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KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT, "KELLARI JUNIVERSUMI"
Kemialliset Ystavat is the most consistently rewarding artist currentlygrouped under the "Finnish Underground" free-folk banner. KemiallisetYstavat ("Chemical Friends") is primarily the work of Jan Anderzen, whoshares with his fellow compatriots (Es, Avarus and Islaja, amongothers) a taste for loose, deconstructed acid folk, turning deceptivelysimple acoustic arrangements into fractured, kaleidescopic miniaturesymphonies that are richly evocative of the psychic geography ofFinland's subarctic forests.
Beta-Lactam Ring
Kellari Juniversumiwas originally issued on a Fonal CD back in 1999, but in light of theFinnish scene's newfound notoriety, it has been re-released in a vinylcollector's edition on Beta-Lactam Ring Records, who also include abonus 7" Saija with every mailorder purchase. Recently, on efforts such as Alkuharka,almost as a reaction to being pidgeonholed by the "freak-folk" happymusic press, Anderzen has increased the presence of samples andelectronics in the music. On Kellari, however, any electronicelements are purely analog, and are hidden so as to be almost entirelyunnoticeable. This lends the album an organic, improvisatory looseness,the multilayered composting of amateurishly played percussion, strings,horns, toy piano, ghostly vocal choruses and undercurrents ofatmospheric drone. Some of the songs sound as if they were recorded inand among Finland's flora and fauna, as the sounds of birds chirpingand twigs snapping can clearly be heard. It is tempting to file awayKY's music as light, pastoral, hippie fare, but deep listening evokesmany a chill wind, Anderzen revealing dark, anxious atmospheresrecalling Comus' First Utterance or the Incredible String Band's Be Gladsoundtrack. Perhaps it is merely the suggestive power of themandala-like folk-art sleeve, but the music also seems to operate onthe level of pagan invocation, as the tribalistic, ritualized groupimprovisations seem to play upon a hidden timbre of forest magic.Because of the multiple-tracking method that Anderzen applies torecording, the various instrumental elements of each song oftenthreaten to derail from each other and create a senseless cacophony,but there is a consistent method to the madness. The more you listen toKellari Juniversumi, the more complex it seems, the more thedisparate elements align and realign into coherent compositionalpatterns that may be intentional, or a product of synchronicity, itdoesn't matter which. Songs generally don't last longer than a fewminutes, as Anderzen prefers to build up his songs vertically, ratherthan horizontally. The music on the bonus 7" is a more recentincarnation of KY, with a decidedly noisier, lower-fidelity atmospheremarked by an almost accidental convocation of percussive elements,metallic scrapes and tortured samples. The sleeve for the bonus singleshows a patchwork of Spare-like sigils, with the back cover aphotography of a man's bare back covered with red welts perfectlyaligned to form the Qabalistic tree of life. This willful esotericismis somewhat pricklier and less beguiling than Kellari Juniversumi, but no less fascinating. - Jonathan Dean
Beta-Lactam Ring
Kellari Juniversumiwas originally issued on a Fonal CD back in 1999, but in light of theFinnish scene's newfound notoriety, it has been re-released in a vinylcollector's edition on Beta-Lactam Ring Records, who also include abonus 7" Saija with every mailorder purchase. Recently, on efforts such as Alkuharka,almost as a reaction to being pidgeonholed by the "freak-folk" happymusic press, Anderzen has increased the presence of samples andelectronics in the music. On Kellari, however, any electronicelements are purely analog, and are hidden so as to be almost entirelyunnoticeable. This lends the album an organic, improvisatory looseness,the multilayered composting of amateurishly played percussion, strings,horns, toy piano, ghostly vocal choruses and undercurrents ofatmospheric drone. Some of the songs sound as if they were recorded inand among Finland's flora and fauna, as the sounds of birds chirpingand twigs snapping can clearly be heard. It is tempting to file awayKY's music as light, pastoral, hippie fare, but deep listening evokesmany a chill wind, Anderzen revealing dark, anxious atmospheresrecalling Comus' First Utterance or the Incredible String Band's Be Gladsoundtrack. Perhaps it is merely the suggestive power of themandala-like folk-art sleeve, but the music also seems to operate onthe level of pagan invocation, as the tribalistic, ritualized groupimprovisations seem to play upon a hidden timbre of forest magic.Because of the multiple-tracking method that Anderzen applies torecording, the various instrumental elements of each song oftenthreaten to derail from each other and create a senseless cacophony,but there is a consistent method to the madness. The more you listen toKellari Juniversumi, the more complex it seems, the more thedisparate elements align and realign into coherent compositionalpatterns that may be intentional, or a product of synchronicity, itdoesn't matter which. Songs generally don't last longer than a fewminutes, as Anderzen prefers to build up his songs vertically, ratherthan horizontally. The music on the bonus 7" is a more recentincarnation of KY, with a decidedly noisier, lower-fidelity atmospheremarked by an almost accidental convocation of percussive elements,metallic scrapes and tortured samples. The sleeve for the bonus singleshows a patchwork of Spare-like sigils, with the back cover aphotography of a man's bare back covered with red welts perfectlyaligned to form the Qabalistic tree of life. This willful esotericismis somewhat pricklier and less beguiling than Kellari Juniversumi, but no less fascinating. - Jonathan Dean
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