On the new edition of Encore, Mat McNerney tells about his psychedelic folk-rock band Hexvessel, collecting weird records, travelling to South By Southwest and Yoko Ono. Read online or download the PDF file. Photos by Maija Lahtinen
The ever lovely folk trio Statues Made of Matchsticks visited a local library in Helsinki to record a new song for the Luomustudio series. It's On My Way features a sweet (and catchy) melody and the trio's usual combination of banjo, acoustic guitar and harmonica. It's just a folk song, and I like it.
You do not want to miss this year's Flow Festival in Helsinki, right? You want to wear your hipster clothes and see top-class international acts Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk, and some of the best indie, pop, and electro bands in Finland. This is your chance to make it [...]
Maria Korkeila describes herself as an aspiring fashion designer from Finland, who loves to explore the world of aesthetics using different types of media as a means for self-expression. Music is one of those media and using the moniker MMVK, she has published her first song, The Marching Song. This is a very gentle tune [...]
Back to the golden age of rock and roll, everybody hazy, shell-shocked and crazy. Tampere-based band Mushaboom plays the sounds of the seventies hard rock with catchy guitar riffs, a powerful rhythm section and a golden-haired singer. So, yes, there is a lot of Led Zeppelin in Mushaboom's music, but also a melodic twist and [...]
From the west coast of Finland, in Turku, The Kobra Kicks deliver a playful summer song as the first taste off an upcoming debut album. Krokodil is a guitar driven indie rock song with high energy and lo-fi vocals, attractive enough to make you dance. Influenced by The Libertines, Joy Division and Interpol, it will [...]
When he is not playing classic 60s rock and roll with the band Volter (and releasing one of my favourites albums last year), singer-songwriter Jani Tuovinen (aka Jann Wilde) uses the moniker The Saturnettes to make some new wave, synth-pop music. Back in 2011, The Saturnettes released a very fun debut album and now Jani [...]
Come August power pop band The Lieblings will release their debut album Take Us To Your Leader on the always interesting label GAEA Records. The first single just hit the net and if it is any indication of what the album contains, we are in for a party-dance-sign-along-bubbleg um-pop treat with fuzz on top. This new [...]
Five-piece folk band Phenomenal Creature has recently released its debut album, a humble collection of acoustic songs rooted somewhere in the Finnish forests. The songs sound rustic with a very dark bluesy feeling enhanced by lead singer Joona Mäkelä distinct vocals, which are nicely accompanied by female harmonies. Songbird showcases a great pop melody, but [...]
Robin Pahlman has travelled the world to reinvent himself as a songwriter. After being in bands like Agent Kooper and Carmen & The Devil, and playing anything from punk rock to bluegrass, it took a stint in Seattle to start writing little acoustic songs on his own. Now, based in Vienna, Austria, Robin prepares his [...]
Thank god it's Friday and thank god for rock and roll. Finland's most popular rock and roller and former Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe is back with the new single Ballad Of The Lower East Side. This is a fast bubblegum punk rock track with sticky clap-your-hands pop chorus. Classic Michael Monroe sound and an [...]
Call your band Shine 2009, name one song Eurozone, add some opera vocal samples and a whole lot of funk, and Pitchfork will likely pick your single up. Back in 2011, Shine 20092s debut album got some well-deserved attention from the international media. Two years later, the duo formed by producers Sami Suovan and Mikko [...]
Post rock outfit Blind Architect has just released their debut album We felt Mountain and made a nice and simple video for the first single Lebanon. The song is beautiful six-minute piece with loud guitars, interesting chord progressions and a nice touch of French horn that makes the song more emotive. The whole album is [...]
It’s been a little less than one year since I first heard about Black Lizard but it seems the band has already built up quite a reputation, first with an EP last September and then with some important shows such as opening for The Raveonettes earlier this year. Finally, the awaited debut album hit the [...]
Going to Tallinn Music Week? Here are some bands from Finland you may want to see there. Tallinn Music Week is slowly, but steadily becoming a major showcase festival in Northern Europe with 233 artists from 20 countries playing over a long weekend (4-6 April) almost all around the clock -there are some tasty offerings [...]
The lovely net-label EardrumsPop has just released the debut EP by the no less lovely indie pop band Eva On The Western Castle Island. Eva is a young Malaysian girl who lived in the city of Johor Bahru and used to sing in karaoke booths and night markets before moving to the forests of Finland [...]
The second issue of Encore is now available and it is dedicated to one of my favourite Finnish bands, Them Bird Things. After three albums, they continue being a superb blending of blues, country and folk and recording timeless songs. A truly unique band. Probably no other band in Finland does anything similar. In this [...]
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Lana Del Rey – Young And Beautiful (No Pets Allowed Remix)
Kanye West Rapped About Ruining People’s Stuff A Lot On ‘Yeezus’: Here’s The Comprehensive List
