dystopic

Last time we checked Xploding Plastix their music was a crossbreed of nujazz/downtempo and electronic music. That I guess was their excellent 2001 album “Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents“. After 7 years, a trip to a major label, collaborating with the likes of Kronos Quartet, the Norwegians are back.

After the emergent Finland features of Korpi Ensemble, Kuusumun Profeetta and Alamaailman Vasarat, I wanted to consciously end this Finland feature with 2 different artists.

A huge Crystal Cave - see the man there?

Our first artist Mr. Vladislav Delay is not new to undomondo. I had the courtesy of Huume Recordings to a promo from his upcoming CD Whistleblower, which marks the 10th year in his career. The new album consists of 7 songs and according to Huume “displays somewhat a resurgence of his older drug-infused sound-states; them utopian audio-visions large and vast enough to hide away from the reality.” The title of the song is “I saw a Polysexual“, and it’s highly in tune with the polyrhythmic approach of Delay. I had mentioned before that I found the Uusitalo album a bit stale and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the Luomo album, I’m happy to see him keep the better parts of his sound and try some new things soundwise. It’s still dark and dystopic, but the quality of the composition is unlike anything I’ve heard from him recently. The shifting of the chaotic noise into a noticeable pattern is captivating. Reminded me of walking through a huge crystal cave with lights reflecting here and there (like the one above). Not that I ever went into a crystal cave but, you’ll see what I mean. Hope the album keeps up to this songs standard.

The next songs are from another Finnish band that’s completely on the opposite end of the musical spectrum, of drunken stupor and cover songs, which as you might have guessed is the unlikely Humppa (a Finnish version of German oompah folk) mock band Eläkeläiset (which is Finnish for pensioners). I’ve first seen a video of them on Youtube and was completely blown away. Now I’ve acquired their “Humppakarajat” CD and it’s time to feature a few songs from these drunken lunatics. They’ve already got 606K listens on last.fm, unbelievable and if you like the music you’ve got to check them live. It’s up to you to guess the original of these songs but if you can’t find them, you can check their complete cover list. There’s nothing’s much fun than singing 80’s - 90’s songs in Finnish with a beer in hand.

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Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer

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Live in Munich, great concert starts with a cover of 2unlimited’s no limit!!

Vladislav Delay - I Saw a Polysexual
Eläkeläiset - Poro
Eläkeläiset - Dementikon keppihumppa
Eläkeläiset - Humppaukaasi