First Times – First Times 7″ EP

Whenever there’s a new Finnish power pop band/release, you can count me interested. I’ve heard good things about Helsinki-based First Times for a year or two and now there’s finally a debut release. Their self-titled seven inch EP came out in late july on Combat Rock Industry and I finally picked up my copy from the local 8raita record store. If your idea of power pop is something sugary and sweet (like Matthew Sweet for example), this might not be your slice of cheese cake. If you prefer to inhale your power pop with a fair share of rock’n’roll and punk rock (like Bomp! Records catalog for example), then you are in for a treat. This is damn good stuff for sure. You can listen to 2 out of the 4 songs below.

First Times at Bandcamp
First Times at Facebook

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Volter & Big Wave Riders

A couple of really good Finnish albums came out last week.

VOLTER

Volter’s debut album No Return is a charming pop album. 60s pop music, glam, indie pop, even a tiny bit of Finnish schlager and most importantly really good songs. There might not be anything really mind-blowing on the record, but I like everything this record has to offer. Besides, I’m quite happy with my mind as it is. I don’t want to have it blown away. I rather let it flow in a steady stream of well-crafted and beautifully delivered old-fashioned pop songs. This is the first single Ghost Town.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/54938625″ iframe=”true” /]
 
Volter at Facebook

BIG WAVE RIDERS

Big Wave Riders also released their debut album Life Less Ordinary last week. They are part of Soliti’s excellent artist roster. Style-wise they are not totally my cup of tea, but that’s just personal preference. There’s nothing wrong with the quality of their music. Life Less Ordinary is full of high quality pop music and it deserves a lot of attention. And this new video, Sunny Season is pretty damn good.

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

Big Wave Riders at Facebook

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Ochre Room release a new single. Album to follow in october

Ochre Room is a folk rock, americana group from Tampere, Finland and their debut full-length Evening Coming In is due to be released by Lumpeela Julkaisut in the early stages of october. The first single and outtake from the forthcoming album is entitled My Summer and it is now available on iTunes. A music video will follow shortly, but that’s another story and another good reason for a blog post about this band that I find very special.

Ochre Room Website

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