Ochre Room – The Fowler (video + 7″ single)
Major news alert! Ochre Room just released a new song called The Fowler and it sure is another awesome addition to their song catalogue. The Fowler comes knocking your door shaped as a 7″ vinyl single with Blue Devil on the b-side. The package comes with a CD that contains these songs + some songs from their albums as a bonus. So purchasing this is a rather good way to get to know the best band in Finland, if you aren’t familiar with Ochre Room at this point. Sami Pöyry directed a gorgeous music video for the new song and you can see that beauty below.
The Fowler from Monadi-Filmi on Vimeo.
And for my German friends. Ochre Room will be touring there in late February / early March.
25.02. Hamburg, Hasenschaukel
26.02. St. Peter-Ording, Café Instinkt
01.03. Wetzlar, Cafe Vinyl
02.03. Dillenburg, Erbse
03.03. Dresden, Societaetstheater
04.03. Berlin, Posh Teckel
05.03. München, Glockenbachwerkstatt
06.03. Wuppertal, Bürgerbahnhof
07.03. Stuttgart, Galao
Michael Feuerstack – The Forgettable Truth + Finnish tour dates reminder 6.2-7.2
Michael Feuerstack in Finland:
Friday 6.2. Valoa-Festivaali, Artturi, Tampere
Saturday 7.2 Flavour of the Month, Pikku-Torre, Turku
Canadian singer-songwriter Michael Feuerstack is currently on a tour around Europe and he will be spending the next couple of days in Finland. He will perform at Valoa Festival, Tampere on the 6th of February and a day later on the 7th he will be playing in Turku at our Flavour of the Month event (Pikku-Torre). I hope you attend one of the shows, because Michael is a first class singer-songwriter and I’m very confident that these concerts will be awesome.
This Montreal-based troubadour is also getting ready to release his new album The Forgettable Truth that comes out on Forward Music Group later in February. I’ve had the chance to listen to The Forgettable Truth for the past week and I’m loving it a lot. I think it even might turn out to be my favourite Michael Feuerstack / Snailhouse release and that’s a lot said, because I’ve really enjoyed everyone I’ve heard so far. I was just hooked straight from the get-go and these songs just reveal something new during every listening session. He can write a melody that easily finds the heart of a pop fan like yours truly and then there’s those literate and thoughtful lyrics that get stuck in my head and either instantly or slowly unveil something about the way the character in a song, Michael or even I look at life. I also really like the arrangements. Despite sounding very down-to-earth at first, there’s actually a lot of bits and pieces going on. There’s no devil in the details though. There’s a lot of beauty in those details. The Forgettable Truth is a complete work of art and sets a rather high standard for 2015 albums. This one below is the first outtake Clackity Clack.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKs4rgiWztU]
Michael Feuerstack in Finland:
Friday 6.2. Valoa-Festivaali, Artturi, Tampere
Saturday 7.2 Flavour of the Month, Pikku-Torre, Turku
Klasu, Linnusto & Tragic Van
Klasu from the Common Tones, Koria Kitten Riot fame (or no-fame, but a lot of great songs) is getting ready to release his solo debut. Drink Tonight Records will deliver that beauty into this world on the 27th of March. The first outtake from the forthcoming album is a digital single called Hei onneton and it goes like this.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFhBzvp6ds]
Mysterious Linnusto has some new material. I will always like his warm and beautiful songs. This fact is something that I can count on. This one is Tuulispää. Check out the other two on his soundcloud.
Tragic Van started as a solo project, but has now become a full finamericana band. They have a couple of excellent new tunes on their Soundcloud. This is Lion from those new recording sessions.
Album of the Month: Viljami Kukkonen – Jos Rakkaus tapahtuu
I don’t know Viljami Kukkonen personally. We’ve briefly met once after a concert and that’s all. Still I feel some kind of spiritual companionship with him. It doesn’t really make sense I guess, but that’s how it is. That’s kind of how it has been ever since I first heard his debut album Mörönsyötti. There’s no way of denying that for me it’s one of the best albums ever released. Yeah, you can throw your Pet Sounds or Revolvers against my face, but no, not even close. These are subjective matters. Those things are truly wonderful and monumental, but there’s nothing there that could match the connection I have with Mörönsyötti. The kindness and overall warmness of that magical record is something that always comforts me and eases my troubled mind. The last months have been tough. I’ve battled with headaches and numbness on my limbs. A normal person probably wouldn’t freak out at all, because I’ve been told several times that there’s nothing wrong except a tension neck. But try telling that to my neurotic mind when the symptoms kick in and I should be able to sleep. That’s the moment when my mind is good at not believing what the neurologist say, but despite that vulnerable state of being, there’s something in the world that makes sense. I have a friend called Mörönsyötti that I can listen to and I believe him when he whispers that I will be alright. I suppose it’s kind of weird, because there’s definitely a bit of fragility in there as well, but it’s presented in such a kind fashion that the human weaknesses turn into strengths.
But enough about Mörönsyötti. Viljami Kukkonen has a new album called Jos Rakkaus tapahtuu and it’s another wonderful release. After that preview above, I assume you won’t take it negatively, if I say that this isn’t as important to me. Only a couple of albums have ever been that important, so it’s certainly no wonder that this one isn’t either. Nevertheless, I think this one is also absolutely brilliant and there’s still that highly personal connection as well. This next sentence doesn’t make much sense, but this kind of defines the person that I would like to be. Not that I could ever achieve such warmness. It just sounds so everlastingly beautiful to my ears. I can’t really describe it, but I can feel every note. I know that this is not a very informative post and I apologize for turning Viljami’s music into something way too subjective. That might be rather annoying and doesn’t even showcase the content of the album. So forget everything I said and just listen to this. Keinuta mua is probably my own favourite song on this one (love the backing vocals), but this is the wonderful opening track Joko lähdetään, one of the many highlights of this lovely album.