moving

New week, new blog! See you over here.

Moz

So in this time of anticipation, what are your views on the supposed cover-to-be for Morrissey’s upcoming album? I’m not really liking it. Maybe I just don’t get it.

Sia – Buttons (CSS remix)

Oh, I love Sia. I want her soundtracking my days, singing in my ear every second. Now I’m not a big fan of CSS but they’ve made an infectious remix of Sia’s song “Buttons”. The song is handclapps all over and a back beat that sends shivers down your spine.

Sia – Buttons (CSS remix)

Kukl

By writing this I hereby invite all mockery of my ignorance. Just go ahead, I deserve it. I had no idea that Björk was in a semi gothic/post punk band called “Kukl”. I knew about Tappi Tikarrass and Sugarcubes so I thought I knew everything. I stumbled over their debut album a couple of days ago and I felt like I had found some ancient relic in my backyard. “The Eye” was released in 1984 and sounds like a scream from the wilderness mixed with The Cure and Siouxsie And the Banshees. My favourite is “Dismembered”, a really excellents song with Cocteau Twins-type melodrama.

Björks voice is enough to make you stop and listen, right. I suppose her voice alone could make any crappy song enjoyable, she’s certainly proved that a few times (THE ANCHOR SONG!1).

Kukl – The Eye

Funeral Moon

Let’s start off the first week of November! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Funeral Moon; Mexican Satanic black ambience!

Funeral Moon – Satan’s Beauty Obscenity

Every day is a dance with death

Happy halloween, all saint’s day, day of the dead or whatever you’re into! The festive Día De Los Muertos seems like fun, I would like to start celebrating that.

I just got home from a nice evening out. Some people had dressed up, I enjoyed that. Scarlet’s Well played. It wasn’t really my cup of tea but they had a violinist, some cabaret-songs and joked around a lot, so all in all it was pleasant.

I decided to make a little playlist to fit the morbid theme of the weekend:

1. Band of Horses – The Funeral

2. Jason Molina – It’s Easier Now

3. Ralph Stanley – O Death

4. Patsy Cline – If Only I Could Stay Asleep

5. Sami Kukka – Kuolema tuli

6. Joose Keskitalo – Valoa ikkunasta

7. Joose Keskitalo – Haudan lepoon

8. Matthew Sweet – Someone to Pull the Trigger

9. Marissa Nadler – Days of Rum

10. Palace Broters – You Will Miss Me When I Burn

11. Jeff Buckly – Grace

12. Gnarls Barkley – Just A Thought

13. Anthony & the Johnsons – Hope There’s Someone

old week, new records

I thought I’d recap last weeks music findings, because I found some nice things that I would like to share with you. I made an effort this week to stay in touch with the times, since I tend to look to the 80’s and 90’s for new music quite often. These records are not that fresh, but at least they were released in 2008.

The Daysleepers – Drowned In a Sea of Sound

I was so happy when I found this record by New York shoegazers The Daysleepers. it’s absolutely one of my favourite records this year. They have mastered the method of creating a dreamy atmosphere and sending your head off to space. This is basically what shoegaze does and I for one am in love with it. I like being able to listen to a record and get washed away from reality. It has been difficult not to detect a shoegaze revival in recent years, just the fact that there was room for a My Bloody Valentine reunion should give you a hint. When you have bands like The Daysleepers, M83 or Glasvegas relasing excellent post shoegaze albums in 2008 it really shows that this “revival” is only growing stronger. The Daysleepers have gotten the thumbs up from such greats as Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins and Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead of Slowdive, which should convince you to see what they are about.

Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew

You may recognize Lisa Hannigan’s voice from her work with Damien Rice. Now you don’t have to listen to Damien Rice records in order to hear her beautiful voice because she has released her debut album; “Sea Sew”. It’s very folky and mellow and her voice just puts you to ease. The whole album is so warm and fuzzy. There is, however, a risk that your patience will run out midway if you don’t pay attention. But the thing that will make you return to this record is her compashionate and haunting voice.

(I don’t like how the cover looks like a record for a kindergarten nap session, though)

Kings of Leon – Only By The Night

I was completely surprised by my own excitement over a Kings of Leon-record. Every now and then I get these weird music cravings. I start to ache for really strong and simple melodies and polished vocals. I’m like a pregnant woman that gets violent cravings for random stuff.

The single “Sex on Fire” left me unmoved but slightly curious. Slowly it creeped up on me and then I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had to listen to the entire album and then I was completely absorbed by it. I listened to it on repeat five days in a row, some days nothing else. I’m still not that fond of their southern rock style but they’ve made a record filled with very polished melodies! Their melodies are absolutely infectious and combined with an gifted singer with an amazing sense of rhythm you get nothing less than ear candy. And sometimes that’s all you need.

Kill Your Idols

Tonight I watched Kill Your Idols, which is a documentary from 2004 in which film maker Scott Crary examines three decades of the New York art punk/no wave scene. It features artists/bands such as Lydia Lunch, Suicide, The Theoretical Girls, Gogol Bordello, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and Sonic Youth to name a few.

It will be available in full lenght on Pitchfork.tv this entire week, be sure not to miss this!

Link

Tuonko sulle kuun vai kelpaisko tähdet?

Today I awoke in utter disgust from the most grotesque dream I’ve had in a while. I can have pretty vivid dreams with vulgar imagery but this one took the price. It was like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-hallucinations mixed with, I don’t know, grossness and flies. I had to take a long shower and change the sheets. It’s weird when your mind plays dirty tricks on you like that! I’ve been a little freaked out by it the entire day. Otherwise I’ve had a great Sunday. I got to hang out with great people, people who have these absolutely luminous personalities.

I end this day with a great music tip that I got tonight, which was the soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange. It’s impressive that when placed in a Kubrick context a song like Singing in the Rain can change character and become very scary. This sountrack fits today perfectly; a fun day with a creepy context.

zzzzz

Fredi

Fredi, or Matti Siitonen, is a Finnish singer who has established himself as one of the most succesful artists in Finland. He began his solo career as a folk singer back in the 1960’s and originally went by the name Folk-Fredi. From what I’ve read he dropped the folk part when folk went out of style. Personally I think he should have stuck to it!

I was pursuaded by an insightful post over a the Huuhkaja Päivänvalossa-blog to find out why Fredi seems to have a secured place in Finnish people’s hearts. Since a while back I’m on an explorative journey through Finnish music history in search of Finnish national identity. I want to understand the national spirit of Finland, because it really fascinates me. I like to think I can conduct some sort of folkloristic research on Finnish culture through music.

I was immediately hooked by the song tip I got through aforementioned blog, which was a song called Saarnaaja that Fredi wrote the lyrics to and recorded in 1975. It’s such a dark song, a tale of an abusive and alcoholic father seen through the eyes of a child.

This is the reality of many Finnish children. According to a survey (pdf-link) done by Fragile Childhood one in ten Finns have grown up in a substance abuse-family. In 2006 Unicef published a worldwide survey amongst children subject to abuse that was not flattering to Finland. This survey revealed that 61 000 Finnish children lived in abusive families. In this research any type of physical discipline was considered abuse, alongside psychological and sexual abuse.

Physical discipline of children is forbidden by law in Finland since 1984. Despite this figures have shown that the jurisdiction is not fully implemented in reality. Lastensuojelun Keskusliitto has conducted several surveys amongst Finnish parents about their views on physical discipline. The latest survey, from 2007, concluded that 27 per cent of Finnish parents considered physical discipline to be a justified method of raising children. That’s devastating if you ask me, but at least the number has decreased from previous year’s 29 per cent (Source).

Saarnaaja is a scary song. It sounds like a theme song from a 60’s horror movie and Fredi’s lyrics paint a picture that becomes more tragic for every verse. So, to conclude, it’s absolutely wonderful! This song seems like a very bold song choice for an artist like Fredi. It stands in stark contrast to the evergreens and melodramatic love songs that has become characteristic of his style. This is such a good storytelling song, I think it puts the folk back in Fredi.

Fredi – Saarnaaja