Categories
Cinema DVD

Mother’s love

{mosimage}Directed by Martial Fougeron, this French drama  was awarded with the Golden Shell (Concha de Oro) at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2006 ex aequo with Iranian Bahman Ghobadi’s Half Moon. However, in spite of its inner violence and its tough tale, the film is empty and results pointless.

{sidebar id=42} In less than 80 minutes, Fougeron tells the growing violence of a mother towards his son through excessive protectionism, selfishness and extreme authoritativeness. It is the portrait of an unbearable mother’s love. One can easily connect this idea to François Truffaut’s masterpiece The 400 Blows. But while Truffaut’s is a complex psychological portrait of troubled youth, My Son is simple and it does not ask as many question as it tries to.

Although such a punishment from a mother is touching and the boy’s psychological suffering (rather than physical) is shocking, the film becomes implausible. It is hard to believe the passivity of the father and the transformation of the mother out of the blue.

Nevertheless, there is something really outstanding in this film. Nathalie Baye in the role of the mother is superb and she keeps the son together and clearly justifies the prize she also won in San Sebastian. It is pity that there’s nothing else in the film that tops her acting. Fortunately Fougeron’s narrative styles is marked by sobriety and My Son avoids falling into a TV drama.

Categories
Misc News

YLE withdraws from Helsinki music hall project

The financially-strapped public broadcaster was to be one of the three financiers of the venture and pay 25 percent of the building costs. The City of Helsinki would also contribute 25 percent, with the State of Finland paying the remaining half.

YLE was prepared to pay a maximum of 35 million euros towards the building of the concert hall, where it hopes to accommodate its Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO). However, according to the latest bid, YLE’s share in the project would rise far beyond that.

The broadcasting company now intends to simply rent space for the RSO in the future building.

Rejection
On Friday, the Board of the Music Centre venture rejected the only remaining bid to build it, which had been presented on Monday (29.10).

Third partner
Both the City of Helsinki and the Finnish State have publicly expressed their commitment to continue the music hall project and are looking for a new third partner.

The Musiikkitalo is to be built on the shores of Töölö Bay, opposite the Parliament Building and next to the Kiasma museum and Sanoma House.

The site has been one big, open building ground since the burning down and demolition of the old VR railway storehouses (‘Makasiinit‘) in May, 2006. Ground works continue despite the project’s setbacks.

Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo)

Live webcam images of the building site – Helsingin Sanomat

Photo gallery of the Makasiinit fire – Helsingin Sanomat

Categories
Cinema DVD

Call the bet!

{mosimage}Lucky You portrays the high stakes poker world, with Eric Bana and Robert Duvall in a twisted father and son relation.

{sidebar id=41} Since Rounders, it has been long time that the exciting world of poker is not deeply depicted in a film. Director Curtis Hanson (winner of an Academy Award for L.A. Confidential) puts the cards on the table with Lucky You, a wonderful and accurate description of the poker world and the gamblers. The scenario has been meticulously copied, with almost exact replicas of Bellagio casino and Binion´s Horseshoe, emblematic places to play poker.

Eric Bana as Huck Cheever shows film after film that apart from having a great physical presence in front of the camera (remember him in Troy, as Hector), he is also a great actor, for those who could have any doubt after seeing him in Spielberg’s Munich. The action is pretty much focused on him and his relation with his father and also poker professional player, incarnated by an always superb Robert Duvall (L.C. Cheever). Drew Barrymore appears sweet and fresh as usual; it is amazing how she can always look so youthful year after year. Robert Downey Jr. has a short but interesting intervention as Bana´s friend. His appearance nonetheless is pretty wasted. It would have been great to see him more often during the story.

Many of the professional players that are sitting on the poker tables are real ones, who were recruited to give advice and help planning the scenes. They are one of the strong points in the movie, since the most interesting feature of poker games usually is to analyze the individuals, and see their special looks and behaviour. Hanson has made one of the best poker films of the history, with a great balance between the curiosity and excitement that the poker game awakens and the deep analysis of human relations between the two main characters, Duvall and Bana. More than one will go to Internet to play a couple of games after watching this movie. Do not get much addicted!

Rating 4/5

Categories
Misc News

Danish dancer nominated for director post at National Ballet

Greve, who is 39, has previously worked as a dancer with, among others, the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Vienna State Opera Ballet. He currently works with the Danish Royal Ballet in Copenhagen, where he has worked as Principal Dancer since 1992 and Ballet Master since 2006.

The Board will take its final decision on November 14th. If Greve is indeed appointed as the National Ballet’s Artistic Director, he will start working in Helsinki at the beginning of August, 2008.

Video of Kenneth Greve performing with the Danish Royal Ballet

Finnish National Ballet (at the Finnish National Opera)

Danish Royal Ballet

Categories
Antonio's blog Blogs

Good and bad promotion


I was having a
cup of coffee this afternoon with Andres,
one of the members of Bullfrog Brown,
the most internationally recognized Estonian blues band. Andres belongs to that
selected and admiring group of people with a very good background and
journalistic and musical knowledge, but difficulties to find a good job that
really could reward his skills. Even though, he dedicates a lot of effort
and even his own money to his passion:
his band and the music.


As one of the
creators of FREE! Magazine, a
publication that walks on the thin line of the professionalism (by studies and
background of the editors) and amateurism (since we do not get basically any
economical reward for doing this, neither any official support), I find a
special pleasure and connection when chatting with another person who shares a
similar vision of life and circumstances. There is almost a special kind of
guilty pleasure in putting all the efforts in something that maybe will never
bring recognition (at least in economical terms).

The point is
that we go through many topics and stories, and one that comes is the lack of
professionalism of some promoters. I don´t want to give any particular names,
but sometimes you must really make an effort to understand how bands so much
needed of promotiong and help by the journalists ignore the basic rules of the
game. Few weeks ago I was denied by a promoter the possibility to meet for a
face to face interview with a band that was exceptionally geographically very
near me , while some days later their label company, whose responsible is
usually more accurate and effective professional, offered me the chance to meet
them, writing me… from far England. Well, too late, I had just sent a
questionnarie, the basic solution in these cases…that was sent back by the
promoter quite late, giving some vague exuses and provoked more than one
problem for the editorial team. A perfect example of throwing stones against
your own house.

If something I
learn day after day, is that you should show respect and interest for
everybody, no matters the first impression that can give to you, since you
never know whom you can offend with a non right atittude. Baltic or
Scandinavian countries are not so big, and often you meet the same people from
the same industry sooner or later. But well, I want to believe that it is a
question of time that attitudes will improve. My advice for the so many new
bands trying to find their space in the market: if you have a promoter or
manager, try that he gets the shit properly done. And a nice relation with the
media is essential. Sometimes a couple of nicely sentences in an email can make
the difference for a future business and promotion relation.

Another issue
that I discussed with Andres is that I do not understand the attitude of some
DVD distributors in Finland, with their “palautus” (return) policy for the film
sample copies. That means you have to review a film and send it back to the
house in a few days. FREE! Magazine cannot track or send the dvds back, since
the collaborators take care of them, and even though keeping the copies is
needed in most of the cases for future articles. But I wonder : what is the big
deal for companies that spend thousand of euros in promotion, not making the
little effort to give some more copies of dvds that can cost 10-15 euro per
unit? For me, it is an awesome good deal for those companies, that get
promotion and potential customers for that minimum cost. The record companies,
thanks god, do not follow the same trend. A good digipak edition of a cd can
cost perfectly around 20-25 euro in any shop, more than many dvds, but so far,
the film companies are the only ones following that policy. Once more, I just
advice the people to invest a bit of time and energy in good relations and
smooth communication with the new media, instead of  the silence for an answer.

Categories
Concerts Music

Massive Rush

{mosimage}Last Monday
was an important day for rock fans in Finland. It was a day marked on the
calendar for many months. The Canadian prog rock trio Rush played in the
country for the first time in more than 30 years of career. The band didn’t
disappoint and it offered an extraordinary show at a sold out Hartwall Areena.
More than 12,000 people were happy.

Three years
ago, many Finns traveled to Stockholm. It was their only opportunity to see the
band’s 30th anniversary tour. It was a unique chance to see a band that does
not tour Europe very often. This year Rush were back and this time they didn’t
forget about those Finnish fans. “We didn’t know that we had so many fans
here”, says bassist Geddy Lee during the press conference before the show. “On
that show in Sweden, we realized that we needed to come and play here.”

Guitarist
Alex Lifeson admits that they are having a lot of fun on this tour. “After
Neil’s [drummer Neil Peart] tragedy, we didn’t play for long. But that period
of absence made us realize how fragile life is. We love playing so as long as
we can plan well the tour and keep healthy, we’ll tour”.

The tragedy
Lifeson’s refers to dates back ten years. Within a few months, Neil Peart’s
only daughter and his wife died. He retired for four years. Peart was not
present at the press conference, but Geddy Lee said that “he hasn’t been
happier on a tour”. The drummer wrote a road book about his experiences and
feelings after that tragedy. He has written some more books about being on the
road with a car, a bike or a motorbike. He is planning to drive around Finland
after the tour. “We are not worried about him”, Lee says. “He is a very a safe
driver”.

The press
conference soon transforms into a friendly talk in which the musicians share
their memories and experiences. Both remember the first gig together. “We knew
only six or seven songs, so we played them over and over in front of 40 people.
We made 10 dollars”, tells Alex. “After the show we went to a diner nearby and
had french fries. We planned our future as musicians. It was so exciting”, adds
Geedy. “But of, course, it was very important our first show with Neil. We
opened for Uriah Heep and we had just 26 minutes to play”.

{sidebar id=35}Those 26
minutes are much different than the nearly three hours that a Rush gig lasts
nowadays. There was  a great atmosphere at
the ice hockey hall minutes before the show started. The merchandise stands
were crowded with hundreds of people buying t-shits, posters, pins, Neil
Peart’s books… Cash flow big time. A bit after 8pm, lights out and the intro
video was displayed

And the
trio started. They played loud, but crystal clear, although perhaps the guitar
was a bit too loud and drowned the vocals and the bass at some point. Audience
got excited and stood up. However, most of the people sat down for most of the
concert, the audience was pretty responsive and warm, at least for a typically
cold audience as the Finnish is.

Neil Peart,
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are superb musicians. Even when they used the
support of prerecorded midi samples, their playing is top class, almost
perfect. Their music is complex. Songs travel through many places and create
many textures. It’s a massive sound.

As Lee had
confirmed, the show is pretty different from the previous tour. It started with
a set of songs from the early  eighties, including Limelight, Digital Man and
Entre Nous. It took some minutes for the band to warm up, but soon the trio
works like a clockwork machine. “There’s not much room for improvising and
jamming on our set”, Lee explains. “It has a precise choreography”. Lifeson
adds that “we usually improvise in the rehearsals or the sound check and if we
hit some nice notes or arragement, we’ll add them to the show”.

Indeed, the stage production is part of the
magic of the Rush show. Lights, sound and video are perfectly synchronized. The
green lasers all over the venue created a great sci-fi atmosphere that fits so
well with the music and the synths parts of the songs. The videos add superb
animations and funny sketches (with Finnish subtitles) like the one with the
South Park kids introducing the hit Tom Sawyer.

But at the beginning of the second set,
something not on the script happened. Alex Lifeson blew up the amps and, Far
Cry, the single of the latest album Snakes & Arrows, was finished with just
drums and bass. That felt kind of awkward as it took some minutes to fix the
problem.

The second set continued with four more
songs of Snakes & Arrows. That could be a bit too much for the fans waiting
to hear the classic. But this is the best release from Rush in many years.
Songs like Workin’ Them Angels, Armor and Sword or The Way the Wind Blows
proofed that it is possible to sound fresh and relevant after 30 years of career.

“This album was a lot of fun to record”,
tells Geddy Lee. “We felt like we could have continued composing and record for
a double album. It was a pity to stop that momentum”. Snakes & Arrows, as
previous albums, is not based on electronic sounds. “We intentionally decided
to write songs on acoustic guitar and bass”, continues Lee. “Electronics were
not involved. It’s something we used to do many years. We did a full circle
back”.

The three members seem to enjoy the time on
stage. Lifeson is an extraordinary guitarist and Neil Peart gave a clinic of
how to play drums and Geddy Lee, with a t-shirt from the museum that read "kunnon kansalainen" (decent citizen, jumped and
sang beautifully. He keeps his voice in a very good shape, maybe thanks to the
soup he takes before every concert. “

There’s nothing much plan for the band
after this tour. As the guitarist confirms, they have recorded a couple of
shows in Rotterdam for a dvd released. “It is format that suits us very well and
it gives us the chance to see the show”, he laughs.

The press conference is over and reporters we
hurry to get some photos and autographs. We are a bunch of crazy fans, anyway.

Categories
Cover story Misc

The grandchildren of Bodom

{mosimage}In the summer of 1960 three teenagers were savagely murdered while
camping by the shore
of Bodom Lake, in Espoo.
47 years later, the case is still unsolved, but not at all forgotten by the
Finnish public opinion.

 

Catchy name for a metal band

For most of the people, especially the non-Finnish readers and those
living outside Finland, the tragedy of Lake Bodom is known mainly by the huge
popularity of Finnish metal band Children of Bodom; while searching for
an adequate name in the offices of Spinefarm, their record label, in
Helsinki, somebody advised them to relate the band’s name to Bodom (the band
members lived near the area and had heard stories about the Bodom legend since
their childhood). Of course the quality of the music did the rest, but it
cannot be denied that their particular name got them immersed in a much
appropriated mystic aureole that would involve their music in a dark and
mysterious spirit. The band dedicates in every album at least one song to the
events happened almost 5 decades ago, and amazingly they had never been sued or
received a formal complaint by any relatives of the victims about the use of
such a macabre name. 

But probably, many of you cannot have much clear idea of what really
happened there, apart from the fact that some youngsters were killed. The
number of victims was 3:  Maila Irmeli
Björklund and Anja Tuulikki Mäki, both 15 years old at the time and Seppo
Antero Boisman, 18 years old at the time. There was a fourth young guy camping
there: Nils Wilhelm Gustaffson, 18 years old at
the time, who survived with notable wounds, and did not remember much of what
happened when woke up at the hospital days later.

 

Many hypothesis, not clear answers 

Police never was able to solve the case, and there have been theories
for all tastes: a person who was working in a kiosk near the murder scene
alleged just before dying that he had committed the crime, but he had a clear
alibi that night. In 2003 Jorma Palo, who had worked at a hospital when
the murderers took place, published a book where he accused Hans Assmann,
a German spy with residency in Finland
that appeared with some strange injuries and blood in his clothes some days
after the Bodom´s tragedy, and whose guilt was never investigated by an
overwhelmed police corp.

Some others have developed even weirder ideas just like the hand of more
than one killer, or the participation of non-human creatures that would inhabit
near the lake. The bomb really exploded when in 2004, 44 years after the
murderers, Nils Gustaffson was arrested on the suspicion that he committed the
crime. But the accusers could not prove anything, and it was hardly to believe
that he was able to self-inflict so many injuries as he had when being found
just without losing consciousness first. The trial was massively followed by
the yellow press, as it could not had been otherwise, and at the end the
Finnish state had to pay a big sum of money to Nils for the damage and pressure
he had to face being trial for something that (supposedly) he did not commit,
far from his previous quiet life as bus driver in Espoo.

 

{mosimage}The legend of Bodom once more 

End of the Bodom case? Not a chance. Not guilty killer has been found,
no soul of the victims can rest in peace. The last approach to the case has
just been released in DVD under the title Bodomin Legenda (literally: The
Legend of Bodom). A Finnish film in black and white directed by Tapio
Piirainen and produced by YLE. Not the greatest film in Finnish history,
since sometimes looks more like a parody than like a real representation of
true events (the characters look so over-stereotyped: the bald mean Russian
spies from the Embassy, the ambiguous German Hans with mental problems who
seems to be drunk during half of the movie… ), but it serves you to jump back
to the 60s and live an unique period in Finnish history with president Urho
Kekkonen feeling the breath of the Communist neighbours behind his neck. Forget about finding much veracity and clarifications for the Bodom Lake´s case, and focus 
better on some special and very Finnish details, like the friendship expressed with
just a few words but strong actions between Police Chief Oiva Keto (Juha
Muje) and his partner Ilmari Hallanheimo (Pekka Huotari), or the
simplicity of decorations and dialogues that can make you feel for some moments like watching a new Aki Kaurismäki´s movie. The DVD counts with
English subtitles, so it is easy to follow for the non-Finnish speakers, but
probably it will be not so easy to understand for those foreigners who have not
lived a period of time in Finland. A movie mostly aimed at the local Finnish market.

For those of you who live near Helsinki
area, Lake Bodom is quite an accessible point, just
22 kilometres from the centre. If not for the macabre happenings that took
place more than 4 decades ago, it can be worthy to visit just to spend a
relaxing camping day (with no knives disturbing the peace). The tragedy of
Bodom marked forever a nation that during many decades, never saw safe enough
again to let their young children camp and wander the lakes and forests without
the fear settled deep inside their hearts. Probably, as in most of the
mysterious killings all over the history, the real murderer will be never
revealed, unless that the science will prove the opposite, but what is
undeniable is that Lake Bodom killed not only 3 children, but a big part of the
Finnish nation’s innocence.

Categories
Misc News

Finnish musicians get “humiliating” treatment at U.S. airport

The ordeal took place on the 13th of September after Karjalainen and fellow musicians Ninni Poijärvi and Mika Kuokkanen had arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for a three week tour through the U.S. states of Minnesota and Michigan, including meetings with Finnish-Americans and performances at Finnish-American cultural events. They were joined by Finnish documentary filmmaker Erkki Määttänen, who was making a TV programme about the visit for Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

“Humiliating” treatment

The four were stopped by customs officials and interrogated for nearly three hours. “The treatment was bad,” Karjalainen told Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat. “’Don’t lie to us’, they yelled at us all the time.”

The Finns were each taken to separate rooms for questioning. Their luggage was checked by sniffer dogs. “First they suspected drugs. Then crime registers were asked for, “, said the singer, who described the actions of the officials as “supremacy“ and “humiliating“.

The questioning focused on whether or not the group came to earn money in the United States, while they were entering the country without work permits.

Threats, accused of lying

"They threatened us with severe punishments if we talk to each other," the Star Tribune quoted from the complaint that was signed by musicians Ninni Poijärvi and Mika Kuokkanen, "Through the walls, I can hear officers yelling, screaming. They ask about the purpose of our trip — except we are only allowed to give yes-or-no answers. I try to talk about our plans to meet with Finnish-American folk musicians. Nobody listens. They interrupt me constantly and they yell, 'You are a liar!"'

Filmmaker Määttänen told of similar experiences in the room he was kept in. "From the beginning, they said I was lying, that these guys were coming here to work. They were shouting at me, and people were going in and out of doors. They tried to put you down mentally, to humiliate you."

No apology

The Finns were released after nearly three hours, without any explanation or apology, according to the complaint.

A press officer for the regional Customs and Border Protection office in Chicago, who had not seen the complaint yet, told in a reaction that if such behaviour had indeed occurred, it would be against the agency’s policy and thoroughly investigated.

J. Karjalainen is one of Finland’s most popular singer-songwriters and a well-known devotee of Finnish-American folk music. Last year he released Lännen Jukka, Amerikansuomalaisia lauluja (Jukka of the West, Finnish-American songs), a collection of Finnish-American blues songs and a tribute to his musical mentor. The album was widely considered one of the best Finnish recordings of 2006.

Minnesota's Finnish guests find a rude airport welcome – Star Tribune

J. Karjalainen – official label site (in Finnish)
Lännen Jukka – official album website (in Finnish)

J. Karjalainen records classic Finnish-American songs – Helsingin Sanomat International Edition
Jukka Karjalainen "Channels" Old Country Blues… – New World Finn

Categories
Features Music

The finest abnormality

{mosimage}With more
than 1,5 million albums sold, Eppu Normaali is one of Finland’s rock
institutions. It is already 30 years since the band, formed by the brothers Syrjä,
took the name of one of the characters in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein: Abby
Normal, translated into Finnish as Eppu Normaali (epänormaali, abnormal). Last
Friday, Eppu Normaali played at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki and they
presented their new album.

Like it
happens with many other Finnish brothers, Eppu Normaali is a band of brothers.
Two brothers and cousin. Martti Syrjä (vocals), Pantse Syrjä (guitar) and their
cousin Aku Syrjä (drums), along with guitarist Juha Torvinen and bassist Mikko
Saarela formed the group in 1976 in Ylöjärvi, very near Tampere. They started
playing a basic punk rock, following the trend of that time marked by Ramones.
But they did it in Finnish!

The first
performance of the band was in 1977 as part of a national rock competition held
in Tampere. Progressive rock was still very popular and Finland was not ready
for Martti’s sarcastic lyrics. Martti’s writing has always been outstanding and
has become one of the most reputed Finnish lyricists, a skill inherited from
his parents, writers Kirsi Kunnas and Jarkko Syrjä.

Of course,
Eppu Normaali didn’t win that competition, but they gained the attention of one
of the judges. Rock legend Juice Leskinen recognized the band’s talent. Soon
after that, the legendary Poko Records signed Eppu Normaali. Their first album,
Aknepop, was released in 1978. It wasn’t a great success and at the time only
2,000 copies were sold.

Since then,
the group has released 14 studio albums and 2 live ones and the records sales
have obviously increased much. As a matter of fact, Eppu Normaali must be one
of best selling Finnish bands. A greatest hits collection sold over 200,000
copies in 1996. A great number indeed for a small country.

{mosimage}In spite of
releasing a new album every year, the band’s breakthrough didn’t happened until
1984 with the release of Rupisia riimejä,
karmeita tarinoita, that includes hits like Nyt
reppuni jupiset, riimisi rupiset, Taivaassa
perseet tervataan ja Pimeyden tango. Mikko Nevalainen had replaced Mikko Saarela on bass in 1979 and the
band was getting close to more eighties sounds and AOR, almost like Finland’s
Dire Straits.

Rock fans
will soon recognize the inspiration of some of the Eppu Normaali’s album cover.
Their second album is a tribute to The Who and their Maximum R&B, in this
case translated to Maximum Jee & Jee. Even funnier are the adaptations of
the Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Cosmo’s Factory and Willie and The Poor Boys.
For the Finns, they were Akun tehdas (Aku’s Factory, 1980) and Aku ja köyhät
pöjat (Aku and the Poor Boys, 1983).

{mosimage}A second line
up change happened in 1989. Mikko Nevalainen left the band and Sami Ruusukallio
took the bass and still holds it. However, it wasn’t the happiest times. The
band toured less and less each year and lack of inspiration was present in the
recordings while Martti Syrjä suffered problems with alcohol. It seemed the end
of Eppu Normaali when the band decided to take a break in 1994. That break
lasted 11 years.

In 2004, the
group reunited and recorded Sadan vuoden päästäkin. It was a great success,
achieving platinum on its release. It didn’t take that long to have new album
out. Last September Syvään päähän was released and again, the album has sold
great. It is a good album, a collection of rock tunes with intelligent lyrics.
This time the artwork was done by the duck artist Kaj Stenwall and the trivia
says that Juha Torvinen played a couple of songs with a one of Ron Wood’s picks
and Aku Syrjä played with one of Charlie Watts’ drumsticks.

{mosimage}Thirty
years have gone already, but it is not too late to discover, live or on record,
one of Finland’s finest bands. Don’t let the Finnish lyrics scare you!

Categories
Misc News

Discover Giotto, the first great Italian master painter, in Annantalo

Sculptor and architect Giotto di Bondone
(c.1267-1337) is considered not only as one of the first Italian, but one of
the first European master painters that would have a great impact on future
generations. All around the chapel, you can assist to their images where joys,
pain, betrayal, good or evil are depicted always in a religious environment;
All involved in the painter’s characteristic blue background.

 

Useful Information:

Annantalo Arts Centre

Street address: Annankatu 30 Helsinki

annantalo.info@hel.fi

 

Exhibition: The perfect circle of a master –
Giotto’s fresco cycle in the Arena Chapel in Padua.

18 August – 4 November 2007-10-28

Free admission.

The exhibition is open to the public
Mon.-Fri 1-8 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Open to groups Mon.-Fri 9 a.m.-1 p.m., advance notification requires as of 20 August by phone.

tel. +358 9 310 37168 (weekdays 10 a.m.-1 p.m.).

Categories
Albums Music

Malummeh – Revival

{mosimage}Here’s another group of frustrated youngsters that vent their anger through aggressive metal music. Malummeh’s sound is highly influenced by Swedish melodic death metal and American metalcore, which certainly isn’t the most unique combination nowadays.

Malummeh may be rightly angered, but they haven’t really found an interesting way to put their anger into music. Everything is done by the book: tightly played thrash riffs, occasional guitar melodies, singer screaming his lungs out – and so on. It’s just hard to figure out why anybody should pick up Revival and not one of the dozens of other similar records.

he band certainly have some strengths, I am not saying that. Unfortunately, song writing is not one of them. No matter how many times you listen to Revival, it is quite difficult to remember anything of it, save the seemingly endless metalcore onslaught everybody into this kind of music has heard a million times before. Malummeh is a band who can name one of their tracks Open Your Eyes and sincerely believe the idea is not already overused.

Malummeh is one of those bands that do all the right things. The sad thing for them is, that in rock music that doesn’t really mean that the music would work. Quite the contrary, actually: you can do many wrong things and still make it work, whereas doing everything right often paints a picture of a band unable to come up with anything genuinely new.

2/5 

Categories
Albums Music

Samettivallankumous – Täällä mies, kuuleeko nainen?

{mosimage}Samettivallankumous (”velvet revolution” in English) is essentially, as far as the line-up and the style of music go, Ville Härkönen & Velvet with a new name. They make alternative country in Finnish, which – as a concept – is quite refreshing in a way. Too bad the concept doesn’t really work the way it should.


It is quite difficult to point one’s finger why it doesn’t feel so good. The track En voi särkeä sun sydäntä vielä is a case in point: with its audible heartache it sounds like a real alt. country song should sound (minus the out-of-tune-guitar solo), but the emotion it awakens on the listener is lukewarm at best.

Of course, country music is by its nature a very American thing, but I cannot see why a Finnish version of alt. country could not work. Maybe it’s just that it would take a little more to localize a style of music than just use use all of its essential elements without questioning anything.

The album’s lyrics are penned by a variety of writers. Samettivallankumous front man and main composer Ville Härkönen has himself written only one lyric, and the band has had contributions from such people as notable Finnish indie rock musicians Janne Laurila and Ville Leinonen, and even the movie director Markku Pölönen. Therefore it’s understandable that lyrically the album is quite a disjointed, although at times successful affair.

Despite some interesting moments, Täällä mies, kuuleeko nainen? is a mediocre record.

Rating 2/5 

Categories
Art Exhibitions

Tales from Denmark

{mosimage}This autumn’s
main exhibition at Ateneum museum travels to Denmark and brings an overview of
Danish 19th-century art. Starting from the Golden Age, it presents 90 works from major Danish artists including C.W.
Eckersberg, Christen Købke, J.Th. Lundbye, P.C. Skovgaard, Vilhelm Hammershøi
and L.A. Ring. This is the most extensive collection of Danish Golden Age art
ever seen in Finland. Also side activities are organized: the
festival of Danish music is this weekend. On the right: M.L. Nathanson's Elder Daughters Bella and Hanna (C.W. Eckersberg, 1820)

In spite of
economic depression and poverty, between 1815 and 1850 Danish art blossomed in
what it is known today as the Golden Age of Danish art. This is the time of
storyteller H.C. Andersen. Artists created skillful portrayals of their surroundings
and friends, creating warm paintings of everyday life. At that time, Danish art
differed from that of the other Nordic countries.

The exhibition
is divided into two major sections: landscapes (nature) and pictures of home
(people). Landscape painting grew in popularity in the 1830s and it made
artists participate in the making of a national identity. Artists like Thomas
Lundbye felt it was their mission to “paint their beloved Denmark with all the
simplicity and modesty so characteristic of it”.

Artists
also found inspiration inside home and soon portrait painting started developing
along with the rise of a middle-class lifestyle. Among others C.W. Eckersberg
and Christen Købke emphasized family relations and the passing on of
traditions.

Tales from
Denmark also extends to the art of the late 19th century, when Nordic artist
communities were created, like Skagen, which included Michael and Anna Ancher
and P.S. Krøyer. Friends at work or evening get togethers were often depicted
by these artists.

This
exhibition is based on Ateneum’s own collection of Danish art. In 1953, Norwegian-born
ship owner Hans Beyer Tobiesen donated 14 high-class paitings of Danish 19th-century
art. For the past years this collection has been deposited at Finland’s Embassy
in Copenhagen. Paintings from the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, the Nationalmuseum
in Stockholm and private collections completed the 90 works on show.

Tales from
Denmark is not only an art exhibition. Lectures, workshops, dance and music for
children and adults complete until the end of January four months of events.
This weekend the festival of Danish music features wind quintet Carion.

Front page painting – Evening at Skagen (Peder Severin Krøyer, 1893)
 

Until 27 January
Ateneum, Kaivokatu 2,
Helsinki
Opening
hours: Tue, Fri 9-18, Thu 9-20, Sat, Sun 11-17, Mon closed
Admission
8/6,50 euro. Free for visitors under 18.
More information: www.ateneum.fi

Categories
Albums Music

Serj Tankian – Elect the Dead

{mosimage}Singer Serj Tankian launches his solo debut album, free of System of a Down's guitarist's Daron Malakian's influences. He is also touring and promoting the album with a new backing band that he calls the FCC: Flying Cunt of Chaos.

Many fans of System of a Down were not much happy with Malakian´s late attitude of taking a bigger role in the vocals parts of System of a Down. Now they can feel happy with Tankian's first solo album, introducing again in plenitude the unique Serj's vocal talents. Do not expect in any case bigger changes from SOAD´s style. The album is similar in many aspects to works like Mesmerize, but obviously with a more personal touch by Tankian. Furious, politically involved and combative and with Tankian´s elastic and expressive vocals flooding the album in every song.

The album enjoys some glorious moments like in Saving us or the final track Elect the Dead, but part of the magic that you could find in SOAD is lost here. It seems that Tankian wanted to satisfy the old fans while trying to create something a bit different, but at the end got disoriented in the middle of the crossroad and the result gets overcooked; his shouts can turn from dynamic into annoying. Not a bad effort though, since the songwriting is brilliant and the rebellious attitude continues at its top.

Tankian shows why he has more balls than most of the people in the American  musical industry, with a praising  balance of quality and dignity. While SOAD takes a break, Elect the Dead is a good choice to await until Malakian and Tankian will rejoin forces.

Rating 3/5

Categories
Albums Music

Pooma – Persuader

{mosimage}Pooma are definitely an interesting band, quite unlike any other band in Finland at the moment. Their lush, atmospheric and ethereal pop music could be compared to such bands as Sigur Rós, Portishead or Radiohead, with also influences from all the quintessential shoegazing bands (Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and so on).


Persuader is a record that demands serious attention from its listener. There are no catchy choruses or other pop elements to be found, and the band’s sound is somehow very unassuming. However, in the right mindset it sounds actually quite fabulous. The mood of the record is almost like of a fairytale – a somewhat twisted fairytale – or a dream. It really sounds like a carefully constructed piece of work.

Persuader’s appeal is still a bit limited. It would be hard to pick favourite tracks, since none of them really stand out. Nothing really grabs the listener’s attention. Vocalist Tuire Lukka has a seductive voice and the musicians are experienced. They really can create an interesting atmosphere, but too often it feels like that’s all they can do.

Anyway, Persuader is a promising debut. They still have some way to go before they’ll be able to reach the worldwide top of their genre – whatever that genre may be – but they are quite a welcome addition to the Finnish musical climate nevertheless.

3/5