Finnish music, News

23:23 – Torero

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2323

Rami Vierula is a pretty active musician. Besides making beautiful dreamy pop music in Delay Trees, he also has his own lo-fi solo project 23:23 and he has already released three albums under that name. The latest album Torero was released 25th of february and you can get it from his bandcamp. I admit that at first 23:23 felt like just an ok side project to me and nothing to be that excited about. But now it looks like it was just me being an ass and an ignorant fool. The previous one The Softest Wave Etc already had some really fine moments and this new one is the best so far. There’s some really great songs and it also works well as a whole album. Well done. This the opening track Redheads.

23:23 at Facebook
23:23 at Bandcamp

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Featured, International music, Video of the Day

Video of the Day #121: Clint Michigan

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clint

This is something rather special. I had never heard of Clint Michigan until Slowcoustic premiered their latest music video two weeks ago. I had an instant crush with the song and the band. Somehow I’ve missed the earlier posts about the band even though I try to read their all blog posts (sometimes I almost feel like I’m stealing content from Slowcoustic because the blog is such an inspiration. So you can just unfollow me and start following only slowcoustic. Unless you are into power pop and Finnish music that I occasionally feature as well).

Clint Michigan is a New York-based folk group led by singer-songwriter Clint Asay. Their latest album Coeur d’Alene came out in october 2012 and in february 2013, Michal Tlusty made this stunning animated video for the title track. I fell in love with the song and the video fits perfectly to the song. I also have to post their earlier video Aaman Crane below Coeur d’Alene, because a) the song is equally amazing b) there’s cats in the video. And if there’s something that I love even more than beautiful folk songs, it is cats. It’s a shame that there doesn’t seem to be any physical releases, because I’m still not good at buying digital releases. I may have to make an exception, because Coeur d’Alene is indeed something very special. You can listen to / buy the whole amazing album on their bandcamp. This is the title track Coeur d’Alene.

Clint Michigan’s “Coeur d’Alene” from CLINT MICHIGAN on Vimeo.

CLINT MICHIGAN’S “AAMAN CRANE” from CLINT MICHIGAN on Vimeo.

Clint Michigan Website

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Featured, Finnish music, News

Skip Zone – Black Country EP

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skipzone

Skip Zone is a fairly new folk rock band from Helsinki. They released their self-titled debut album last year and it was a very good effort. During the past six months, I’ve returned to their soundcloud several times and spent a carefree moment in the company of their beautiful folk songs. The album has been on my list of things to write about for months. It’s kind of ridicilous that these days I’m mostly writing about folk music and country music and still have failed to mention great Finnish bands like Skip Zone and Statues Made Of Matchsticks.

My incredible slowness has led to a state that there’s new music from the band even before I’ve written about the previous material. This time I try to make amends and write a few words instantly after the release date. Skip Zone released their new studio live EP titled Black Country 1st of march and it definitely sounds like this thing is just getting better all the time. I’m loving both male and female vocals a lot and they are capable of writing excellent folk rock songs. A small CD edition of 100 copies will be available later, but at the moment you can listen to the whole thing on their soundcloud. This is the title track Black Country.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/81256563″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]

Skip Zone at Facebook
Skip Zone at Soundcloud

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International music, News

Woodpigeon – Thumbtacks + Glue

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woodpigeonnew

The new Woodpigeon album Thumbtacks + Glue came out on 25th of february on Fierce Panda (UK) and Boompa (US/Canada). Woodpigeon aka Mark Andrew Hamilton is a wonderful Canadian songwriter who nowadays live in Vienna, Austria. I’ve been getting myself prepared for the new album by spending several work days with Songbook, Treasure Library Canada and Die Stadt Muzikanten as my company (it’s a crime against good music that I don’t own Balladeer and Diamonds). These three are all so beautiful, sensitive and amazing albums on every possible level. After streaming the new album a couple of times, it feels like the new Woodpigeon is at least equally magnificent. The copy I ordered to the local 8raita record store should arrive on tuesday, so I try not listen to this too much before that. Even though I love all the previewing and streaming choices that the net provides, there’s always a lot of magic involved in buying an album from a store, coming home and listening to it properly for the first time. Therefore I try not learn the albums by heart before I actually hold them in my hands. It’s hard to resist Thumbtacks + Glue though. Just listen to this great song Sufferin’ Suckatash and you will understand.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14oL4PFBIQ8]

Woodpigeon Website

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