Gary Louris – Vagabonds

{mosimage}It must feel funny to release your first solo album when you are 52, but once The Jayhawks disbanded after 20 years on the road, singer, songwriter and guitar player Gary Louris decided to step up and release his first solo album. (Actually, I’m writing this review on the singer’s 53rd birthday).

The last time The Jayhawks played in Finland was at Tavastia in 2004. There presented their last album, Rainy Day Music, a mostly acoustic album, that combined the best of traditional American roots music, from The Band to Crosby, Still, Nash & Young to Gram Parsons, spiced up with that characteristic pop sensibility of Louris’ compositions.

In Vagabonds, Gary Louris continues the same path: timeless American music. For producing the album, he recruited long time friend and Black Crowes’ singer Chris Robinson. The result is a laid back album with lots of acoustic guitar, pedal steel and typical songwriting and singing from Louris.

With the input of Chris Robinson, the songs some of the songs are decorated with a touch of psychedelic sounds (especially in I Wanna Get High) and an interesting gospel choir, The Laurel Canyon Family Choir, that includes among others Robinson himself, Jenny Lewis and Susanna Hoffs (yes, the same one of The Bangles).

The title track, Vagabonds, is probably the most outstanding tune. It’s a classic Louris composition as perfect as Blue or Waiting for the Sun can be.

This album might not top The Jayhawks legacy. But that’s not an easy task at all since The Jayhawks’ discography is one of the most perfect a band has made in the last twenty years. Still Vagabonds is beautiful, remarkable and relevant.

Rating 4/5 

Fans cue for ‘kuoleman varjelukset’ at sub-zero temperatures

In downtown Helsinki, book chain Suomalainen Kirjakauppa had organized
a programme that included books, magazines, films, games and food, to
make the waiting circumstances a bit more pleasant. There was also a
line in front of the Academic Bookstore in the capital’s centre.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the last part in the Potter saga. It was translated into Finnish by Jaana Kapari-Jatta, who also did the Finnish translation of the other six parts in the series. Illustrator Mika Launis is responsible for the covers of the Finnish Potter books.

Johanna Iivanainen & Eero Koivistoisen yhtye – Lennosta kii!

{mosimage}Lennosta kii! is a joint venture between singer Johanna Iivanainen and saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen (and his band), that makes jazz versions of Finnish pop and rock classics.

 

A daring concept, since many of these songs are classics of Finnish popular music and making jazz versions of them could easily mean watering them down, but this album is made with certain confidence. No wonder: the same team made a record, called Suomalainen and having a similar concept, couple of years ago.

 

From a technical point of view, this is a fantastic record. Iivanainen is certainly a talented and versatile singer, and the musicians handle their jobs very well. It sounds like these people don’t just perform the music, they are living it.

 

In its own genre Lennosta kii! truly must be a triumphant success: this is evident from the carefully constructed arrangements and soulful performances. However, I found myself – not being much of a jazz freak – thinking this is too clean, too perfect, too devoid of mistakes, to really genuinely touch me. Of course, not every kind of music must sound like it was made a amateur punk rock band, but at times this sounds too much like music aimed at coffee tables to have a serious impact.

 

Anyhow, for jazz enthusiastic and all open-minded music lovers in general, Lennosta kii! is certainly worth checking out.

 

Rate 3/5

  

Eleanoora Rosenholm – Vainajan muotokuva

{mosimage}New Finnish bands are rarely as interesting as Eleanoora Rosenholm (yes, despite the name this is a band, not a solo artist).

 

First, it is sort of Finnish alternative rock super group, the members being known from such bands as Lowlife Rock’n’roll Philosophers, Magyar Posse, Circle and Kuusumun Profeetta. Second, the fictional story behind the band (involving a serial killer called Eleanoora Rosenholm) is quite fascinating. And third, the music is very good.

 

Eleanoora Roosenholm’s leftfield synthpop is weird enough to be interesting for those who don’t care for mainstream music, but pop enough to suit those who do. The atmosphere is morbid yet treacherously captivating, just like in a good horror movie. With all the lyrics about murders and something-that-is-not-specified being wrong, Vainajan muotokuva (“portrait of the deceased”) is a somewhat brooding record, but in a good way.

 

Right from the album opener Musta ruusu, it is clear that Eleanoora Rosenholm may be playing pop music, but very different from your usual chart pop. Tracks like Ovet ja huoneet and Kodinrakennusohjeet are brilliant examples of melodic, easily accessible pop music with a sinister twist. The two instrumentals on the record also work out well in creating the atmosphere. Kiltti vai tuhma? is, in its innocence, catchiness and pop sensibility, somewhat different from the rest of the album, but that only makes the record interesting.

 

A bloodcurdling debut album from a band that certainly is quite unique in the current Finnish rock music scene. I truly hope we’ll be hearing a lot from them in the future.

 

Rate 4/5

Billy Corgan´s sick and funny blues

After splitting up in 2000, Smashing Pumpkins came back during 2007. It was about time to see one of the band´s that marked my teenage years, together with Nirvana or Guns & Roses. 

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One guy from the organization tells me inside the Ice Hall in Helsinki that it is not possible to go down, to the area in front of the stage, since the tickets are sold out. Not true as I can see with my own eyes seconds later while sitting, since only around 2/3 of the venue´s capacity is filled with people waiting to see Smashing Pumpkins in its come back Tour.  It seems that the attraction for seeing half of the original formation (only Billy Corgan and the drummer Jimmy Chamberlin remain, since Melissa Auf der Mar and James Iha do not participate) is not enough for many old fans. It is a long time ago of the band´s peak on popularity terms, when appearing even in a Simpson´s episode… but the fire still burns. The group released recently a new album: Zeitgeist.

Undoubtedly, the Tour has Corgan as main star. The charismatic bald leader of the band jumped on stage wearing a shining silver long skirt, moving his tall body ungainly, and putting the Finnish public step by step into his pocket. At the beginning, the interaction with the audience was practically non-existent, with the band focused on playing, and Corgan must have felt surprised of the traditional coldness of the public, that behave quieter than in other countries, since he dedicated a couple of ironic sentences like “I don´t want anybody dying of excitement today here”.

But step by step, the concert started to warm up. A great help to that was listening to old great classics like Tonight, Tonight or Bullet with Butterfly Wings. The audience was eager to scream shouts of love for Corgan, and he answered effusively back, overall to the female voices…   Billy was not enjoying his best healthy day, since he recognized to be sick, coughing often between songs, and that lead to an improvised blues whose main line was “I am sick” and ended up with “I am foul”, for splashing the audience finally with the raw truth: “I am fool, but I have more money than you!”. After that, as a great special gift to compensate us, Corgan still alone on stage, played a superb acoustic version of 1979 that was probably the highlight of the night.

The band sounded well and compact in general. It was delicious to see the new bass player, Ginger Reyes, tiny and skinny, rocking with a bass that was almost of bigger size than her. A special mention for the lighting part of the show, well done and sophisticated enough to create the perfect climate in every song. Smashing Pumpkins sounded strong, sometimes even as hard as a heavy metal band, and Corgan and cia left a very good final taste in the mouths of the audience with more than 2 hours of good rock, a balanced mix of old and new material and great anthems like Drown, The Rose March, Bring the Light, the explosive Superchrist or the tender Lily (My One and Only).

A Mighty Heart

{mosimage}Controversial director Michael Winterbottom is back with a film that narrates the real story of the kidnapping and assassination of journalist Danny Pearl in Pakistan. 

Winterbottom´s cinema is far from the mainstream productions. The director of films like the highly erotic 9 Songs or the highly surrealistic A Cock and Bull Story is very influenced by the military intervention of USA after the sad attacks of September 11th in his last two films: A Road to Guantanamo and this A Mighty Heart. The film focuses on the kidnapping of American Jewish journalist Danny Pearl, but the main star of the film will be the role reserved for his wife, Marian Pearl, incarnated by Angelina Jolie. Personally I find her too much overacting in the film.

I would have preferred some other real Latina actress for the role. Since the end of Danny Pearl´s sad story is well known for most of the people before and while watching the movie, the excitement about the final solution for the plot is, in this case, transformed on an attention and curiosity to observe how people can react to such extreme situation as facing the kidnapping of a beloved relative in a foreign country. For me, the best parts of the movie are when the Pakistani police captain (Irfan Khan) is in action through the never ending streets and suburbs of the city of Karachi, or when the investigation team is sitting around the table analyzing the twisted situation in Pakistan and its special and tense relation with neighboring India.In any case, being a journalist myself,

I cannot less than feel proud of those colleagues that risk their lives all over the world, far from home, in search of the truth and honest information. May Danny Pearl not be forgotten, but just settle a message of peace and understanding among different cultures. Winterbottom´s delivers that message, and the final scenes with the birth of Adam, Pearl´s baby, symbolize that there is always a new chance for a better future in this world.

Rating 3/5.

Nuovomondo – (Kultainen Portti)

{mosimage}Vicenzo Amato and Charlotte Gainsbourg embarked in a tough trip from Sicily to USA in search of hope and a new better life. 

Italian director Emanuele Crialese has created a simple but beautiful story about strength, hope and the collapse of the new world symbolized by USA against the old World of the Italian immigrants that departed to America at the beginning of 20th century in search of a new world. Vicenzo Amato is Salvatore, a very poor Italian widow who is going to try his fortune leaving his native country and embarking with his peculiar family to the brave new world.  In his way he will meet Charlotte Gainsbourg, and English lady who will put the cosmopolitan touch to the group of immigrants.The journey is slow, and boring at some times. But Amato´s and Gainsbourg ´s acting skills stand out, and when they share the planes, you find the best of the movie. A plot especially interesting for the Italian and American public that surely can see now on big screen a real story made by their grandparents decades ago. 

In the middle of the poverty and the hard conditions, there is time for solidarity and love, but also for the stupidity of the rules and examinations awaiting the tired immigrants after the hard journey. A situation that can be extrapolated to the present days, when it seems that the world is more and more divided between first and second class citizens, depending on the place of destination. Maybe the Finnish watchers can take some wise advice from Crialese´s film and think twice about their tough and not much flexible immigration policy. At the end, just as the main characters, we are just foreigners swimming in the middle of a milky sea, trying to reach land, in hope of a better life.

Rating 3/5  

Fewer visits to Finnish theatres

Fewer theatre goers last year

THEATRE Fewer people went to see performances at professional theatres in
Finland last year. According to the Association of Finnish Theatres,
its member theatres lost over 81,000 visitors overall compared to 2006.
The big stages lost the most visitors.

The Finnish National Opera saw the biggest drop in visitors last year:
over 68,000. The second biggest decline was for the Helsinki City
Theatre: over 40,000.

Helsinki’s Svenska teatern and the Lahti City Theatre gained the most visitors (both about 17,000 visitors more than in 2006).

Most of the professional theatres in Finland, 42 in total, belong to
the Association of Finnish Theatres. In all, the interest and employer
organisation’s member theatres had 2.4 million visitors last year. Last
year’s drop in visitor numbers is part of regular visitor number
fluctuation, according the Association.


Association of Finnish Theatres

 

It’s film time!

A typical Finnish weather welcomes the guests of this year’s Tampere Film Festival. But the festival offers a way to escape cold and snow and to travel to exotic places. In this edition the festival takes a look at the new films from South Korea, the current trends in Russian and the cinema done by Palestinians and their neighbours. The festival opens today and it will show nearly 500 films during five days.

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As usual, the festival offers also interesting retrospectives on diverse filmmakers. One of the most outstanding British avant garde filmmakers, John Smith, will present Hotel Diaries, a series of video recordings made in hotel rooms. Smith will be in Tampere and will discuss his work on Saturday 7.3 after the screening of Hotel Diaries.

Swedish Johan Hagelbäck will show a collection of his animation and music videos. The festival also offers the opportunity of watching some of the short films by veteran Finnish director Kari Paljakka, who this year was commissioned to organize the special screening Carte Blanche, to which he chose short films by Roman Polanski, among others, and classic Finnish documentaries.

The Tampere Film Festival characterizes for premiering in Finland relevant music films and documentaries. In the last years, Neil Young’s Heart of Gold and Ramones’ End of the Century were shown at the festival. This year the focus is on Kurt Cobain with the screening of the documentary About a Son. Directed by AJ Schnack this is a portray of the leader of Nirvana based on more than 25 hours of interviews conducted by journalist Michael Azerrad for his book Come As You Are. The festival also premieres Jouko Aaltonen’s documentary about Finnish punk, Punksters & Youngsters (Punk – Tauti joka ei tapa).

Finally, the theme of the traditional night long Saturday party is devoted this year to Finland. The long Suomi Night Saturday proposes a celebration of the Peculiar Mentality of Finns. It’s Finland 101: eight hours with new and old Finnish short films, city promotion videos, music videos and Aki Kaurismäki’s Total Balalaika Show as the star of the night at midnight.

www.tamperefilmfestival.fi
5-9 March
All screenings have English subtitles

The Scourger – Dark Invitation to Armaggedon

{mosimage}The Finnish metal band The Scourger offers you 11 tracks of ferocious trash metal ready to rip your head clean off. 

 

Finland is better known for their gothic and power metal bands, but there is space for a wide range in the healthy Finnish metal scene. A good proof is the new work of The Scourger: Dark Invitation to Armaggedon, that turns to be one of the best surprises in European thrash music scene during the last months.

Jari Hurskainen (former Gandalf singer) is powerful and hammering in the vocals, and the good lyrics are supported by the crazy drumming of Seppo Tarvainen. This is their second studio album, and the first single: Never Bury the Hatchet, has worked very well in the Finnish charts. After having toured in 2007 with Impaled Nazarene and having appeared in the soundtrack of the Finnish movie V2: Frozen Angel, the band faces new challenges as their appearance in the Finnish Metal Expo in February, an excellent event to take the pulse of the Finnish metal industry.

A special mention for the excellent cover artwork by Joe Petagno, an internationally well known cover designer who has done previous stuff for people like Motörhead, Alice Cooper or Pink Floyd. A work that linking the concepts of the Armageddon and the devil turns, from my humble point of view, into one of the best metal covers that I have ever seen. A classy touch and stylish design for the Finnish guys ´album, that becomes an excellent and mature introduction for a work that confirms them as the freshest and most powerful alternative in the Finnish trash metal scene. Let´s see what future brings them . If you like Trash, pretty recommendable. If not, better stick to other more classic Finnish metal bands.

Rate 4/5.

The Mutants – Grave Groove

{mosimage}The Finnish freaky instrumental rock quintet is back with their third studio album. Groovy sounds with a rocking approach that will make move your feet!

Grave Groove is the third studio album from the crazy party Finnish bastards, as they have been baptized in some international media, The Mutants. Nonetheless, they music is difficult to get constrained to categorization: it sounds like garage rock with African touches here and there and a certain feeling of Series B movie in the air while listening to it. In any case, better judge yourself!The point is that the rhythms are catchy.

Vocals are non-existent in most of the album, although they count in some parts with the guest appearance of Nadi Hammouda, but there are not missed while listening to the album. Songs like Outerspace Odyssey will undoubtedly get into your mind and remain there the rest of the day. Guitars riffs are catchy and sensual, and all transmits a feeling of good old rock played in a dessert beach in some point of the Caribe. “Latino spirit” is also very present in the album, if not, pay attention to the titles of the songs:  El Matador del Diablo or CMC Carlos Muchas Cervezas, although you do not get surprised if you see that some members of the band have nicknames such as El Toro or Juan Emperor.

If you want to listen something fresh, a bit of space rock mixed in an explosive cocktail with mambo to move your hips, explore the sound of The Mutants. For me, the album is one of the nicest surprises of the beginning of 2008.

Rate 4/5

Stardust (Tähtisumua)

{mosimage}A beautiful fantasy tale with a lot of love, humor, and one of the sexiest witches of film history: Michelle Pfeiffer.

 

I must recognize that I have a special weakness for fantasy tales. It can be Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth…etc. Saying so, I have to say that Stardust is probably the movie that I enjoyed the most in cinema theaters during last year. Saying so, I cannot less than praise this DVD edition.

The cast is superb, with the nice surprise of Charlie Cox as Tristan, and the always beautiful and angelical presence of Claire Danes, who really looks like coming from a star. But the show is stolen by the most veteran stars: Michelle Pfeiffer who looks deliciously sexy in her comeback to the big screen, repeating role as a witch 20 years after making the life impossible to Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick, and Robert de Niro who explodes again his comical side with a really hilarious role as the homosexual pirate captain of a ship that sails across the space. He is probably the best in the whole movie, and that is to say a lot, since there are many good features to highlight in Vaughn´s film.

The script is great, landscapes are astonishing, the magic atmosphere is credible, and the secondary character´s list is impressive and make the story dynamic, as the evil brothers (with Rupert Everett there included) that one after another become special guests of the story as ghosts , the always incredible Peter O´Toole as the dying king,  or  Siena Miller as the beautiful girl to whom Tristan promised love in first term make a rounded movie, that can be enjoyed every minute of it for 2 hours. Run and get it, since it will be one of the releases of the year 2008 in DVD!

Rate: 5/5. 

Ratatouille

{mosimage}The last dream from Disney, coming from the privileged minds of Pixar guys, is about good food and a little rat. 

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atatouille is about mixing the possible and the impossible: a rat, an animal that has provoked for centuries repulsion, being the king of the high cuisine in Paris, the city with reputation of hosting the best chefs in the world.

 There, our little friend Remy, who has a great developed sense of smell, and a predilection for creating new and amazing plates that can challenge  him, will help young and unskilled Linguini to cook not only some of the best food in the city, but also the receipt of love with job mate Colette.

There, our little friend Remy, who has a great developed sense of smell, and a predilection for creating new and amazing plates that can challenge  him, will help young and unskilled Linguini to cook not only some of the best food in the city, but also the receipt of love with job mate Colette.

The genial people of Pixar makes once more an innovative and outstanding animation movie where we are given advice to follow our dreams until the last consequences, no matters how difficult they can seem. Technically, the film is outstanding: the rat moves like a rat, but also has a very human side. The design of Paris is magnificent, in contrast with the darkness of the under face where the pack of rats habit, and the work in the kitchen is meticulously copied and reflected. As the final note to put a perfect end to the action, the voice of Peter O´Toole lent to the character of Ego, a critic that will be finally touched by a food made with love and care.

Excellent work by director Brad Bird, who is also behind of other excellent Pixar products such as The Incredibles. Animation movies are in excellent shape, overwhelming many times in terms of quality the normal movies. Let´s see what is the next exciting thing that the guys from Pixar can bring us after this excellent gift!

Rate 4/5

Ayreon -01011001

{mosimage}Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen assembles a great metal opera in this double CD that counts with very special guests from the heavy metal scene.

 

 

 

Not a long time ago we reviewed in FREE! Magazine the awaited third part of Avantasia, and in the same line now is the turn of another of the best metal operas released in the last years: the new Ayreon ´s  CD (6th conceptual   album in total) with a title encrypted in a binary code:  O1011001.

After 10 years of the release of Into the Electric Castle, Lucassen  reaffirms that he still has a lot of creativity to show the world. And in the same way that in the Scarecrow, the list of participants involved in the project is also astonishing:  Tom S. Englund, Hansi Kursch (for whom I feel a special weakness, being a great Blind Guardian fan since my teenage years), Anneke van Giersbergen, Steve Lee or Jonas Renske are some of the big names that are lending their musical skills to the project.  

A musical tour de force where different metal styles get mixes in a harmonic way. It seems that the trend nowadays in the industry is developing towards eclecticism. A decade ago musicians were not so eager to experiment, having the feat of losing the fidelity of their audience, but it is coming a time in metal when it looks that the key to surviving is just to be able to not to stick to one single and defined style. Enjoy with exceptional pieces like River of Time or The Sixt Exctintion, where all the singers lend their voices. A must have for the lovers of good conceptual and epic metal.

Rating  5/5.

The 69 Eyes – Hollywood Kills

 

 

{mosimage}The Hell-sinki vampires want your blood again, and strike back with a live album recorded at the Whisky a Go Go club. 

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irectly from Sunset Boulevard, here comes the awaited first live album of Hell-sinki gothic band The 69 Eyes: Hollywood Kills. Recorded in the legendary Californian club Go Go Club the 24th of March, 2006, during their American tour, with all the tickets sold out, The 69 Eyes appear here as a mature band that is enjoying the best time of their career, able to put a great show together, with a solid discography and the support of a huge legion of fans not only in Finland but worldwide. The fame of the band has been helped by the charisma of the singer Jyrki 69 (a voice that sounds like Elvis embedded in a gothic style body!)  together with the irreverent looks of drummer Jussi 69.

The album counts with 16 tracks plus an introduction by Ban Margera, not missing any of the songs that the fans would dream about:  hits like Lost Boys, Brandon Lee or Gothic Girl, with sharp lyrics where they never lose opportunity to promote once more their love for women (specially blondes) and rock stars attitude that have been perfectly captured in the pictures inside the booklet, taken by acclaimed rock photographer Ville Akseli, who published last year also a book: Route 69, with these and others pics taken while traveling with the band around U.S.A.An album that comes in a perfect timing for the band after having worked hard and taken risks to succeed in the international market.

The 69 Eyes is about Booze, explosive girls and dangerous rock. The vampires are coming to suck the blood of your daughters, so be sure the doors are well closed during this (ugly) Finnish winter!

Rating 4/5.