Featured, International music, News

Ben Fisher – Charleston

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benfisher

Still going through my early 2014 favourites in hope of catching up before the year is over. During the last year, I’ve backed 4 or 5 Kickstarter / indiegogo projects. Ben Fisher is a great young folk singer-songwriter from Seattle, WA and his new full-lenght album Charleston was one of the projects that I backed. Charleston came out in February and has been in heavy rotation ever since. The quality of the song material is high throughout the record. I’m especially addicted to a couple of these songs. The opener Mason Jar is really gorgeous and what about Dublin Blues Pt. 2. I think it’s still my favourite Ben Fisher song. It already appeared on the Roanoke EP, but how could one leave that out. That song. Everything about that song. And then there’s this one below. The excellent title track and first single Charleston. You can stream / buy the whole thing at bandcamp.

Ben Fisher at Bandcamp
Ben Fisher at Facebook

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Featured, Finnish music

Joutomies Aleksei – Joutomies Aleksei

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joutomies

I briefly mentioned folk band Joutomies Aleksei back in 2010 after hearing the song Kolmipäinen koira. I haven’t really followed them that closely during the recent years, but today I was on a coffee break at work and saw their FB status mentioning the release of a debut album. When I closed the factory door behind me, I searched it on Spotify and had the most enjoyable drive back home. I liked it so much that I couldn’t leave the car before the record was over. Burning unnecessary gasoline was not an option, but I just sat there in the parking lot listening to Joutomies Aleksei until it finished. I laughed a little, I cried a little and I liked it a lot. Joutomies Aleksei’s excellent debut album is out now on the small but excellent Ei-No Records. This is the opening track Kolmipäinen koira.

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Joutomies Aleksei at Facebook

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Featured, Finnish music, Headline, News

Ochre Room – Other Side of the Town

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Ochre-Room-2014-promo-hi-res3-1024x685
 
Finnish folk rock / americana band Ochre Room has been a huge favourite of mine during the last couple of years and their forthcoming album is definitely one of my most anticipated 2014 releases. Thankfully I don’t have to wait much longer for it, because the album called Box, Bar & Diamond will hit the stores and our hearts in April. A new single Other Side of the Town came out yesterday and it sounds wonderful. This is the new music video for the song. Directed by Sami Pöyry / Monadi-Filmi.
 

Ochre Room – Other Side of the Town from Monadi-Filmi on Vimeo.

Ochre Room Website
 

(Ochre Room photo: Sami Pöyry, 2014)

 

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Featured, Finnish music, News

Swaying Wires – Fear Of Flying & Pelotons – Burrows

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swayingwiresfly

Finnish Swaying Wires signed a record deal with UK-based Battle Worldwide Recordings last year and their debut full-length Some Blue Sky will be released on 17th of March, 2014. This excellent digital single Fear Of Flying already came out few weeks ago. I look forward to the whole album. Record release party will be held at Dynamo, Turku on 21st of March.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/129287481″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]
 
Swaying Wires Website

burrows

I briefly wrote about Pelotons late last year, but I think writing the end-of-the-year lists kind of got in the way and I never mentioned the release of their beautiful Burrows EP. The members of Pelotons are Finnish Tina Kärkinen (Swaying Wires) and English Michael Gale (Co-Pilgrim). Their beautiful folk EP came out in December on Battle Wordwide Recordings. This is the title track Burrows.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/116918625″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]
 
Pelotons at Facebook

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