Penniless: A Cab to the City (West Side Fabrication, 2011)
This series has mostly focused on my old favourites, but now when the 10 year anniversary party is three days away, I thought it’s time to blow a bit of that nostalgia away and celebrate the fact that Finnish indie music is still very much alive and constantly producing future classics. A Cab to The City by Penniless is a definitely a future classic and the best Finnish album of the last few years.
Penniless (and formerly Penniless People Of Bulgaria) has been around since the late 80s / early 90s producing a huge amount of great indie rock songs. I found them probably around 1997 when I bought Velocity. Even though I really liked them from the start, if being brutally honest, I don’t think they were that important to me until the single Adam’s Apple Pie and the album Anola came out in 2001. Adam’s Apple Pie definitely was the final enlightenment and the moment I completely fell in love with them. After that I’ve been planning my pilgrimage to Nakkila (which I shamefully still haven’t done) and enjoyed each and everyone of their releases. The back catalog is extremely convincing, but yet they managed to release the finest album of their career last year. A Cab to the City is just damn brilliant. Power, melancholy and beauty wrapped inside glorious rock songs. It might cause a gentle havoc inside you, but that will only help you feel better. The Missing, Hail Of Bullets, Brothers.. There’s a huge amount of utterly wonderful songs. A perfect album.
Penniless Website
Watch Brothers:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8i_9JJlPm4]
Watch Hail Of Bullets:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNR8-GuuoNI]
Watch Panic:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JRFR5hPobI]
(The reason why I started making One Chord To Another was the fact that I had totally fallen in love with Finnish guitar pop / power pop bands and wanted to make them better known. Nowadays onechord.net seem to cover a lot of obscure country bands from all over the globe, but Finnish pop was the starting point and still is the main reason this website/blog exists. One Chord To Another becomes 10 years old on 17th of september, 2011. It’s been a long journey and therefore I think I’m allowed to feel a little nostalgic. This not-so-cleverly named 10 years & 10 reasons writing series is meant to select 10 albums/releases that were a huge reason why I either started making One Chord To Another or why I’m still making it. So basicly just 10 finnish releases that will always have a huge place in my heart. One every month I think, so it will be december until the nostalgia is over. Bear with me)
