Delay Trees’ debut album was released today by Johanna Kustannus and it’s indeed a very very good album. A review to follow in a week or two.
Flavour of the Month: Kim Curly Band, Ossi Alisaari (Penniless)
FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH AKUSTISENA LOKAKUUSSA
Flavour Of The Monthin lokakuun livesessio nautitaan akustisena. Pikku-Torren lavalle nousevat perjantaina 1.10. helsinkiläinen Kim Curly Band sekä ikuisesti nakkilalaisen Penniless-yhtyeen turkulaistunut laulajakitaristi Ossi Alisaari.
Kim Curly Band on saanut suomalaisessa musiikkimediassa hehkutusta folkahtavalla americana/alt. country-popillaan ja nyt onkin korkea aika saada Flavour-lavalle parasta, mitä Suomella on tarjota vastineeksi Ryan Adamsin eri bändiviritelmille. Vakuuttava yhtye esiintyy Turussa tällä kertaa Kim Curly Triona (kitara, koskettimet ja lap steel), soittaen kappaleita aiemmin tänä vuonna julkaistulta debyyttialbumiltaan.
Ossi Alisaari esittelee puolestaan Pennilessin uutta, suorastaan haltioituneen vastaanoton saanutta A Cab To The City-albumia. Onkin mielenkiintoista nähdä, miten Pennilessin uran tanakin ja synkein rocklevy taipuu mies-ja-kitara-versioiksi. Ja Ossin aiempien soolokeikkojen peristeella odotettavissa lienee myös muutamia vinksahtaneita cover-valintoja.
lyhyesti:
FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH
Kim Curly Band
Ossi Alisaari (Penniless)
+ FOTM DJ team
pe 1.10. 2010 klo 21-03
Pikku-Torre, Yliopistonkatu 30, Turku
www.torre.fi
liput 3€
Review: Sweatmaster – Dig Up The Knife
Sweatmaster: Dig Up The Knife (Fullsteam, 2010)
Even pop and country blogs need a little bit of rock’n’roll every now and then and Sweatmaster is usually the best option for providing it. Dig Up The Knife is their fourth album and it takes them towards a little darker and heavier sounds, but thankfully there’s always more than enough room for melodies to keep these pop losers like myself interested. There’s actually quite a lot of pop choruses in the vein of the most rockin’ side of Sloan on the record.
Dig Up The Knife is certainly a little more versatile than the earlier albums and the first single Turnover is almost the only really typical Sweatmaster sing-a-long party anthem. The pace might get surprisingly slow at times, but my heart doesn’t rush into offside position, because they deliver inch perfect songs. Sasu Mykkänen is still the most convincing rock vocalist in the country and the song material is once again brilliant. Especially Some People Got Soul is an instant classic, but there’s obviously a bunch of great songs and Sweatmaster have created the best or the second best finnish album of the year so far (it’s a battle between Dig Up The Knife and A Cab To The City and it’s pretty hard to say which one is the most perfect). Well done.
Review: Lemonator – Shake, Shake Shake
Lemonator: Shake, Shake, Shake (Fried Music, 2010)
Lemonator is one of my favourite bands. They played a big part in my music education and got me into this beautiful pop mess back there in the late nineties. I’m grateful for all that, but hey.. finally there’s no need to sink into some strange 90’s nostalgia when talking about Lemonator. The boys are back in town and they are still making wonderful pop music. However, I admit that I was a little scared when the first single Shake, Shake, Shake hit the surface and I still don’t like it that much. A friend of mine said it’s kind of like Sloan and actually I can hear that now, but I still have my doubts. That’s just one song though and there’s no need to get stuck into that, because while the song Shake, Shake, Shake is just ok, the album Shake, Shake, Shake is just great.
The album is a slice of harmonic pop heaven and it sounds joyful, warm and everlastingly beautiful. It might steal and borrow a bit from several pop vaults, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I prefer the latter half of the album and my own favourites are the should-have-been single I Always Wanted To Be A Drummer, A Beautiful Sun that reminds me of Linus Of Hollywood (or sounds like they’ve been influenced by same california pop treasures) and the marvellous last song Always Look After.
Oh.. one more thing.. I’ve really missed hearing Lasse Kurki sing. He might be one hell of a producer for other artists, but with that voice you just can’t get completely buried behind the producer’s desk. If you have a voice so warm & beautiful, you should just sing, sing, sing. Therefore I hope that this will be the last comeback album for Lemonator at least for the time being. Which means that don’t stay away so long that people can call the next one a comeback album. Let’s say a new album every two years or so. Deal? Yeah, I’ll shake, shake, shake on that.
