Moon Brooklyn Alanna Nuala D uring my time as a solo artist I've released 2 albums, one being a compilation of songs I had written between the ages of 16 to 18. My second album was written, recorded, and arranged more recently, making it a more accurate representation my abilities as a musician. It also carries a whole new vibe, seeing as half of the album was written during the time I was living in San Francisco, and the [...]
Islaja - Keraaminen Pää It was an icy, bright winter morning somewhere in central Finland. The sun hung low in the sky, tentatively looking out over the frozen marshes, snow-burdened trees, and lonely drunks crawling out of lonely bars. It would only be a couple of hours before the sun said, "fuck this," and went away again. As sharp shadows lengthened across the snowdrifts in his yard, Jan Anderzén had an idea. While the weather is this good, let's have a yard sale. He went to the attic and rounded up every piece [...]
Kemialliset Ystävät Ullakkopalo (2010, Fonal) RIYL = Paavoharju, Black Dice, Prefuse 73 What can I say; listening to Kemialliset Ystävät makes no logical sense. Ullakkopalo is the latest in a long history of deranged freak-psych adventures from the band and it delivers with similarly delighted, confusing, and totally bizarre results. Based on my recent streak of surreal (anti)reviews, you might've thought Kemialliset Ystävät would be the perfect band to send me off into some ridiculous, fabulist mind-trip. Yet, somehow Ullakkopalo has cancelled out any type of coherent imagining in me. [...]
Can it really have been three years since Kemialliset Ystävät last released an album? Indeed it has been that long but that only means its time for another journey into the abyss with Jan Anderzén's Finnish collective. If you've taken the trip before then the sights might seem a bit familiar if not always a bit jarring, and if this is your first ride on Kemialliset Ystävät's coattails then its probably about to get pretty bumpy. The group's mixture of sample heavy electronics and free folk still apply, dizzying as stained glass viewed through a kaleidoscope. Ideas seem to sprout [...]
Kemialliset Ystavat Untitled (Fonal, 2007) Listening Kemialliset Ystavat's self-titled/untitled album for the first time was an absolute revelation. In fact, 'revelatory' is probably a good genre to place the band under because nothing else quite works. On this, the pinnacle achievement of mountains of material released under the Kemialliset guise, there is something new and bizarre perking up at every corner, and by corner I mean about every ten to twenty seconds. The album never slows down. As a construction of sound, the album is a monstrosity of noises (both friendly [...]
God help me if the next two weeks are anything like today was at work. I'm going to be such a miserable piece of shit. I'm trying to think positively about my temporary schedule change, but it's so depressing. I might as well be one of those cult goons standing on a street corner near the "Dream Center," handing out lemonade to passing cars. That's how useless I feel. When I took a short 15-minute break today, I found myself walking across the street for a soda, and I had a vision of myself five hours later crying over a [...]
Kemialliset Ystavat Harmaa Laguuni (2008, Secret Eye) File Under = Finnish music, aka, nuts/awesome/weird music To peg Finnish music staple Kemialliset Ystavat as a member of the freak folk movement is not so much a misnomer as an understatement. Sure, you could call him freak folk if you want, but Kemialliset Ystavat is way beyond the freakness of, say, Devendera Banhart or Joanna Newsom. His most recent, Harmaa Laguuni is the result of a long line of way out there interplanetary shi bubbling out of whatever alien voodoo pot the man is [...]
The good people over at FatCat have resuscitated their long lingering split series, now dubbed the Splinter Series. First up in the new series sees Jan Anderzén's wily band of Fins, Kemialliset Ystävät pitted against the harsh soundscapes from Matthew Bower of Skullflower, here in his Sunroof! guise. As could be well expected, both sides of this platter are chock full of chaos; but somehow each band's eccentricities nicely counterpoint the other's. KY is lighthearted and experimental where Sunroof! is dark and foreboding, likewise Sunroof! cuts straight and deep, focusing steady with his singular weapon of modified static force; while [...]
Fonal Records acts Islaja , Kemialliset Ystävät , Es and Tomutonttu will be touring the UK together in late September as part of the "Approximately Infinite Universe" tour being put on by No-Fi and [No.Signal]. Read more: http://no-signal.net/aiu/
Kemialliset Ystavat - Riisilla Ja Rusinoilla Kemialliset Ystavat - Tervehdys, Roskasakki! RE: 'pooped pants' earlier this week, music from this (tiny) Fonal scene in Finland as never come off so bright and colourful; there are beats, synth swirls, maybe even some palm trees; it's totally bustling with people, voices, sounds, daffy duck, like paintballs splattered the trees in those not-so-abandoned Finnish woods, even if there are still ghosts haunting the moss and the branches. [ Kemialliset Ystavat Website ] [Buy Harmaa [...]
It's the return of Creative Writing (insert day here)! I have nothing else to write about, and I'm deciding whether or not I'm about to go see Titan / Ancestors at the Relax Bar or if I'm going to stay in tonight and do nothing. Wait a minute, what am I talking about? I'm going to go see the bands. Enjoy the creative writing. Tomorrow's Top Ten will be good. Also, 88BoaDrums is tomorrow. That should be fun. 04-17-2005 Welcome To "Welcome to the beginning. Creation is a [...]
Antes de nada me gustaría aprovechar la actualización para desearos felices fiestas a los que alguna vez os paseais por aquí. Sí, aún tenemos pendientes las listas de nuestros discos favoritos del año, lo sabemos. Eso llegará a finales de semana. De momento os dejamos con algunos de los discos más destacados de la segunda mitad del año, la verdad es que las fechas y los compromisos han impedido que fuesen todos los que deberían haber sido. A pesar de que, cómo ya sabréis, ahora somos dos. El año que viene prometemos volver con más cambios y nuevas incorporaciones. [...]
A bunch of lonesome nerds, drone, and noise fans (and myself) gathered in the curiosity shop for some weird psychedelic noisemakers last evening. The night began with a short piece from a guy who went by the moniker Monstru. He built a deafening, thunderous feedback swell that threatened to knock artwork off the walls. He cut his maelstrom short upon noticing the overwhelming scent of burning electronics (emanating from a particular PA cabinet) that had filled the room. What a cool way to start the evening! A few minutes later, in the cramped back room of the shop, [...]
All this week I have been stuck in a loop. I have ranted, complained, and cried foul. Now that I've got it out of my system, I think I can start fresh next week with a bevy of new topics. Of course, the week isn't over yet, so there is still one more chance to share my observations with you. If you're reading this for the first time, please take a moment to browse through the previous four days' entries to get yourself acclimated to the pure hatred that has been spewed from the blackened pit of my soul. Then, [...]
The first time I heard Kemialliset Ystävät, I was a bit thrown off. I had discovered them through lablemate Islaja, and as taken as I was with her brand of dissonant folk I just couldn't find the beauty in the noise on Alkuhärkä . I enjoy it when others find the wonder in the way abject sounds can be recontextualized into a composition format without really touching on what would be termed music, but someting in their delivery gave rise to comparisons of kids in a temper tantrum. However, I gave their latest self titled album a listen, mostly [...]
My dear friend (and industry insider!) Nat was kind enough to share with me the final artwork for the forthcoming Alejandro Jorodowsky DVD boxed set , which will include Fando YLis , El Topo , and Holy Mountain . For a full-sized view, just click the image: Also, it's Sunday. Time for a new compilation. RULES for uninitiated noobs : With 100MB of webspace, I give birth to a weekly Mix Tape to be deposited on your iPods or Zunes or [...]
COCO'S OCD
The Line Of Best Fit
Forest Gospel
Raven Sings The Blues
Swan Fungus
It's a trap!
rose quartz
...and the world smiles with you
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
Angger Dimas – Ribon Dooh (Preview)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: Stronger
Antony and the Johnsons - "Rise"
