Twist and Roll with the Boorays

Here is another cool band that I found while researching The Sun Sawed in 1/2. The Boorays were another talented early 90s pop-rock band from St. Louis. Comprising of Mark Stephens, Andy Thomson, Mike Hellebusch and Bob Kaemmerlen this band achieved something that might be described as a cult status and attention in indie rock circles all around the world. It didn’t even take long to discover a Finnish article about their 7’’ single Girl Repellent/You Move Me Like a Slug in the press gallery on Brickhouse Acoustics site. Now, here I am, writing about them to my own Finnish indie rock “magazine” - not in Finnish, though…

Three albums were recorded by this quartet: a self-titled The Boorays (1990), Pumpkin Pie Crustacean (1991) and Hollow in the Middle (1994). In the 21st century the Boorays have returned to play a reunion gig every now and then, most recently in November 2009.








The Boorays’ music is enjoyably danceable and straightforward and it clearly indicates influence from 70s punk. The music keeps reminding me of Buzzcocks and the Cure’s early material. It is very easy to develop affection towards the Boorays’ stripped down yet rich, crunchy sound and wonderful low-tone riffs. The songs are of course melodic and catchy. The overall mood of this music could be described as energetic and sweetly melancholic, an interesting mix of happy riffs and wistful melodies. All in all, the Boorays have an ear for fast-tempo rocking pop songs. They also love to twist. You will notice it soon when you put on their first CD. Well, twist is probably the grooviest beat there is… The twist can be seen as one of the surf rock elements of the Boorays’ music.

All three Boorays albums were remixed and remastered by Mike Hellebusch and released in 2005. They are available for purchase in a CD-R-type-of form. Two of the CDs contain 1-2 bonus tracks. I already grabbed the whole bunch and haven’t regretted it for a second. For music samples go to MySpace. Also check out the following video for Band of Gold.



The Boorays on MySpace
The Boorays Brickhouse Acoustics site

Goth Business

Just like last year, I attended Lumous Gothic Festival, the biggest goth happening in Finland. On Saturday, I put on some black lace and lots of eyeliner and headed towards Klubi, one of the best live venues in my hometown Tampere. When I arrived, I bought a ticket, stepped inside the club and sighed with delight.. The place was full of goths! It was so beautiful a sight that I couldn’t believe it for a while..

The first act was Desiderii Marginis alias Johan Levin, a one-man band from Sweden specializing in dark ambient. The gig started with the biggest and loudest bass sound I’d ever heard. The whole place was trembling.. It was wild. Levin performed many interesting songs and sounds, and in the background you could see an old gothic mute film. I’m not much of an ambient expert but the music sounded quite good to me.

Belgian Star Industry was the second band. Their music was indeed traditional modern gothic rock. It reminded me of The 69 Eyes, a nice Finnish goth band. I liked Star Industry’s music very much. There were catchy choruses and lots of energy. Lead singer Peter Beckers performed excellent low vocals and wore a black cowboy hat. The whole concept of rock music with a much darker approach soundwise was very refreshing and exciting to me. The band also performed a couple of songs with electronic elements, such as a very beautiful song called Like a Ghost that can be heard on their MySpace page.

The third act was Canadian synthpop group Psyche lead by Darrin Huss. Psyche is already a 25-year-old band and I’d say their sound is very modern these days. There are gothic elements in the music but it is also suitable for any dance music club, I’d say. Again, there were catchy choruses and energy. Lead singer Huss has a very strong voice. He sounds quite a lot like Bono and his appearance has something in common with Dave Gahan. You could really see that he is a skilful and experienced performer. This gig was all about dancing, and that’s what I like..

This evening was intense. The music was good and the people looked amazing.. If only I hadn’t got so tired sometime between the end of the second gig and the beginning of the third, I would have enjoyed the gigs even more. I really don’t know what it was – summer flu, general holiday fatigue or what..

However, this experience gave me some encouragement so that I just might start checking out some newer gothic stuff at some point – instead of sticking to The Cure and other 80s and late 70s bands. In fact, I still have a lot of those bands to listen to, too.

Lumous Website

Finished with You? Not Even Close..

I just love it when I change my mind completely. I saw clips from 30 Seconds to Mars music video for The Kill numerous times on MTV two years ago, and I remember I didn’t like it much. I probably thought to myself something like: “Eh.. Nice tonsils.”

It took about two years before I actually listened to the song in its entirety, and concentrated on it. As usual, the song sounded good at that point. What made me take this step was actually my friend who likes this band – and Jared.. Being a multitalented guy, Jared Leto makes both great films and music, and for some reason, is adored by a few billion women..

Yes, I love him too. I had only seen one of his films before my friend recommended watching some more. On May Day I decided to check him out, and found some seriously good-looking pictures. Then, I found some more, and more, and more.. I found some nice interviews, television appearances, DVD’s, and tickets to the 30 Seconds to Mars live concert in Helsinki.. This is one of the greatest obsessions I’ve ever had, and I’m really enjoying it!

It is simply great that the best-looking, most beautiful, and gorgeous human being on the planet makes amazing stuff - films and music. I love watching Jared’s films, and I’m particularly happy about the music. 30 Seconds to Mars has been number one on my playlists lately. Listening to 30STM hasn’t been very difficult at any point. In fact, I’m totally hooked on that stuff. 30STM has even triggered a wider interest in emo (or polka, or whatever you want to call it..) in me.

A Beautiful Lie (2005) is the second and more recent album by 30STM. It is very different from the band’s first album that was created by Jared and brother Shannon Leto without any other band members. The most important thing is that it really is a wonderful, emotional, and atmospheric album with awesome songs.

The singles Attack, A Beautiful Lie, The Kill, and From Yesterday are all great. However, I’m positive about the fact that the band achieved their goal of making a listening experience out of this album rather than a collection of singles. The result is a very consistent album with only great songs, added with utterly wonderful emotionalism and melancholy, very similar to the feel of The Cure’s masterpiece Disintegration. Savior sounds like an impressive modern recreation of Fascination Street. Was It a Dream is very Cure-like, too. The sound of rain and thunder is combined with a gothic guitar riff, Shannon Leto’s brilliant drum beat, and Jared’s wistful vocals. It’s all very enchanting and wonderfully sentimental.

My favourite song is From Yesterday. I just love it, it’s so powerful and awesome, and I never seem to get tired of the beautiful melody and Jared’s perfect vocals. Major chords and angst make a winning combination. The music video for it is also something astonishingly beautiful, I might add..

The 2007 version of this album is actually quite brilliant because it features two excellent bonus tracks and a hidden track. This means that the album has, in fact, three different endings. I find all of them great. I really enjoy Battle of One, the first of the two bonus tracks. Björk cover Hunter is also brilliant. Jared sings it so well that it makes me want to listen to Björk (since I haven’t done that much, yet).

This is so beautiful music. Something else than sugary power pop, for a change.. Stuff that is sentimental and kicks ass – could I ask for more?

30 Seconds to Mars at MySpace

I Get a Funny Feeling

Material Issue is so great. Although they were among the first powerpop groups I ran into I didn’t start listening to them properly until last fall. Material Issue may not actually be the right kind of thing to start with when getting into powerpop (at least it obviously wasn’t the right thing for me). But that’s OK. After spending four years listening to many other PP bands, I realized that Material Issue had suddenly become pure sweetness to my ears.

Material Issue was a 1990s trio lead by songwriter Jim Ellison. They released four albums. So far, I’ve got acquainted with the first, International Pop Overthrow (1991), and the third, Freak City Soundtrack (1994). IPO is an absolutely wonderful album containing many catchy songs such as Valerie Loves Me, Diane, Crazy, and of course the great title track. My personal favourite is the bouncy Li’l Christine, a perfect ending for a near-perfect album.

Freak City Soundtrack is sometimes regarded as Material Issue’s greatest album and that opinion might just ring true even with me. While IPO is characterized by quite moderate, jangly early 90s sounds, FCS is a lot louder, faster and more rocking. There aren’t many slow songs on Freak City Soundtrack, which makes the album great to listen to when you need energy (for me that is often). And the songs! The songs are excellent. Goin’ Through Your Purse is amazing, and the same is true of Funny Feeling, The Fan, Very Good Thing, and basically every song on the album.

Jim Ellison’s lyrics often remind me of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo’s awesome, geeky texts. Both deal with love, girlfriends, and all kinds of problems related to them. Jim and Rivers have a quite similar approach to these subjects. You could say that they write so extremely emotion-appealing lyrics that it’s almost silly. On the other hand, what is also true is that heartbreak may not really be a thing to be discussed lightly.

Somehow, I still constantly find myself very amused listening to these heartbreak stories and I’m certain I’m not the only one who feels this way. I guess you just never can get used to how dramatic life can occasionally be. This is one difficult thing to explain – especially in a foreign language! However, it’s indeed very strange how serious things turn into something quite different when they are discussed in a certain way. Is it that I’m just able to see the humorous side of other people’s terrible misfortune or is it that I’m a bad person enjoying someone else’s setback?

The most memorable moments listening to Material Issue are those when you get touched and amused at the same time. It’s one big confusing emotional rollercoaster. What is great about this kind of music is that it’s much more than just something you listen to. It’s life, feelings, and being a human, too.

Oh how I love Jim Ellison’s voice. It’s bright, high-pitched and very expressive. I really think there is a difference between Material Issue’s first and third album. Ellison has certainly learned to realize his full potential as a singer on FCS. Also, as a sort-of-fan of The Cure I can’t help comparing his voice to the one of Robert Smith’s. They really bare some resemblance, but that’s not a bad thing.

RIP, Jim Ellison. You certainly left something wonderful for us pop fanatics to enjoy.

Listen to Material Issue at YouTube:

Valerie Loves Me music video
Diane music video
What Girls Want music video