Feels

I Can´t Let You In from Thing That Feels

Don´t Be Scared from Through The Gash

Girls That Glitter Love The Dark from Through The Gash

So here we go with unsung heroes part for time being:) I gotta take dogs for a walk and will be back soon with wonderful thing called music

C Ya!

Tommi

Patrick Wolf: House and upcoming gigs in Finland

Hi All!

This time we kick of with latest Patrick Wolf Single House (You can listen to it here)

House has nice piano intro and overall piano is lovely. Suprising is how radio-friendly song House is. It´s almost as it was made for radio play. And, now don´t lynch me, I´d say it sounded a bit like Abba. I know I know I shouldn´t say that but it really does to me. Same kind of melody or structure, can´t put my finger on it, but it really did remind me of Abba.

When you pre-order the upcoming album, you get to download Armistice, a beautiful piano ballad that sounds like older Patrcik songs. House makes me wonder what kind of album is in the pipeline. All the previous records were interesting and personal. Eventhough House is still recognizable Patrick song, it has lost part of it´s personality. That´s just me and first impression of the track. To sum it up, it´s beautiful, radio friendly song. Not bad.

As for upcoming festivals and gigs in Finland, this must be one of the highlights of summer


YES, Aphex Twin will play a gig at Ilosaari rock! That´s huge news since Mr. Twin last played here in early 90´s at a rave. Also in Ilosaari are Buzzcocks, Iced Earth and Kate Nash. Tickets and more info of the festival goto www.ilosaarirock.fi

Ruisrock www.ruisrock.fi has also good line-up: Prodigy, National, Hurts, Paramore, Fleet Foxes and Robyn to mention few.

Flow festival in Helsinki has also solid line-up: Röyksopp, Hercules And Love Affair, Joy Orbison, Matthew Dear live, Human League, Lykke Li, etc. Check
http://www.flowfestival.com/esiintyjat/

A new Lamb album finally! Called 5, available also as double cd special edition sounds like matured Lamb. Beautiful melodies, Lou Rhodes voice as voulnerable as always. The album isn´t as minimal as previous ones or as heavy on the rhythm as Cotton Wool for example. The album is in one world beautiful. Lovely melodies, bit orchestrations and slow rhythm track that isn´t mixed too top. Lamb really does sound more mature than before I think without losing the good old familiar elements and feelings. Existential Itch sounds like a leftover from the debut album. After that track album changed atmosfear towards the old Lamb. More minimal, more sinister sounds. And on Strong The Root basslines really kick in hard, yummy! Something old and something new in good balance. And album features always so lovely Damien Rice! If you like Lamb, get this! If you like beautiful music, try this!


You lucky people in Uk and Germany have a chance to see Rachael Sage live! This songstress is worth checking out if you like melodic pop with arty edge. Painting Of A Painting is one of my fave albums by Rachael, it´s more art pop than rest. And don´t forget Delancey Street is released in Europe as special edition 30th of may. It will be available as download album (17 tracks) or as cd (15 tracks if I´m not mistaken). As for what makes album a special edition, I have no idea. Released already in US with different cover from what I saw for European release. No info found yet, so we´ll have to wait a bit longer. Pre-order is, though, available.

Dj Shadow has new ep out, so I heard. Haven´t had chance to hear it yet. And there are rumours floating around that Kate Bush is working on new album and has finished lyrics! She´d like to finish the album fast, but she´s distracted from her work and that slows process down. That´s what we call motherhood. First comes child of course and then record. Let´s just hope we don´t have to wait for it next 12 years again.


Night of the Hunters News! Here´s how Tori described the upcoming cd:

"It's a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years. I have used the structure of a song cycle to tell an ongoing, modern story. The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself allowing the listener to follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter. One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.”

Tour looks like this at the moment:

9/28 Finland, Helsinki, Ice Hall

9/30 Russia, St Petersburg, Oktyabrsky Hall

10/2 Russia, Moscow, Crocus Hall

10/4 Luxembourg, Den Atelier

10/5 France, Paris, Le Grand Rex

10/7 Italy, Milan, Teatro Smeraldo

10/8 Italy, Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica

10/10 Germany, Hamburg, Laieszhalle

10/11 Germany, Berlin, Tempodrom

10/13 Poland, Warsaw, Sala Kongresowa

10/17 Holland, Amsterdam, Carre

10/20 Norway, Oslo, Sentrum Scene

10/21 Denmark, Copenhagen, The Royal Theatre

10/24 Switzerland, Lucerne, KKL

10/25 Austria, Vienna, Stadthalle F

10/26 Germany, Frankfurt, Alte Oper

10/28 Belgium, Antwerp, QEH

10/29 Belgium, Brussels, Bozar

10/31 Germany, Essen, Philharmonie

11/2 UK, London, Royal Albert Hall

11/4 UK, Manchester, Apollo

11/6 UK, Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall

11/8 UK, Belfast, Waterfront

11/9 Eire, Dublin, Grand Canal Theatre

Artist that should be reviewed/mentioned here? Gig tip? Ideas how to improve this blog? Comments? Please mail me ideas, suggestions, wishes: tommi_b@hotmail.com

Kate Bush Director´s Cut deluxe version reviewd plus some other stuff

Hi all and welcome to another edition of Music All Around! Yes, it is here now! My review of Kate Bush´s Director´s Cut Deluxe Version and off we go with it!


First cd is the Director´s Cut and now listening to it. Sound is more clear than on previous recordings. Flower Of Mountain didn´t have much difference to original version titled Sensual World. Sound quality was better though and same can be said of Song Of Solomon. Trio Bulkarna´s vocals are more on surface than before and the Kate uses bit differently her voice (more aggressively) in some parts. Not much of change then. Lily has bit heavier rhythm track and that offers a fresh take on the track and some more aggressive vocals are added.
As for media, the record divided reviewers totally in two camps. Some disliked the cd and some hyped it. Mojo for example gave it 4/5.
And on we go to Deeper understansding. Sound is nicely crispy and wellbalanced. Some vocoder vocals are added to track and it´s really slow track. Not bad not bad at all. Some added vocals, that change the feeling a bit. The Red shoes has same opening. They really remade Red Shoes. It´s much more rocking version than original and sounds better. This was really worth making, I prefer this version to original. Really bold move! Full marks.
This Woman´s work has been altered luckily only slightly and sounds really beautiful. Slow version with keyboard. It´s more minimal version and feeling of the track is different from original. I gotta admit the original is more beautiful and vulrenable. Moments Of Pleasure: Kate+piano=winner. Reminds me bit of Mrs Bartolozzi froim Aerial. Pure bliss.'
Never Be Mine has gone total facelift. The atmosphere is totally different from original, bit more relaxed and haunting.
Top Of The City feels like it´s been rewritten almost completely, it´s more aggressive than original and Kate uses her voice bit differently and more powerfully. It´s more rock in a way, not with guitar walls, but Kate´s voice is more rock. And So Is Love hasn´t changed much at all. On the other hand Rubberband has been completely revamped. It sounds like garage band playing old rock song. Believe it or not, it works like a charm! Really cool version! What an ending for this album!

As for the remastered version of Red Shoes. The change isn´t that big, sounds are bit more balanced and sound is clearer. But sill the difference to me sounds really small. I´d go for normal edition of album unless you´re hardcore fan.

Most confusing thing of this package is inclding Sensual World to it. It´s not remastered or anything, so I find it unnecessary cd. Otherwise the package is beautiful, eventhough the promo picture where Kate cuts the film would have made better cover. Overall nice package which no-one else could have pulled off. Only good reason for buying the Deluxe version is remastered version Of Red Shoes. Book also contains lyrics and beautiful photos.

Kate Bush - Deeper Understanding official video

And then some other stuff. I earlier mentioned Ragga And The Jack Magic Orchestra on this blog. Ithought I´d review it eventhoug the cd is really old, but it deserves more credit than it has had.


I just love this album. If you like trip-hop check this album out. It sounds like tivoli with tough beats and Ragga´s strong voice. Wonderful tracks, quite weird sounds and coctail of heavy rhythms, tivoli sounds and strong vocalist. A winning combination overall. I don´t know what else to say of this album, so let the music speak for itself.

Man On The Moon this single got played on Mtv

Where Are They Now one of my favourites from the album

As for news part, I got some news on Kate! They are releasing another version on Hounds Of Love. This one is Japanese mini-lp (released earlier already) and will feature some bonus tracks, which are most likely same as on remastered version of the album. So it sounds like milking the fans.

So here we go with this Kate Bush special:)

C ya soon!

Tommi

Lykke Li Review, some other records I´ve been grooving to

Hi All!

Welcome to 2nd edition of Music All Around! This time it´s review time of some records I´ve been grooving to and some tips for the weekend:)

As for the tips in Helsinki, there´s rave going on in Alppipuisto on saturday 12-22. Alppipuisto is nice place and the party is worth checking out if the weather´s good. After that you can goto Säde vs Mindcore all hardcore party in Playground. At Cable Factory is In Search Of Sunrise party with Ruichard Durand, Gareth Emery, Cosmic Gate, First State and Alex Kunnari. Tickets are cheap for once, only 16€. At Bassment is House Party with usual suspects. There are some tips worth mentioning for the weekend.

So there are some tips for weekend. And now it´s time for first ever review of this blog and the honour goes to Lykke Li!

Wounded Rhymes

Second cd from this talented swede. I fell in love with Youth Novels right away when I first heard it. It was so beautiful record and fascinating. This second album took more time to listen to before I fell for it. That´s alaways a good sign on record! And oh boy beautiful album it is. Bit heavier on rhythms than Youth Novels, but excellent follow up. Slight changes only has been made to soundscapes and Lykke has learnt to use more of her voice. You can hear that she´s now more experienced singer. Soudscapes don´t disappoint if you loved the first album. They are still same simplistic material but still so beautiful and fascinating. I honestly didn´t know what to expect after such a wonderful album as YN was, but this is excellent follow up. We sure can expect big things for Lykke.

Lykke Li - Get Some from Wounded Rhymes

Today I´ve been going back to trip-hop side of things. I guess I just needed something easier than that heavy-banging European hardcore for a chancge. And my doggies propably also appreciate the change. Right now I´m listening to Tricky
Maxinquaye is the only Tricky album that blew me away. Angels With Dirty Faces went too far for me and rest just didn´t have that magic that this one does. I also listened to the special edition with remixes, but I recommend to be wary with it. Remixes didn´t do much for me, Alex Reece´s remix was the only good one. So if you ask me, get the original one cd edition of this. This is honestly an important album for trip hop and true classic. Paranoid with Tricky´s smokey voice combined with Martina Topley bird´s woulnerable vocals creates an unique atmosphere. There really hasn´t been album that would be comparable to this one. Closest would be Portishead, since they share the similar paranoia. And also featuring on this album is Ragga, which you really should get to know more. Get Ragga And The Jack Magic Orchestra cd if you like trip hop. It´s one of the greatest albums ever made, truly unique album full of magic.

Tricky Hell Is Around The Corner

Tricky Brand New You´re Retro Alex Reece Remix

And for Portishead, I found this album also from Dortmund last month.


I almost forgot how I love this album. I remember when it came out and I first heard it. It was like nothing I´ve ever heard before. A bit like Massive Attack, but much more darker and sinister. One of those albums you went what the hell is this!?! Still it sounds as fresh as it did years back, truly timeless album. The second album is also truly amazing album, but I guess this is the album for me, because it came out in that particular period of my youth. It just hit me because I was going through some dark times then, so this was perfect soundtrack for that.

Portishead - Wandering Star
Portishead - It´s A Fire


In the next edition, I´ll review Kate Bush´s Director´s Cut, Final Fantasy and some dance music

Some good and some sad news

Hello and welocme to fist edition of Music All Around blog! I´ll write here of records I´ve been grooving to, borrowed from library and of upcoming events. So you´ll find all kinds of things of music here.

First the good news:)

Tori Amos will release a new album on Deutche Gramofon in autumn. It´s kinda weird choice of record company, since DG has only released classical music previously. It´s said that there will be influences of classical music on the album. And best of all, there will be tour!! And it starts from Helsinki Jäähalli!! After that gig Tori will move on to Russia, Germany and Netherlands. Those were confirmed last time I checked. Ticket prices were from 43 euros in Netherlands.

And then there´s the "new" Kate Bush album, Director´s Cut! Too bad of the cover art, they could have used the promo picture instead of the cover
Oh well, you can´t have it all. I´ll write a review of the deluxe edition as soon as I receive it. It´s not too expensive, at Play 24€ inc. shipping for 3 cd pack.

Also there´s new album on it´s way from Patrick Wolf! Called Lupercalia will be released in cd, 2cd limited edition and also in 2lp gatefold vinyl which has a bonus 7". As you guessed there also be tour. Confirmed gigs include Sweden, UK, Germany, Austria and Belgium. Sadly no Finland then this time. Flow festival should have gotten Patrick there if you ask me.

And some sad news:(

Nu Energy collective will shut down. This is honestly a huge blow for harder end of dance music, since Nu Energy released some true classics like Alek Szahala´s Lumi, K-Complex Agadio and Kevin Energy vs Proteus London-Helsinki Underground (first ever hard dance single to make it to Finnish single chart!). And if that wasn´t sad enough, Kevin Energy will retire from djing. Same thing happened to Electronica Exposed, which released many finnish freeform releases.

Björk´s new album will only be available from Itunes. There will be no cd release. And it will be her most experimental album ever. This trend makes me sad, since I´m not too keen on download albums. I want the whole package, cover and the cd. It´s a dying artform, sadly. eventhough vinyl sales went up 70% last year.

This morning I´ve been grooving to Stereo Sushi compilation Sake.

Another solid compilation from Hed Kandi camp. You know the deal here, nice deep soulful house. Good music to start the morning with. Good tracks, eventhough could be more varied, I still recommend giving this a chance. Solid stuff and nicely jazzy.

I´m off to make morning coffee and will be back soon with another edition of Music All Around!

C ya!