A Good Moment with Egotrippi

Egotrippi has been one of my favorite bands ever since I heard their hit song Älä koskaan ikinä back in 2003. I had obviously suddenly developed an ear for great power pop music because I liked the song so much that I decided to check out more of the band's music and soon ended up owning practically the entire back catalogue. In 2004 came Egotrippi's biggest hit Matkustaja and if the band wasn't a household name yet, now it surely had become one. Even though I really enjoyed the band's music, for ten whole years Egotrippi was in my personal experience usually overshadowed by other artists, especially by another Finnish group called Lemonator. For now it seems that things have changed.

In October 2013 I heard Egotrippi's new album Pilvien alla, maan päällä. It had been five years since the band's last album and even a couple years without any live gigs. While listening to the new album I soon noticed that the band's musical expression had risen to a whole new level. The album was the first one Egotrippi produced entirely themselves, celebrating the band's 20-year anniversary with their finest and most ethereal sounds yet.

The album in itself was a demonstration of the band's fantastic songwriting power. In addition to making Egotrippi albums, songwriters Knipi Stierncreutz and Mikki Kauste had over the years written and given more than 50 songs to other popular Finnish artists (also drummer Sampo Haapaniemi had written children's music). Pilvien alla, maan päällä was therefore Egotrippi's own way of looking back: instead of releasing a greatest hits album Egotrippi decided to record their own versions of some of the songs that had been given away years before.

At this moment, Egotrippi is in the process of writing and recording new material for the next album. Looking back to their 20-year career and music I myself have recently come to appreciate the band's always enthusiastic and sincere attitude to music more than ever. To cut a long story short, you could say that Egotrippi is active, always going forward, and therefore the most interesting thing this country has to offer to me.

Egotrippi does sing in Finnish language and therefore the band will probably never gain much popularity in other countries. Writing about the band in English might seem like a strange idea but I am not planning to start another blog just for Finnish-language artists. It is also very important to notice that even though Egotrippi sings in an incomprehensible language the band's music is very much a part of the Anglo-American pop-rock/power pop music tradition.

More about Egotrippi coming soon. Meanwhile, listen to a couple of the band's latest singles, Mestaripiirros and Hyvä hetki (above).

P.S. In case anyone is interested, there are actually some English translations of Egotrippi lyrics available. They are not very good but may offer some kind of help deciphering the music. YouTube is not of much help but I found one Finnish-English lyrics video.