I Was A King – Isle Of Yours

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I Was A King recently released a new album Isle Of Yours. This is a fact that I like.. no wait a second.. I love this fact. They are my Norwegian heroes of harmonic pop music. The previous album You Love it Here is one of the finest pop albums of the last few years. The first outtake from the new album was still a bit of a shock, because One Of Us was nothing like that TFC-esque pop heaven of You Love It Here. After listening to it a few times, the early shock turned into a long lasting admiration. I really liked the song and it was clear that the band is still in great form and have just added more dimensions to their music. And yeah, this album does have also some of those perfect pop songs like Bygdøy 30 and Oslo Share that I included on the playlist vol 2. I could listen to those two songs all day long. I could listen to Frode and Anne Lise sing all day long. The voices fit together so perfectly. It’s a pure bliss to listen to them sing. The Blades of Grass would say Just Ah.

This is the first single One Of Us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYvsNW9deI]

I Was A King at Facebook

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Zachary Lucky Finland Tour 16.4 – 20.4

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Canadian country/folk singer-songwriter Zachary Lucky will be heading over to Finland next month. Big thanks to Fredrik Johansson for making this happen. I’ve been following Zachary Lucky for a few years and I’m really looking forward to see him perform at Bar Kuka on the 17th of April. You can check out the full tour schedule below.

Zachary Lucky Finland Tour 16.4 – 20.4

4/16 – Helsinki (Tavastia)
4/17 – Turku (Bar Kuka)
4/18 – Loimaa (Bar Edgar)
4/19 – Turku (8raita instore)
4/19 – Parainen (PIUG)
4/20 – Vaasa (O’Malleys)

I first got into Zachary Lucky a few years ago through Slowcoustic, which was my primary source of music information at the time. I bought the beautiful folk ep/mini-album Saskatchewan back then and have been a fan ever since. Last year Zachary Lucky released his latest album The Ballad Of Losing You. He took a turn towards country music with the new album, but it wasn’t a wrong turn. The song material is excellent and I love the way the album sounds. Even my digital download sounds incredibly warm. I need to buy a vinyl copy after the concert. You can stream Zachary’s music over at Bandcamp, Spotify. 8raita.fi also has the CD in stock already and vinyl later. Here are a few examples.

Lawrence High School Classroom Sessions: Zachary Lucky – Leaving pt 1 (from Saskatchewan)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSbzsY_gX8I]

Zachary Lucky – “Ramblin’ Man’s Lament” on Exclaim! TV (from The Ballad Of Losing You)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwGMIPFjaC4]

Zachary Lucky – Waitin For The Day (from The Ballad Of Losing You)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114528682″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]
 

Zachary Lucky Website

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Album of the Month: Pietarin spektaakkeli – Rakkauteen

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I have a confession to make. I kind of filed Pietarin spektaakkeli into the kuuntelematta paskaa -category. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Thankfully Aki had this playing at 8raita record store while I was there and it was an instant love affair. There was not a chance I was going to leave that store without the record in my bag. A few hours later I filed Rakkauteen by Pietarin spektaakkeli into the best thing ever category.

Rakkauteen is a magnificent album and I can’t seem to get tired of it at all. And I’ve tried real hard by listening to it for hours and hours. The video song Tyttö lähtee tanssimaan is my least favourite and maybe that’s why I had some doubts about the overall quality of the album. Nothing really wrong with that either and everything else sounds perfect to me. Easy going blues, 70s/80s Suomi-rock, hip hop. A refreshing combination. I’m not good at describing it, but I’m loving it wholeheartedly. I usually stay far away from the hyped albums, because I hardly ever like them that much. But this thing is so worth all the hype and more. I can already guarantee that this will be on my top 10 Finnish albums of the year 2014 list and even though many of my favourite bands will release an album this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes the first place. I don’t really write proper reviews anymore, but I still have to add those hearts below, because Rakkauteen is so worth all those five hearts.

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Pietarin Spektaakkeli – Puerto Rico (haaveissani)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/137674095″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]
 
Pietarin Spektaakkeli – Maalta kaupunkiin

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Pietarin spektaakkeli at Facebook

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Ochre Room – Other Side of the Town

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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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