Tips from the Past

Lost in Music Festival was weeks ago but I want to mention some of the most interesting acts. Some of these were new to me at the moment of the live shows, and I plan to check out every one more carefully.

On Volcano impressed me once again with their amazing shoegaze-pop. It’s amazing how interesting their music is even though it’s based quite a lot on instrumental sections. No wonder the band actually started as an instrumental trio. As we know, they have a singer now, and melodies, harmonies and emotion. At the moment they are touring Russia and Baltic States. Once they get back I finally might be able to purchase their EP.

On Volcano at MySpace

Janne Laurila, one of the most talented singer-songwriters in the country, has started working on solo material – for the first time with Finnish lyrics. Laurila’s melancholy meets nicely with Finnish language, although his new direction requires some getting used to. I’ve seen him live so many times that it’s a bit strange to suddenly hear him sing in Finnish. His songs are great, of course, and the melancholic folk/country influences are present.

Janne Laurila at MySpace

Tapes, alias Jukka Salminen played a great set with his friend who played flute and guitar. Tapes songs are really good and there are a lot of influences from the 60s and 70s in them. Tapes just released his second album. I will check that out at some point, since his first album was already really good.

Tapes at MySpace

Antti Westman from the disco-rock group Brightboy has recently released an album of Finnish pop/rock classics under the name Westman. He also performed them live at Artturi. Westman has such an interesting and distinguishing singing voice, and these versions are well worth hearing. At least I liked them very much.

Westman at MySpace

Waterloo is definitely one the the most promising new powerpop bands in Finland. The band rose from the ashes of another pop group called The Dance, and it was a huge thrill to hear how excellent the band sounded even though it had only been together for half a year. Stylistically Waterloo sounded quite a lot like Teenage Fanclub, and they even had the most perfect harmonies present. I hope this band does some more gigs soon – a lot more gigs. Pop people will want to hear this beauty!

Waterloo at MySpace

The most big-sounding and emotional act of the four-day festival was Rödsögården. For a pop-rock band that good I was almost surprised I’d never heard of them before. It’s not like I follow every music media that carefully.. But Rödsögården played extremely well together, and they basically sounded like they could be the next U2. It was so beautiful.. I was in fact moved to tears. There was a whole lot of emotion and excellent, oh so excellent melodies. Gee, this band I won’t forget!

Rödsögården at MySpace

I never thought anything good would come out of the, in my opinion, very unpleasant Finnish girl duo PMMP, but it happened anyway. The members of My First Band also play in PMMP’s tour line-up, among other things. At Lost in Music Festival the group played a set of excellent power pop tunes. Their music included great melodies and cool synth sounds. A very memorable thing was also their lead singer, who was just about the most confident frontman I’d ever seen.

My First Band at MySpace

The final act of Friday’s huge 12-band cavalcade at Yo-talo was the international guest, Estonian The Sun. To me the band’s name was already intriguing, but the music was good too. It was hard-rocking rock, and it made me happy that there were also many nice melodies. The music reminded me a bit of Foo Fighters.

The Sun at MySpace

Kotoisat sävyt played a wonderful gig at Dog’s Home. Their style is a combination of blues, classic rock and influences from bands like The Who and Pink Floyd. Kotoisat sävyt released their debut album back in August.

Kotoisat sävyt at MySpace