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"Arctic Hysteria - Early Finnish Avant-Gardeners"
Love Records
This is a thoroughly energizing collection of 60s Finnish bizarrenessthat has several gems on it and serves as an excellent introduction tothe early Finnish scene. Kurenniemi pops up several times. His DIMAsynth appears on Jukka Ruohomäki's "What Time Is," a blues tunereminding me a bit of Martin Rev's electro doo-wop. The Sähkökvartettisynth is played by a band of the same name in a fabulous liveperformance that sounds uncannily like Pan Sonic in parts complete withwailing voice controlled tones, automaton electronic beats and lashingsof distortion and feedback. His own performance on the Andromaticsynth, Antropoidien Tanssi, is a demented rhythmic atonal assembly ofprimitive electronic sounds. The relatively mainstream band BluesSection contributes their "B-side Shivers of Pleasure," combininggroovy garage rock with tape effects and outlandish collectiveextemporization. Then there's a blazing sax/drums free improv with atotally over the top amplified sax sound from Jouni Kesti and Seppo I.Lane. The Sperm make two showings: band leader Pekka Airaksinen'sbrooding repetitive tape loop guitar work features in "3rd Erection"while the band's exuberant confrontational live performance is shownoff in the excerpts from their opera "Garden of Death" (a photo of aperformance of which graces the cover). With slightly disconnectedguitar, organ, sax, pummeling drums and wailing vocals it has thecreative energy of the Mothers of Invention or Sun Ra. Among some otherthings, there's a blues burp fest, a very strange vote countingexercise in which the name of Finnish president Urho Kekkonen isrepeated in a disconcerting melody, and an "aleatoric assault againstSpiro Agnew by an academic philosopher."
This is a thoroughly energizing collection of 60s Finnish bizarrenessthat has several gems on it and serves as an excellent introduction tothe early Finnish scene. Kurenniemi pops up several times. His DIMAsynth appears on Jukka Ruohomäki's "What Time Is," a blues tunereminding me a bit of Martin Rev's electro doo-wop. The Sähkökvartettisynth is played by a band of the same name in a fabulous liveperformance that sounds uncannily like Pan Sonic in parts complete withwailing voice controlled tones, automaton electronic beats and lashingsof distortion and feedback. His own performance on the Andromaticsynth, Antropoidien Tanssi, is a demented rhythmic atonal assembly ofprimitive electronic sounds. The relatively mainstream band BluesSection contributes their "B-side Shivers of Pleasure," combininggroovy garage rock with tape effects and outlandish collectiveextemporization. Then there's a blazing sax/drums free improv with atotally over the top amplified sax sound from Jouni Kesti and Seppo I.Lane. The Sperm make two showings: band leader Pekka Airaksinen'sbrooding repetitive tape loop guitar work features in "3rd Erection"while the band's exuberant confrontational live performance is shownoff in the excerpts from their opera "Garden of Death" (a photo of aperformance of which graces the cover). With slightly disconnectedguitar, organ, sax, pummeling drums and wailing vocals it has thecreative energy of the Mothers of Invention or Sun Ra. Among some otherthings, there's a blues burp fest, a very strange vote countingexercise in which the name of Finnish president Urho Kekkonen isrepeated in a disconcerting melody, and an "aleatoric assault againstSpiro Agnew by an academic philosopher."- Säkökvartetti - Kaukana Väijyy Ystäviä
- Blues Section - Shivers of Pleasure
- The Sperm - 3rd Erection
