Satan’s Fingers, The Rollstons & Smug Brothers
Getting back to this blog thing I suppose. There are some issues that still continue to bother me (which you are aware, if you red that silly personal blog post), so I don’t really know how regularly I will be updating. Anyway, here are some great new albums that you might or might not be aware of.
Hell yeah, Satan’s Fingers just released their debut full-length Enduring Love. They are one of my favourite live bands these days. Ok, I’ve only seen them twice, but really loved every second of those performances. However, It’s probably not that easy to turn that dynamic live duo performance into an equally perfect studio album. They do a mighty good job though, because this thing sure does work wonderfully on this record as well. Such a damn fine band. Energetic rock tunes, male-female vocal interplay, lovely melodies and catchy choruses. The lo-fi twat in me totally approves the not-too-polished sounds and actually loves them. The indie snob in me totally approves mentioning Big Star in the lyrics and picking up the band name from that The Mountain Goats song. This definitely sounds a bit like The Mountain Goats as well, because of Ville’s voice and melodic sense. Obviously I have nothing against that. This is the album opener, Beauty of Punk.
This is a life of high excitement. There’s also a new The Rollstons album out there called Swiss Time. The Rollstons are one of the dearest bands in the whole wide world for me and this new album is another blissfully twisted indie rock treasure. I’m very much enjoying this right now and hopefully I manage to write a bigger piece about this during the spring/early summer. While waiting for that to happen, check out I am Asparagus from the album below and pick up a copy of the album from the local record store. Both The Rollstons and Satan’s Fingers albums are now out and available on the wonderful Levy-yhtiö Äänetön.
Moving on to the American version of The Rollstons. Well not really, but Smug Brothers and The Rollstons do have a lot of same influences from the 90s US indie rock. Somehow Smug Brothers have slipped under my radar completely, but thankfully the most excellent Captain’s Dead blog educated me and after reading about Smug Brothers there, I went and downloaded three of their albums from their Bandcamp. That’s pretty much what I have been listening to all week long. The new one is called Woodpecker Paradise and it’s a mighty fine record. They are from Dayton, Ohio, Don Thrasher plays the drums and they perfectly master the art of writing short indie rock tunes. So yeah, Guided By Voices is obviously the name that comes to mind. Which I love of course. This is Teach Them a Slide from the new one. You can buy their whole discography over at Bandcamp.
Flavour of the Month 15.5.2015 – Mäkkelä (GER) + Nightbird
We have one more Flavour of the Month event coming up before the summer holiday. The event takes place this friday at Pikku-Torre, Turku. Mäkkelä and Nightbird will share the stage. They have both played at our club before and therefore I know that they are excellent and this is going to be another great FOTM evening. Read more about it on that Finnish press release below and check out these sound samples.
FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH esittää:
MÄKKELÄ (GER) showtime 23:00
NIGHTBIRD showtime 22:00
+ Flavour of the Month DJ team
pe 15.5. 2015 klo 21-03
Pikku-Torre, Yliopistonkatu 30, Turku
VAPAA PÄÄSY!
Perjantaina, toukokuun 15. päivänä heitetään hyvästit Flavour of the Month -klubin kevätkaudelle ja siirrytään viettämään hyvin ansaittua kesälomaa. FOTM-klubin tyylille sopivasti peijaisissa kuullaan kauniinrujoa musisointia, kun Pikku-Torren lavalle ovat lupautuneet aiemminkin Flavourissa vierailleet saksansuomalainen Mäkkelä, alias Martti Trillitsch, sekä vaasalaislähtöinen Nightbird, alias Anna-Stina Jungerstam.
Suomalaisia sukujuuriaan taitelijanimessään vähän erikoisella tavalla peilaava Mäkkelä saapuu jälleen toukokuussa Suomeen lyhyelle kiertueelle promoamaan uunituoretta albumiaan ”Last Of A Dying Breed”. Mäkkelä kokenee itsensä todellakin lajinsa viimeisenä, sillä keikkajulisteessa tarjotaan kuvausta ”last of the trash folk gentlemen”. Musiikissaan hienovaraista folk punkia, rujoa indietä ja monenkarvaisia elektro/blues/roots -vaikutteita kanavoiva Mäkkelä tunnetaan tunnelmallisten ja hauskojenkin keikkatuokioiden luojana, joten uuden levyn myötä on odotettavissa lisää viihdyttäviä turinoita ja ennen kuulemattomia biisejä.
Illan toisena aktina paluun FOTM:iin tekee Nightbird. Naisen ensimmäinen visiitti klubille on jäänyt mieliin hyvinkin vakuuttavana. Pelikenttänä on pelkistetty akustinen folk ja blues, vaikea laji, jonka Nightbird kuitenkin hallitsee.
8raita presents: Ryan Boldt Finland Tour 6.5 – 9.5.2015
Something pretty amazing is happening next week. Canadian songwriter Ryan Boldt will be touring in Finland. Ryan Boldt released a great solo album last fall and he is also the front man of The Deep Dark Woods. His band colleague Clayton Linthicum will play with him on these Finnish dates. A huge thanks to 8raita and Fredrik Johansson for bringing Ryan & Clayton to Finland.
Ryan Boldt Finland Tour:
May 6/2015 – Elmun Baari, Helsinki
May 7/2015 – Swamp Music, Tampere (In-store)
May 7/2015 – Telakka, Tampere
May 8/2015 – 8raita, Turku (In-store)
May 8/2015 – Bar Kuka, Turku
May 9/2015 – Bar Edgar, Loimaa
You can’t go wrong with any of the Ryan Boldt and The Deep Dark Woods releases. My own biggest favourite is The Place I Left Behind which was the album of the year 2011 on this little blog and like I’ve said many times, I still rate it as the best album that has been released during this current decade. Here are some samples from Ryan Boldt / The Deep Dark Woods album.
Love Is Pleasin’ from Ryan Boldt’s solo album Broadside Ballads (2014).
18th of December from The Deep Dark Woods album Jubilee (2013)
Sugar Mama from The Deep Dark Woods album The Place I Left Behind.
And a bit of live action as well.
The Deep Dark Woods singing Red, Red Rose (from Jubilee, 2014)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaBaGaGqp4]
Ryan Boldt at Bandcamp
The Deep Dark Woods Website
8raita Website
Barna Howard – Indiana Rose
Lately I’ve been extremely excited about two albums. John Moreland’s High On Tulsa Heat and Quite a Feelin’ by Barna Howard. There might be a few more soon, because I bought the latest by Simon Joyner, Hayden and Ryley Walker yesterday during Record Store Day. I don’t really care much for those limited RSD releases myself and I prefer just buying good new full-lengths instead. I don’t have anything against those RSD releases and if and when they do help keeping the record stores alive, those are a damn good thing (luckily we still have a really great store here in Turku called 8raita).
Barna Howard from Portland, Oregon is one of my favorite singer-songwriters. The debut was #2 on my albums of the year list and this new one Quite A Feelin’ has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Even though I had almost unfairly high expectations, it certainly seems like this manages to live up to them. Wonderful UK-based label Loose Music just recently signed Barna Howard and therefore the new album will also be released in Europe. The always great Mama Bird Recording Co will take care of the North American release once again. Quite A Feelin’ is out in late May and I try to make an Album of the Month post about it around the time of the release. Meanwhile you can listen to this excellent first single Indiana Rose.
Oh and Barna is currently on an European tour. Unfortunately not in Finland, but if you live in France or UK, check out the dates on his Facebook.