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Albums Music

P.O.D. – When angels & serpents dance

{mosimage}The Nu-Metal pioneers from San Diego are featuring their seventh studio album. 

One of the highlights of this album is the presence back in the band of Marcos Curiel. The album seems to be working pretty well in the charts, and it is nice to see how P.O.D. continues in good shape through the years. 

Although with some songs retaining the same old rap-metal style, like End of the World, the point is that this is album has a much softer vibe than previous ones. Many ballads and mid-tempo tracks like It can’t rain any day or I’ll be ready. Not necessarily a bad feature, since the songs sound great and with cohesion, but just do not expect so much of the old rage in this new album.  This new album is certainly a good effort for the veteran Christian rock band, very listenable. 

Rating 4/5  

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Albums Music

Dear Superstar – Heartless

{mosimage}Another young hard rock band coming from the United Kingdom is knocking at your door! 

When you take a look at the cover of this debut album by the English guys, 2 ideas come immediately to your mind: this is a rock band with a female singer, or this is a rock band with dirty sounds in the best Motley Crue ´s tradition. The second affirmation is totally true when talking about Dear Superstar. What they offer here is a good collection of songs with a sound “made in Hollywood” that could have been perfectly signed by the cousins of Motley Crue. If you like this “dirty” rock from the 80s, with topics about alcohol, retaliation, rock and of course sex (one track is just titled Hollywood Whore), this is for you.  

The guitar riffs are actually pretty sharp and compose some of the best moments in the album. So basically this Heartless counts with the best and the worst of the American hard rock tradition (although the band is English); if you like the style, you will be glad to discover this, but if you prefer other newer experienced or just remain with the classics of the genre, this will add basically nothing much to your CD collection. Up to you if you want to give them a try! 

Rating 3/5. 

Categories
Concerts Music

Rocking for the children of tomorrow

{mosimage}The Germans Scorpions were visiting Tallinn, the Estonian capital, last week end during their Humanity Tour. After having missed them last summer in Tampere, I was not going to let this opportunity pass. So there I headed, being present not only in the show but also at the press conference 1 day before to bring you the last information from these veteran but spiritually youthful rockers! 

 

T

he appointment for the press conference is at the sixth floor o Swissotel, a luxurious new resort  in the centre of Tallinn. The room is, as I expected, not much crowded, and after half an hour of delay the German band finally appears, wearing sunglasses and responding to the cold attitude of the shy Estonian journalists with good doses of humor. Vocalist Klaus Maine pinpoints how surprise they are about how fast Tallinn is changing, full of new modern buildings, while guitarist Rudolf Schenker makes clear that with their last album the band tries to come back to their roots and essence. These both are undoubtedly the ones leading the show, while the other members of the band keep silence most of the time, with just some opinions of Matthias Jabs sporadically. When an Estonian journalist makes the mistake to ask them which is the most stupid question they have ever been asked, the band answers immediately “This one!!!”.

 

{mosimage}Of course, being Scorpions a band that has written basically the unofficial anthem for the end of cold war: Wind of Change, it is normal that the Estonians ask them about their opinions of political happenings nowadays, and if they are thinking to write a “second” Wind of Change. As Klaus explains “we just reflect the world around us. We played in South America, in Tonga, in Siberia… and then we put all the impressions into songs”.

 

 

They also seem to be pleased to recall a visit to a small village in the middle of Amazonia, 2 hours from the city of Manaos in Brasil “There were like 35 people there, and they played their tribal music for us. Of course they had no idea who we were. Then they asked us to play something for us and we played Wind of Change for them. It was very emotive” said Schenker and Meine.

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Breaking the routine was also a repeated topic during the conference. No wonder then that this tour will have a bit of everything, with concerts played with an orchestra like in Riga and Vilnius, or an acoustic show in Estoril (Portugal) “It is fantastic to play with an orchestra. Also very demanding due to the planning, having two different conductors in those two concerts. It was 1 year ago the last time we played with an orchestra, and we wanted to do it again, but of course we cannot do it very often” answered Klaus. Rudolf Schenker also explained that in Estoril they are expecting some musicians from Brazil to join them and play together, including Sepultura´s  musician Andreas Kisser, who already joined them during some gigs in his native country.

The band also remembered some good moments in the past like their shows decades in Russia at The Peace Festival in Moscow and the re-encounter in Tampere last summer after so many years with Sebastian Bach, who was also one of the stars of that festival in Russia with his band Skid Row. There was no more time for questions, and it seems that they were in a hurry to leave the conference room, so unfortunately no much time for pictures or chatting more with them. It was time to wait for the next day to see their live show, but before leaving Klaus promised that they were ready to rock the foundations of the Estonian capital.

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The concert took place at Saku Arena. A venue almost fully packed, with those people, the “children of tomorrow” turned into the adults of today who were anxious to see the Germans in action. Scorpions are not only much beloved in Russia, but also in the Baltic countries. When they jumped on stage, it was amazing to see their vitality, especially Rudolf Schenker jumping and running from one side to the other (I had him basically 10 centimeters away from me during the first songs, because I was placed in the photographs VIP area, the closest to the stage, and he almost stepped on my fingers…).  The band mixed wisely some of the classics like Bad boys Running Wild, Blackout, Send me an Angel or Holiday with the newest ones, which sometimes received a colder response from the audience, although personally I liked Humanity, a song that sounds very “Scorpions” and fits very well in the setlist. Obviously the most emotive moment of the night was when Schenker started to scratch gently the acoustic guitar for extracting the first riffs of Wind of Change, massively sang by the Estonian audience. Klaus showed that he is still in excellent shape as lead vocalist, and the band put the cherry on top of the cake in the encore with some more classics like Still Loving you or the final explosion of Rock You like a Hurricane.

As Klaus Meine announced in the press conference: “in the end it is about music, to play old and new material to entertain people”. And certainly Scorpions accomplished the mission, stating why they are one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Photos by Antonio Díaz and Merle Ruubel.

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Antonio's blog Blogs

Glenn Hughes rocks the house!

I spent a nice week end of rock in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, and there on Saturday I had the chance to assist for first time to a Glenn Hughes concert minutes after being in Scorpions’ press conference at a luxurious hotel.

The German guys were friendly and funny, although they arrived half an hour late and they seemed to be in a hurry to leave the room, basically not much time to take pictures or chat a bit with them. I got also a bit pissed off because they had some nice posters on the table, and at the end of the press conference a guy from the organization took them away and we could not even enjoy a small souvenir from the band.Unfortunately I did not have time enough to arrive on time to the sound check to make a personal interview with Glenn Hughes. Glenn is a rock living legend who had played with bands such as Deep Purple or Black Sabbath, apart from having had many other interesting projects alone. He appeared on stage looking good and sharp. The venue was at Rock Café, in Zelluloosi Keskus; a place near Tallinn’s bus station quite nice for rock concerts, and old paper factory reconverted into a rock club. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of Nosturi in Helsinki, and here you do not even have to pay for the wardrobe!

Glenn Hughes

Hughes must have suffered some kind of lifting in the skin of his face, because the man really looks younger than his age. I had read opinions in some forums of people who did not want to go to the concert because considered him a kind of “old fart”, but the image he displayed on stage was totally the opposite. With a funky sound and moving all around, he played his bass player (and also the electric guitar in some songs) with a lot of vitality, but without forgetting to wink to his old fans with some classics like Stormbringer. Although the venue was not totally fully packed, and the beginning of the concert was a bit cold, Glenn managed to warm the atmosphere and make people dance with a great show. You could notice how the band was enjoying the concert more and more after some time passed by, with more smiles painted in their faces, and put a great cherry on top of the cake, being this their last European concert before coming back to USA.

So for the moment you cannot enjoy new gigs of Hughes in Europe, at least for some time, but if you have the chance to visit Rock Café if you are in the Estonian capital, I am sure that automatically will become one of the favorite places for rock lovers. Although beer is not as cheap as you could expect, 45 Estonian crowns-3 euro…

Categories
Misc News

Three Wise Men soon in the big screen

Categories
Outside Finland Travel

Seattle, Washington USA … an insider’s guide.

Text by Eric Remec

Seattle. The name conjures up some very specific images: Starbucks. Rain. Grunge. All these clichés certainly ring true but I want to try something a bit different and delve a little deeper into what makes Seattle such a cool city to visit. I find the best way to get a feel for a place is through its food. Whenever I’m traveling I steer clear of any tourist type places and try, as much as possible, to become a local.

In Rome, that means a breakfast of an espresso and pastry (while standing) in an Italian bar. In Spain, it’s ir de tapas (a form of bar-hopping) at night, sampling tapas and wine; In Kansas, USA, barbeque ribs in the town of Melvern (population 429). In this increasingly homogenized world, I think it is essential to celebrate what makes a place unique. A good rule to follow (in non-English speaking locales) is to listen to the languages being spoken by the patrons and avoid any place where the main language you hear is English. Well this rule obviously doesn’t work in Seattle so let me offer you, dear reader, an extremely biased list of some of my favorite places in the city.

Seattle

In a city that has on average only 71 truly sunny days a year, it’s no surprise that coffee is such a big deal here. Well forget Starbucks. Go to Le Panier. Whenever I’m in Seattle, this is the place where I like to start my day. A French style café and bakery located in the heart of Pike Place Market, Le Panier has the feel of a Parisian bakery. Grab a newspaper, a cup of café maison, and a chocolate croissant and ease into your day. Spend an hour or so in a seat by the window and watch the world go by outside. Speaking of which, a great place to start and get a feel for the city is Pike Place Market, Seattle’s famous outdoor market. Reminiscent of Helsinki’s Kauppatori with its stalls of vendors, Pike Place Market is located on Seattle’s waterfront in Puget Sound. You can find everything from farm fresh produce, to seafood, to local crafts from the Pacific Northwest. As you can probably guess, seafood is big here: salmon (smoked and fresh), Dungeness crab, clams, and mussels. You can actually buy the seafood to take home and the merchants will pack your purchase in special ice packs which will keep it fresh for 24 to 48 hours.

Almost next door to the bakery Le Panier is Piroshky Piroshky, a Russian bakery specializing in (you guessed it) piroshki. Somewhat similar to the Finnish karjalanpiirakat, these handheld pies are stuffed with a variety of different fillings.You can find almost 30 different varieties in all at Piroshky Piroshky, including beefand onion, Bavarian sausage, and sweet dessert rolls. Be sure to visit Beecher’s Handmade Cheese shop, Seattle’s Artisan Cheesemaker also located in Pike Place Market. They actually make their own cheese on the premises and the large viewing window inside the shop offers a glimpse into the cheese making process. Grab a cup of their “World’s Best Mac and Cheese” made from penne pasta and their Flagship cheese for a soul warming lunch on a damp and cold Seattle day. If you find yourself with limited funds (and in this current economic climate, who doesn’t?), I suggest you take full advantage of the concept of Happy Hour in Seattle. Typically between the hours of 16:00 – 19:00, many bars and restaurants offer half-price specials on drinks and food. It offers an excellent chance to sample some of the fine things that Seattle has to offer on a limited budget. The Belltown section of the city has a host of bars and restaurants which offer Happy Hour Specials and is a good place to start the evening.

Bar Txori Pintxo

Spanish-style tapas bars are becoming fairly common in large cities across the U.S. but for a real authentic experience later in the evening, head over to Txori.  OK, technically this a pintxos bar modeled on the pintxos bars of San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain, but it’s the real deal. Chorizo sausage with shaved chocolate, anchovies with olives and Spanish peppers, jamón serrano on top of toasted bread with fresh tomato and garlic, … each of these bite sized appetizers (which average $3.00 to $4.00 a piece) will have you dreaming of summer nights on the Spanish coast. Along with pintxos, Txori also offers some excellent Basque-inspired cocktails. Try the azafrán; a blend of citron vodka, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a touch of saffron. Outstanding.

For a complete change of pace, check out the The Whisky Bar. Now, I do love a good dive bar and The Whisky Bar is a great dive bar. Located directly across the street from the historic Moore Theatre, The Whisky Bar has all the essential requisites of a good dive bar: cheap drinks, loud music, intimidating looking bartenders and an eccentric clientele. The noir-inspired paintings featuring scantily clad women with guns only add to the charm of the place. Where else can you sing along to Slayer, Elvis, Iron Maiden, and Johnny Cash blaring at top volume on the jukebox while slamming back $2.00 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon? Jacket and tie definitely not required and leave your credit card at home. Happy Hour runs from 12:00 (!!!) to 21:00 daily.

The Whisky Bar

Seattle is a city that tends to close up a bit early so if it’s late and you’re hungry you can always stop by the The Palace Kitchen which serves its full menu until 1:00 (am). One of  Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas’ many establishments, The Palace Kitchen is as much a bar as a restaurant and offers excellent food along with some interesting brews and cider on tap. For a late night bite, the Palace Burger Royale and the Dahlia Triple Coconut Cream Pie for dessert are a good bet.  Bars close at 2:00 here but if there is time, you might want to head back to the Belltown section of Seattle for a last bit of bar-hopping before calling it quits for the night and staggering back to your hotel room.

As we come to the end of this article, a special note to any Seattle residents and tourists that might have some issues with my imperfect listing of the “best” places in Seattle. I agree with you. It’s certainly not the last word on Seattle and in fact, it’s only a start. So to all the many deserving places I didn’t mention and to all the places I didn’t get a chance to visit: Salumi Artisan Cured Meats run by Armandino Batali (Italian American chef Mario Batali’s father), the Experience Music Project Museum, the entire Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square areas of Seattle, … my apologies.

They’re just more reasons to go back.

Categories
Albums Music

The sound Ex – Palomino

{mosimage}The Sound Ex is a new and very interesting band hailing from Newcastle in U.K. 

If you like classic rock in the best English tradition, you are probably going to love The sound Ex. Good hard rock and excellent work with the instruments for a band that can remind you at some point Thin Lizzy or even Manic Street Preachers, powerful but measured. 

Breathtaking intros like in the third track Loss or in the introductory Enchantment, and great vocal skills make this album a pretty nice surprise. Palomino is an accessible album that can be certainly well received by a wider audience, but at the same time it shows rock with guts and attitude. All in all, a nice exciting work to follow closely the next steps by the English guys. 

Rating 4/5  

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Albums Music

Underground Attack – Sleazy Dreams

{mosimage}This young Finnish band formed during this year release their first album trying to find their way into the populated Finnish rock scene. 

Underground Attack is an indie rock band from the capital area of Finland that loves good classic guitar riffs in the best American sleazy tradition. Juhis, Piiska, Sasu and Arska are not afraid of crossing the Finnish boundaries, having gained experience playing in countries like Germany or Russia. What you have here is 12 tracks that compose their first album, and the result is… maybe too amateurish. 

The quality of the sound in the CD could be better, and the artwork of the CD exhales the flavor of an amateur work too (although I must confess I have nothing against the pretty lady naked in the back cover). There are some hints of good quality like in the 5th track Broken Dreams and the guitars sound solid all over the album, but the vocal skills are not the best ones you can listen to lately, and some lyrics could be improved, like for example in the boring and predictable Alienation. 

We are always glad to see new young bands trying to progress in the difficult rock business, but although Underground Attacks shows good manners, they still have a long way to improve in the future. 

Rating 2/5.

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Misc News

Glenn Hughes also in the Estonian capital

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Albums Music

Daikini – Salaisuus.

{mosimage}Daikini, aka Lauri Kemppainen and his band offers an original mix of rap and metal in this album. 

I am not specially very fond of rap-metal albums, and before listening to this Salaisuus, I must admit I did not have much expectations. But certainly Daikini has achieved quite a fresh and original sound in a style not so much exploded in Finland. The instruments sound clear and powerful and Lauri´s voice is direct like a good punch to the liver, but not without some charm (it helps if you can understand Finnish language). The combination works pretty well and the 10 tracks turn to be pretty listenable, with some very good tracks like Salaisuus, Tyttö Sinä Tapat Minun Luovuuden or Kaupallinen Itsemurha. 

If you are an old-school metal fan, probably you do even want to take the effort to listen to this one, but if you are the open-minded kind of person who is always hungry to discover new musical experiences, plus you enjoy listening to acid lyrics in Finnish, this album could gladly surprise you. Not a bad effort. 

Rating 3/5

Categories
Albums Music

Anssi 8000 & Maria Stereo – Duel

{mosimage}This duel turns into a duet with the collaboration of these 2 musicians in this new extravaganza for your ears. 

The notes of an organ that resembles those old Casio ones we used when were children fluidly fly away from the CD reproducer, introducing the new album of Anssi 8000 in collaboration with Maria Stereo. The guy native from a small village in Finland called Sahalahti can be catalogued of anything but mainstream. He takes care of vocals, guitar, bass and drums while Maria complements with backing vocals organ or playing cymbals.

Duel is a collection of 12 tracks with good doses of humor and irony in the lyrics, but certainly not aimed at all the publics. If you like experimental pop sounds with a twist, you will love this one, but if you are used to some more kind of mainstream pop-rock, this album will certainly sound weird. A record to be tasted slowly and carefully; probably you will need to listen to it several times to appreciate the good details here and there, but certainly after a while the sound becomes catchy.

Not an album to play at a party with friends, but a good one when you need some introspective moments alone in your room enjoying of tracks like I Feel like Surfing, Bad Moon Set or Sleeves of Jesus. 

Rating 3/5.

Categories
Interviews Music

Electro-pop from the Swedish countryside

{mosimage}Just a few hours before the gig, Johan T. Karlsson chats with journalists and fanswhile having a coffee in Klubi in Tampere. Within a few months, his project Familjen has taken his electronic music from his bedroom to live performances on stages around the world from Iceland to Australia. He still seems truly surprised of his success, even a bit shy about it in a very Scandinavian manner, acting like the kid from the little town going to the big city. And of course, he will not say no to a shot of vodka. "I like Finlandia vodka", Johan says. "That’s what Kent used to drink, so when we toured with them there was always a bottle of Finlandia vodka around". 

 

How do you prepare yourself for the show?

We don’t do anything special, really. What bands use to do, I supposed. We arehaving a party. The main thing is to get in the right mood, just listening to music, drinking and hanging around.

What do you listen to before the show?

Nowadays we are listening to quite a lot of early nineties acid house music.

How do you feel about touring and travelling to different parts of the world?

I am really excited about going to those places. When I was young, my parents did not have much money and we could not afford travelling abroad. Now I finally get to see the world. I don’t really like travelling much, though. You get tired all the time and there is a lot waiting. On the other hand, those are luxury problems. Being in Australia… Iceland… wow, it’s cool!

A fan comes to our table and greets Johan. They have a short conversation in Swedish. “I think the Finnish accent sounds lovely”, he tells me after the fan is gone. 

We were talking about touring, what are your favourite places?

We went to Italy. That was nice. We did some shows in Rome, Bologne, Milano…Beautiful cities, but we didn’t have the time to see much. One and a half hours to see Venice… that’s not much. We jumped into a bus and went around. Soon after that, back to the venue. It is weird. We go all the way, but we don’t have time to see much.

When did you start making music?

I got interested in music thinking about how sounds are created. When I was a kid, I did lots of different kinds of music. I played with samples, drum machines, I helped friends… Later someone would invited me to a project or a band and I would join. Since then I played in different bands and tried different sounds, pop rock, scratch-djing… many different things. But with Familjen Ithink I have found the right form and way to communicate my music. The Familjen project is me. With other bands, you have to struggle and fight for your ideas. No, no… you end up being mad. In Familjen I am the king, I get to decide.

How was the release of the album?

It was a bit unexpected. I had all the songs and a friend of mine that runs a record label in Sweden told me: “I really like the songs. Can I publish them on my label?” I agreed, so we first released an EP and then a full-length album. It went that well. I had no plans at all. People usually come to me and ask me to play. That is really cool, I don’t have to struggle and sell my ideas.

Did you have all the songs of the album ready at that time?

Not all of them. I was writing some of them when the record company decided to release a full length album. They told me: “Ok, we are doing it and we need more songs!” By that time I had done some live gigs, so I had started to understand what works well on the live set. Before that I had just played in my bedroom so most of the songs were instrumental songs and down-tempo. Playing live I realized that I needed some up-tempo songs that had an impact. A good beat, a good bass line. If you get that right, you get a good song.

Did you feel pressure when they ask you for songs?

It was a bit of pressure, but I think I made it. I had some time pressure. I finished the last song the night before we were supposed to master the recording and send it. Probably I need deadlines to make things happen.

Something slightly different about your music is that you sing in your own Swedish dialect

I thought about singing in English, but I chose Swedish in my own accent. I liked the challenge of making it sound good in my own accent. When I moved to Stockholm, sometimes when I was a bar, people would answer me in English. They didn’t understand me. My accent sounds a lot like Danish. I will continue in Swedish. Familjen will always be in Swedish.

The video of Det snurrar is min skalle got very popular and won an award in Sweden. How did it happen?

That’s funny. A guy I did not know at all did the video. He sent me a link to a video for the song. He said he had done this video just because he loved the song. Use it if you like it, he said. I saw it and it was awesome. It was mad. I loved it. That was the day before we were supposed to shoot the actual video for the song. Inmediately I rang the record label and everyone involved and I said we were not shooting the video. We already had it. I think the guy got around 2000 SEK as a reward. People love the video because it is so weird.

Do you have plans for a new album already?

I am working on it. We have been playing a lot in the last eight months and it is hard to get in the mood for writing when you are tired and don’t have much time. But now touring is starting to calm down, so I am getting excited to work on the new album. Hopefully, we will release it in spring. I need new songs because we have played the old songs so many times.

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Misc News

Scorpions in Tallinn

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Albums Music

Maarit – Kun yö saapuu

{mosimage}A bit of blues, jazz and soul in this new cocktail served by the Finnish female singer. 

Maarit offers here a collection of good tracks for the lovers of Iskelmä music. Unfortunately I am not especially fond of the style, but surely this album will find some followers, especially for the Finnish native speakers, because the album is entirely song in Finnish.  

A relaxing atmosphere and the omnipresent feeling of loneliness and melancholy “made in Finland” are features present all over the 12 tracks of the album: songs easy to listen to like in Yö Saapui Pariisiin or Tikkurilan Asemalla. Maybe we could say that this is a record better aimed at a mature audience in their thirties or forties. For younger ones, this can turn to be a bit boring if you are looking for new musical experiences.  

Personally, if you enjoy a nice female Finnish voice, and you prefer to understand the lyrics in English, I still go for other singers like the lovely and skilled Janita. Kun Yö Saapuu is a good album if you want to fall in the arms of Morpheus and enjoy a well deserved siesta after lunch. Otherwise, you do not miss much here. 

Rating 2/5.

Categories
Albums Music

Sonata Arctica – Ecliptica (Remastered 2008 Edition)

{mosimage}Finnish record company Spinefarm reedits the two first albums of the Finnish metal heroes. An excellent opportunity to revisit their beginnings! 

More than a decade ago a young band started to sound powerfully in the Spanish metal radio stations. People were instantly hooked by their quality, nothing to envy to other classic power-metal bands like Gamma Ray or Helloween. And of course I was another one who got blown by those young followers of Stratovarius. Now, after some years, you have the opportunity to enjoy again the first album of Sonata Arctica, the metal headers from Kemi, Finland, with a new artwork and a special bonus track added: Letter to Dana. The rest is Finnish metal history: tracks of super-high quality and speed like the blowing Blank File or the already classics FullMoon or Replica.

If you already had the album when was originally released, maybe you can skip buying this remastered version, if not, this is an unique occasion to pursue it and add to your metal collection a truly modern classic! 

Rating 4/5.