Year 2011 Round-Up Part 5 – The best Finnish songs (unreleased or self-released)

Title pretty much covers it all. These are Finnish songs that I absolutely love and adore. Some are waiting to be released, some will probably (and unfortunately) forever remain unreleased, some are self-released. All are utterly wonderful. I hope I didn’t forget anyone really important. Of course there’s plenty of others I really enjoyed as well, but these are the ones I really loved the most. It’s actually rather pointless to divide these finnish songs into label-stuff and unreleased, because let’s face it. If I make a top 30 finnish songs of the year list, these all would make it to that list.

Here we go (again).. These are not in any specific order.

Carmen & The Devil – Love Drove My Baby Away & Tell-Tale Heart

Impossible to decide between these two Carmen & The Devil originals, so I have to include them both. It’s definitely been a year of Carmen & The Devil at this household. I loved their concerts and those three limited edition cassettes. Playing just the kind of music I love these days and doing it exceptionally well. Country duets, traditional folk songs, great cover choices, beautiful originals. Hopefully an album next year.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/12211863″]
 
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28673494″]
 

Carmen & The Devil at Facebook

Tolbiac – Elokuussa

Just how amazing is this song? The radio host of the highest order and the writer of the legendary indie hit Purkkaa , the international man of mystery, Tolbiac returned with a couple of stunning songs. Especially this song entitled Elokuussa is so good that I could listen to it all day long.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/24343728″]
 

Heartjet – Grace

A big onechord.net favourite, power pop duo Heartjet gave a couple of new songs for free. Grace & World are both awesome. A bit more serene than before, but equally great.

Heartjet at facebook

Puskii! – Mä haluun bändin

Puskii! has an album ready, but it seems to take a long while to get it out and available. A big shame, because I love listening to them. This song is a whole lot of fun and sometimes that’s everything you need.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/17006370″]
 

Puskii! at Facebook

The Wonderminers – Stars in the Window

Petri Nakari’s new band released a digital 4-song EP that is a thing of beauty and takes a high place on the best EPs of the year list, if I decide to make one. This slice of pop heaven is called Stars In The Window.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/15055848″]
 

The Wonderminers Website
The Wonderminers at Facebook

Swaying Wires – Never Fade

Swaying Wires is a new band from Turku and I’m enjoying them more and more each day. They have four songs over at Soundcloud. I can’t really decide which one I like the most, because they are all extremely good. I previously posted Bluebird, so let’s go with Never Fade this time around. It brings to mind early Songs: Ohia occasionally. I’m loving it.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/22124175″]
 

Swaying Wires at Facebook
Swaying Wires at Blogspot

The Spoonshiners – Three Years

The Spoonshiners EP hits all the right spots for a fan of 90s US indie, and 70s power pop. I especially loved this track called Three Years, because it reminded me of things like Dinosaur JR and Buffalo Tom.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/25574468″]
 

The Spoonshiners at Facebook

Treehouse – By The Lake

I was totally into this song early in the year and it still sounds brilliant. Just a fantastic pop song. A bit of TFC, a bit of Popsicle and a bit of country. A perfect formula if you ask me. And I love those harmonies..

Treehouse – By the Lake from Hessu on Vimeo.

Treehouse at Facebook

Matti Jasu & The Loose Train – Fingers Crossed

And then a really late favourite. This outtake from the upcoming Matti Jasu & The Loose Train album is friggin’ great. I loved Matti Jasu’s work at Goodnight Monsters and this new stuff seem to be equally awesome.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT80lUksDRs]

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Sammal – Kylmää usvaa

Sammal deserves some love around here, because being a prog-rock band and still writing a song that I find amazing is not an easy task. Mainly because progressive is pretty much a curse word at the onechord.net headquarters and I prefer spending my days listening three minute pop songs or whiskey-soaked country ballads. However, Kylmää usvaa by Sammal is pretty fantastic. There’s a great 70’s thing going on. Almost something like Kaseva going progressive. The album is due out sometime next year. I’m still not sure will I enjoy the whole album, but prog-rock fans will certainly have a lot to look forward to. While waiting you can check out Kylmää usvaa and a couple of other tracks from the upcoming album on their myspace.

Sammal at myspace
Sammal at Facebook

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Goodbye Viola

Viola says goodbye with their new song. Viola music club has offered a new song each month for the past three years, but now Viola are putting the project aside. Therefore it’s a time to say thank you and Goodbye Viola. I enjoyed the ride and the band will always have a tiny sentimental place in my heart. Especially Tearcandy meant a lot to me and was my very own comfort deluxe when times weren’t as bright as they are now. It would also be one of those 10 years 10 reasons albums, but it looks I will never get that project finished, because this anniversary year is running out. Listen to Viola’s final offering (at least for the time being) Goodbye Viola at violamusiclub.com. Take care Riku & Tommi.

Viola Music Club Website

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Black Twig & The New Tigers

As you may have noticed, I’m way behind in promoting new Finnish indie music, but thankfully there are several great blogs (like Stop, Shake, Honey, Go, Slow Show, Singin’ Drunken Lullabies…) that are keeping you informed while I keep listening to american folk music.

BLACK TWIG

I completely failed to mention the first outtake Lake Song from the upcoming Black Twig album, even though I really liked it. The second taster Death Scene has also been out there for a week or two, so now it’s definitely time to make amends and post these two great noise pop tracks. Black Twig may not be style-wise my closest companion, but this is definitely high quality stuff. Especially Lake Song is pretty amazing on all accounts. Debut album is due out in January 2012 and it will be released by Soliti.

Black Twig – Lake Song

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/25190247″]
 
Black Twig – Death Scene

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28566432″]
 
THE NEW TIGERS:

It’s been great to notice that The New Tigers and their debut album has been so widely praised during the last months. The boys definitely deserve it. One of the loveliest things about the new indie label Soliti has been the fact that Nick Triani has showed that it’s possible to create a truckload of positive interest and hype around wonderful indie releases and bands. Has it really reflected on record sales? Don’t know. But it can do no harm that good bands have a little bit of buzz going on around them.

Last week Soliti released two songs that didn’t make The New Tigers album. The songs are Toffee and Chocolate. The instrumental Chocolate is a thing of beauty, but after all this positive vibe, I got to say I don’t like Toffee one bit. Well there’s actually a really beautiful and most likely amazing song somewhere under there, but I can’t hear it, because it’s buried under the noise. I’ll take just the Chocolate to go with the great debut album. Thanks.

The New Tigers : Toffee/Chocolate by Soliti

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