Something rather special came out today. A few weeks ago I received an email that introduced Lac Belot to me. I didn’t know Jarno Takkumäki (the man behind Lac Belot) beforehand, but I was hooked like five seconds after I had pushed the play button. The song in question was the title track Elizabeth from Lac Belot’s debut EP. Further studies showed that the whole EP was absolutely wonderful and I loved it wholeheartedly. Actually Elizabeth might be my least favourite song on this EP that was released by Roisto Oy. That just shows the overall quality of this. Lac Belot’s Elizabeth EP is refreshing and endearingly beautiful folky pop treasure. Besides being as beautiful as your girl/boyfriend’s eyes, I like that there’s also a certain lighter (and almost a little playful) side. The whole thing sounds rich and the vocal phrasing is so marvellous. I really can’t think of any good comparisons. My mind has wondered from Joy of a Toy by Kevin Ayers to more sing-y Bill Callahan, but neither really makes any sense whatsoever. I suppose you could throw in some modern indie folk artists in there as well, but I find it rather hard to lock this one into some specific cabinet. And I think that’s a good thing. I just have to lock this one into that cabinet for extremely highly recommended music.

This one is also one of those personally meaningful releases. It’s not a secret that the thought of letting onechord.net gently slide into retirement sounds very appealing these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens sometime soon, even though my goal still is to keep it alive until it reaches 15 years. The moments like the day I got this mail about Lac Belot are still a great reason to keep on writing this. After all, what could be better than completely fall into something in a split second and then just waiting eagerly to be able to share it with the world (or the 3 regular readers)? But now I better just stop this pointless rambling. You are already well aware how I feel about it. Just hit that play button below to hear the whole amazing release and make up your own mind.

Upcoming Lac Belot concert:

29.08.2014 Taiteiden Yö, Suisto-klubi HML

Lac Belot at Facebook

Some fantastic Finnish music for a change. Sometimes I forget that this is a Finnish pop site and not a fan site for fairly unknown North American folk singer-songwriters. These days it should be a bit of both.

First we have major news on the One Chord to Another scale. There’s a new Nopat album hitting the stores and our hearts in early September. This most likely wonderful thing (I haven’t heard it yet, therefore “most likely”) will be called Valonkajoa and will be released by Kioski Records on 5th of September. The first single Alla Maan has already reached the surface. You can listen to it below and watch the music video where some of loveliest people on the planet are goofin around Turku and Helsinki.

Nopat – Alla maan from Aki Roukala on Vimeo.

Nopat Website

Then we have the new Pöllöt album that came out on Fonal Records a week or two ago. It’s their debut album, but the members have also given us a lot of great music with their other groups and projects in the past(J.Tolvi, Barry Andrewsin Disko, Cats On Fire….I highly recommend that J.Tolvi album that came out last year. I’m still ashamed that I failed to write about that one). I’m really liking this Pöllöt album as well. Being one of the favourites to win the quietest and most shy guy on the planet contest, I’m especially loving the song Valonsäteet. Other favourite of mine is this song called Kalla.

Pöllöt at Facebook

If Satan’s Fingers duo are playing a gig in your hometown or within a reasonable travelling distance, you really should go and see them. I’ve seen them twice and I’ve loved every second. Garage rock colliding with The Mountain Goats. Just drums, guitar and male-female vocal interplay. It really is a perfect set up for a live concert. However, it might be rather hard to reach that same level of brilliance on a record with that set-up. So far they haven’t completely reached it, but I have high hopes for the next release. This summer they released one new song called Across Rubicon. I think you can hear a bit of Mountain Goats in this one or maybe the band’s name is just playing tricks in my mind. However, a little big of Mountain Goats influence is never a bad thing. A great band. Book them now.

Satan’s Fingers at Bandcamp
Satan’s Fingers at Facebook

I wasn’t aware that Common Tones was still alive. I just assumed that the members were focusing on their other musical adventures (Klasu, Koria Kitten Riot etc). However, a few days ago I got an email that told me that they’ve released a new single called Shine and a full-lenght album will follow later in 2014. I was able to listen to that forthcoming album several hours yesterday and I really liked it. I liked it even a lot more than I expected. I’ve seen them play live many many moons ago. Probably at least five years ago. I liked them, but I didn’t think they were anything that special. This new album on the other hand is damn good. The possibilities are that a) I was a clueless twat back then b) they’ve gotten better over the years. Most likely it’s the combination of both. This one below is the new single Shine that you can buy from their Bandcamp page. If you want to help me, you can say what 90s or early 00s power pop band comes to mind when you listen to Lasse’s vocals in the verse. This thing is driving me crazy. There’s something so familiar.

Common Tones at Bandcamp
Common Tones at Facebook