Belated Gig ”Reviews” Part 3: Monsters of Pop

I don't like the word “indie” too much anymore.. You can place anything under that term and, worst of all, skip power pop completely! Monsters of Pop, organized for the fifth time in Tampere this year, is an “indie music festival” that presents even quite hard rocking artists these days. I think that is bit contradictory to the festival being called Monsters of Pop.. Anyway, this year's MoP had again some great performances to offer. Here are a few of the bands that played a gig.

Technique is a quite new band, I think, that performs dark, atmospheric, minimalistic, yet entertaining electronic pop music. The songs also tend to have a slow tempo.. It all makes a great combination. I always enjoy seeing this band.

Technique at MySpace

There were also some international guests at MoP this year, some of them from Sweden. Francis, a Swedish pop/rock band, performed fancy tunes at Telakka. It was a good performance from good musicians. I especially remember the soulfulness of vocalist.. whose name I wasn't able to find anywhere. Anyway, a soulful and energetic performance from a female-fronted Swedish pop band.

Francis at MySpace

The most memorable gig was Them Bird Things, a band that I now saw live for the second time. And what a great improvement it was. I read in an interview that vocalist Salla Day would have wanted to make the band's first album an acoustic-sounding one but it was made into more electric in order to give the audience an immediate hit album (Fly, Them Bird Things, Fly! 2009). This acoustic vision was then realised on the band's second album Wildlike Wonder, released earlier this year. So, the interesting part is, that the band had a lot more acoustic live sound during the first album gigs. Now that Them Bird Things have released a more acoustic album, the live sound was more electric nonetheless, and the band sounded better that way. And maybe they had gotten better playing together.

Luckily the gig was even mixed well enough so that you could hear vocalist Salla Day's amazingly distinctive voice over the other instruments. The song material is also a very, very strong asset for the band. The new album is a gorgeous Americana/pop album, check it out on Spotify, for instance. The album has received praising feedback which is really well-earned.

Them Bird Things at MySpace

Lastly, I will mention another Swedish band that was the last performer of Friday. The band, Bye Bye Bicycle, had had problems with getting to Tampere so they were forced to take the stage probably only minutes after arriving from Sweden. Despite all the trouble the band threw an excellently energetic gig and presented lots of catchy, danceable songs. That is the work of professionals!

Bye Bye Bicycle at MySpace

That was this year's MoP. In the future, I might give up my current boycotting habit and even go see all the performers. That way I would at least have better means of criticizing the things I consider to be wrong... Such as the excessive number of electronic music performers, very noisy rock on a pop festival and the total lack of power pop artists. I am still happy this festival exists, even though my most cherished memories from the festival tend to a few years old already. The things used to be better... Or maybe I have just grown more demanding when it comes to my indoor pop festivals.

A Break from Prejudice

Oh my. How easy it is to reject anything, anytime. How difficult to embrace the new, despite how different or frightening it may seem at first glance. I rejected this band but then realized, once again, that I won't ever find my way out of the world of conventional, sugary pop melodies if I don't accept anything else. My latest interest is... You guessed it, gothic, and I have, of course, felt attraction towards gothic music and aesthetics before. But I haven't felt attraction towards a German band since I was about 10 years old. And I have practically never felt attraction towards a band that doesn't seem to place too much importance on traditional instruments.

Einstürzende Neubauten (meaning Collapsing New Buildings) is a German experimental band founded in the early 1980s. The band's music at that time was unconventional, noisy, and aggressive, probably quite disturbing to the ears of a non-accustomed listener. I find it interesting, though... That noisy music was real pioneer work in the field of industrial music. More recently Einstürzende Neubauten has given up the aggression and instead makes quieter music but still utilizes extraordinary sounds. Based on my first impression I would say that this band is more interested in any kind of unusual sounds that, well, the sounds of traditional rock instruments. Why use a regular drum kit, for instance, when you can bang different metallic objects? Then there is also Mr. Blixa Bargeld, the band's lead vocalist, an iconic goth character and real gentleman. Bargeld's voice is very low-tuned but that it definitely part of the charm. Add lyrics in German language (sometimes in English) and there you have it: something you most certainly haven't heard before (unless you already have...).

I haven't decided yet if missing Einstürzende Neubauten's Tampere gig last Thursday was missing a chance of a lifetime and if I am going to be miserable and bitter right until the band's next anniversary tour. In any case, I am already quite convinced about the fact that seeing a band like this is a unique experience, no matter if you agree 100% with the band's musical preferences or not.

I can feel this is only the beginning..

Einstürzende Neubauten at MySpace

Einstürzende Neubauten website

Let's Dance

All of a sudden I felt like dancing! So I listened to The Feeling, a great British pop band which has released two albums. One of The Feeling's most danceable songs is I Thought It Was Over, a bittersweet but uplifting tune from the band's 2008 album Join With Us. Like everything I listen to, this song too has a human point of view, something that I have recently noticed to be one of the most essential things in music. In a way this song is almost too serious for dancing.. Anyways, it is a lovely song. Dance if you like!

Gees, I just love this song - and band! Dan Gillespie Sells is also a great vocalist and frontman. It has been ages since the last time I praised The Feeling. So, voilà, The Feeling!

Belated Gig ”Reviews” Part 2: Captain Cougar

And now... Something completely different. This gig took place already in the end of August but I still remember it like it was yesterday. So, I will share some thoughts concerning concert experiences as a whole.

On an August evening I went to Klubi see folk pop band Captain Cougar (as well as Jukka Ässä and Cry Bar) but I definitely have the most vivid memories of Captain Cougar's gig. What was it then? Perhaps the most well-planned concert I had ever seen. The core of every concert is of course music. Captain Cougar performed its latest, second album Of Dreams Long Gone in its entirety. And oh what a concert it was!

I have seen a few hundred gigs and very few of them included any kind of visual stimuli in addition to the band and the instruments. In the field of indie/underground/non-popular pop/rock bands there is rarely anything else on the stage than the band and the usual lights that the venue can offer. The ideal situation often is that there is no need for videos or anything else in the background – the music is so good and entertaining in its own right that extra props, video screens etc. are not needed. On the other hand, sometimes the music and the concert as a whole can greatly benefit from additional visual features. The most important thing is to think what the concert needs, what the band and the music have to say.

Captain Cougar had a good reason to decorate their concert with video screens. The band's latest album has a historical theme: it tells stories that mostly take place in the 1910s Finland. On the screens there were different old photographs and texts that looked like letters or poems.

However, the visuals didn't steal the show. That role belonged to the band and gorgeous lead vocalist Eva Louhivuori who I think must be one of the best and most expressive female singers in the whole country. I also loved to see many wonderful instruments being played: violin, horns, woodwinds, piano. Everything the band did on the stage showed deep respect towards the wonder of beautiful, touching music – music that matters and takes you to a whole different place. It is a good equivalent to reading a good historical novel but with less text and more audio temptation.

This world needs music like Captain Cougar. Music that is down-to-earth but utilizes effective nuances with style. Music that conveys real human emotions, organic instrumentation and stories that shouldn't be forgotten.

Captain Cougar at MySpace

Captain Cougar website

Belated Gig ”Reviews” Part 1: Stalingrad Cowgirls and Sweatmaster

There are several past gigs I would like to tell something about.. At least mention the bands, because I always love a good gig that encourages you to check out new music.

Well, well.. First of all, let's say that on September 23rd I discovered the best Finnish all-female powerpop band. They are called Stalingrad Cowgirls and probably like to label themselves primarily as a punk rock band. Well, they do look very punk.. Black leather, black hair, definitely not too girly! These women were also the best female rock'n roll players in this country I had seen live: a wonderfully energetic gig, melodic songs and loud guitars! Geez, there's nothing like a good-looking melodic punk/pop band with good songs that also can play really, really well.

Stalingrad Cowgirls come from Salla, a small town called Salla, north of the Arctic Circle. These northern girls – Enni Kivelä (vocals and guitar), Riina Kivelä (drums), Henna Vaarala (bass) - debuted in 2007 with Somewhere High. Kiss Your Heart Goodbye followed in 2010. I will check out these albums. They can be listened to on Spotify.

Stalingrad Cowgirls at MySpace

Stalingrad Cowgirls website

These cowgirls in black weren't the headlining act on that night, though. The stage was also taken by another hard rocking band, Sweatmaster, from Turku. Sweatmaster is said to be the most underrated rock band in Finland. That might very well be true, although this country surely is packed with other talented, unnoticed bands as well.

This time Sweatmaster came to Tampere to promote their new, fouth full-length album Dig out the Knife. So how was the gig? Sweatmaster kicked ass, and the musicians were just as surprised by the roaring applause as always.

Check out the video for one of my favorite Sweatmaster songs: Good Looks, Big Deal. It was released on the band's second album, Tom Tom Bullet (2005). Now that's rock'n roll!

Sweatmaster at MySpace

Sweatmaster website

Hot Blooded

Now that I am on holiday, it is time to write more than usual (which isn't much..). I have practically dozens of topics I would like to blab about, so let's see how many I end up writing about during this week...

Styx was the band that introduced me to magnificent, theatrical 70s rock music. Following the recommendations of Last.fm I soon discovered Foreigner and picked up the debut album from 1977. Musically speaking this band appeared to me as a sort of less grandiose but just as catchy little brother of Styx. In the summer of 2009 I spent many nice moments listening to Foreigner's self-titled debut album. No wonder I was drawn by such songs as Feels Like the First Time and Cold As Ice – they are great, melodic, rocking songs and contain really good vocal harmonies.

Given that one of Foreigner's founding members was the ex-King Crimson Ian McDonald, it might make you wonder why Foreigner's music is not all that progressive. Instead, any song by Foreigner I have heard so far sounds quite straightforward – there are no ultra-fast, complicated solos and the songs tend to be shorter than five minutes. On the other hand, it is quite understandable that by the end of the 70s bands started rather downplaying the progressive elements than still keeping them in their music. Maybe the progressive was slowly going out of style?

The other two founding members of Foreigner were Mick Jones, another British musician who had formerly served in Spooky Tooth, among others, and American singer Lou Gramm, who would soon charm the masses with both his excellent voice and songwriting talent. Together with drummer Dennis Elliot, bass player Ed Gagliardi, and keyboardist Al Greenwood, this British-American combo was ready to conquer the world. Unlike Styx, Foreigner managed to sell multi-platinum already with its debut album. Several more multi-platinum-sellers followed in the footsteps of the self-titled album.

I have taken it slow with Foreigner. So far I have only listened to the first two albums (the debut and Double Vision, 1978). Both albums are definitely good. The overall feel of Foreigner's music is very much like Styx: magnificent melodies, superb vocal harmonies, good energy, catchy hard rock riffs, added with a melancholic edge. Listen to a song like Blue Morning, Blue Day and you will immediately think about both Queen and Styx. A certain bittersweetness also gives Foreigner a lot of soul. Well, I guess I just described the ultimate pop song pattern, once again... Nowadays I call anything melody-oriented music “pop”. Foreigner is, in fact, pop in two different meanings.

Foreigner at MySpace

Official website

Marvellous! Perfect!

I can't help posting this everywhere I can... It's a music video by my favorite Finnish band Lemonator, from year 1996. For the first time ever this video can be seen online from this day forward.

This was the band's first music video. The song is called Superb. It was released on an album called Yellow (1997). The song... is superb, of course! The video is also really cool.

Good to Be Here Again...

Yeah! The new album Blood/Candy by the Posies just came out. I went straight to the record store and got myself a copy. So far I have listened to it three times. It is good!

This indeed seems to be the most successful comeback of the year. (Although I'm still waiting for another band's comeback album..)

More about the Posies and me later.

Groovy

Oh my. I really want to see Groovie Goolies. The characters look like so much fun! Groovie Goolies was an animated TV show that aired in the early 70s. The show had a lot of references to old horror movies and there was also a pop song in every episode.

Yeah.. Sounds like it was made for me. A happy cartoon with horror movie characters. Gee, I really have to check out the show and the soundtrack.

Here is the theme song. Actually, it sounds quite a lot like the Archies.. Catchy, isn't it?

Like the Summer Never Ended

It is time for some updating. Getting around to doing that seems to be way too challenging for me these days. I do think about writing almost all the time. The problem is that I have schoolwork to do and writing extra stuff doesn't feel appropriate very often. I need to relax sometimes too! However, I have also noticed that writing to this blog may be the perfect means of relaxation and therapy.

Anyways, my favorite band from Finland, Lemonator, released a new album on September the 1st. What can I say? They did it again: made the sun shine right when I needed it as the leaves started falling down from trees. The album carries the name Shake, Shake, Shake.. What a good indication of the lightheartedness it represents! It is the band's least rocking album yet but it is just as good as the other albums.

Lemonator is, in fact, one of my dearest and also oldest favorites (if you don't count childhood favorites). This magnificent Helsinki band made its way to my heart in 2003 when I saw the music video for a song called Broken Record on TV. Lemonator had just released a new fourth album Grandpop. I bought it and was instantly very impressed. Now that I think about it, Grandpop was the album that introduced me to power pop as a music style. It was a great introduction because of its great songs, rock & roll edge and capability of also showing the fabulously atmospheric and melancholic gentler sides of the band. In 2010, they are still my favorite Finnish band.

Well, yeah, there was that thing with Tehosekoitin and whether I might like them more than Lemonator. Tehosekoitin is (was) also very, very good.. But I still think Lemonator has the #1 spot in my heart when it comes to the loveliest Finnish bands.

It is easy to fall in love with bands that have made excellent albums - and if they also happen to sound like the Posies and the Beach Boys there is really no escape! So far, Lemonator has only released excellent albums the first being Yellow (1997), a happy, fun, fast-paced and loud album - perfect music anytime when you wish to hear high-energy pop rock (to me that is often...). The second album, Maison Rilax (1998), was a clear response to Yellow's overflowing happiness. Maison Rilax was a slower-paced album that dealt with lost love. The album included more complex song structures and various influences signaling that there was much more to Lemonator than just fun, rampaging rock'n roll. Maison Rilax was an impressive sophomore effort. The biggest hit, however, was yet to follow.

Most Lemonator fans probably consider the third album, The Waltz (2000), as their favorite. I do, too, of course... The Waltz is the culmination of Lemonator's best sides: it has an amazingly heartfelt and comforting mentality, spectacular songs that all have something important to say melodically, emotionally, soundwise and as well as lyrically. The album also shows Lemonator's sense of the dramatic. Even though the album presents a pretty broad variation of themes and moods - quite a few dark or melancholic ones too - the result as a whole is an album so deep, loving and touching that I still regard it as the Finnish Pet Sounds.

Following Grandpop (2003) came out At the Presence of Great Beauty (2006), the fifth album by Lemonator. This album was another really heartfelt effort. It had the heart of The Waltz, the rocking edge of Grandpop and the melancholic shades of Maison Rilax. All this made the album a simply unforgettable listening experience. The song material is gorgeous. Also, the string arrangements are a pretty good match for ELO's best work.

As I said, Shake, Shake, Shake is the latest album. It is lovely, of course it is lovely.. California Fun and I Always Wanted to Be a Drummer are some of the catchiest songs of the year and Hold Me Now is clearly the loveliest song of the year... At least to me.

Thank you Lasse Kurki, Risto Eskolin, Antti Karisalmi, Kelly Ketonen, and Mikko von Hertzen (former drummer). You always make my day!

Lemonator at MySpace

Lemonator website

Another Serving of British Bubblegum Sunniness

While going through my massive piles of CDs that I haven't had time to listen to yet (at least not very much), I came across a release called The Best of Vanity Fare. I spotted this band on a bubblegum website several months ago and decided to give it a try.

Vanity Fare, originally called The Avengers, were a lot like the other British 70s bands like Edison Lighthouse and anything else connected to Macaulay and Macleod - sunny, soft-sounding, baroque-tingled, melodic, and often absolutely gorgeous.

This band released some really wonderful melodic pop singles such as I Live for the Sun (a minor hit for a Murry Wilson-managed American band The Sunrays) and Early in the Morning already in the late 60s. Vanity Fare actually hit it big with I Live for the Sun – it was a huge hit especially in America. Vanity Fare wasn't just a cover band, though. The band also wrote original material right from the start. For instance, check out You Made Me Love You from 1969, written by keyboardist Barry Landeman.

To be honest, one of the reasons I am writing this is to get myself to listen to this band more. Music with such great harmonies, lovely melodies and optimism is always a winner – and so is anyone who listens to it.

Enjoy Hitchin' a Ride, from Top of the Pops, 1970! The band is understandably misspelled by the uploader here.

The Ultimate Guidebook

I would like to introduce you, readers, to my bible. And, with its help introduce many great bubblegum artists and phenomena. I bought this book about two years ago to satisfy my enormous curiosity towards bubblegum music. The book is called Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth. The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears (Feral House, 2001), edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay.

Well, yeah, Britney Spears being mentioned in the book title is somewhat unappealing. However, the writers of this book surely couldn't know what was going to happen in the near future. Don't worry! This book is mostly about considerably older stuff than just late 90s and the 00s.

Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth is exhausting even for a bubblegum maniac like me. It is 300 pages long – and believe me, the pages are large and the font small. There are lots of black and white photos and pictures but they are mostly very small. The book, with its numerous writers, goes to great lengths describing, reviewing, criticizing, and, of course, admiring and advertising dozens and hundreds of bubblegum hitmakers and bubblegum-related things.

The book contains loads of detailed descriptions of obscure and well-known bubblegum acts, real bands and the imaginary ones, too. Just browsing the book is entertaining and every time you find yourself amazed of the incredibly detailed work that doesn't leave one rock unturned. There are articles about artists, record labels, related genres, the international aspects of bubblegum, people reminiscing about the subject, bubblegum merchandise... This book deals with even the most questionable, money-thirsty, x-rated aspects of bubblegum music.

I went crazy reading this book.. It is well-written and interesting and really not just about bubblegum music but also lots of other things that have something to do with bubblegum. Although sometimes things don't even seem to have a relation to bubblegum and are more like descriptions of obscure and/or great 60s/70s pop records or something similar. It seems that a lot of things are somehow connected to the bubblegum scene..

So, what is the essence of bubblegum music? It varies, of course, especially through different time periods. In its original meaning bubblegum music is music made for children in the purpose of selling records, breakfast cereals, toys, anything, but bubblegum music is at its best also so catchy and well-written music that it appeals to children as well as adults. A real bubblegum song is something happy that plays in your head all day – and the next day too. A piece of cheerfulness stuck in you head... Things could be worse, don't you think?

Soulful Disney Bubblegum

Now, some reminiscing! That coming from a twenty-something (me) tends to deal with childhood, which is no surprise, I think. I was just watching Nostalgia Critic (fun show, check it out) and came across an episode of the catchiest children's TV theme songs from of the 80s and 90s. Number one on that list was DuckTales.. At that point, I got really excited because I had not heard the song for over 15 years. Gee, it was so good I had to listen to it many, many times.

The DuckTales theme is basically soul music.. With lousy drums and great horns – and an impeccable melody! Being a theme song written for a children's Saturday morning cartoon it is of course bubblegum music too, a wonderful addition to the collection of excellent bubblegum TV themes.

If I remember correctly, when I was a kid DuckTales was also my favorite cartoon. The whole show with 100 episodes even seems to be on YouTube. Now I know what to do with my spare time... In addition to all this, I suddenly got really interested in cartoon music and other great TV tunes (for children). There isn't probably a collection of “most fabulous children's TV themes” but Disney soundtracks may be a good place to start...

A Bit of Baroque Bebop

Yes... Now comes a recommendation for a jazz album. Why jazz? It is very simple. Jazz is the most melodic music genre there is. Just think about bebop, for instance: the melodies in it are so complicated that you might even have a hard time listening to it.. I don't like to think that being complicated automatically makes music or a melody better or more valuable but I do believe that a good complicated melody is valuable because it is a good melody and therefore melodic. To me, the purpose and definition of music has always been melodies – in most cases. There are few things which don't have any melodies in them but which I still value as music.

Charlie Parker was probably the most legendary alto saxophonist of all times. In years 1947-1952 he recorded jazz standards accompanied by a classical string section and a jazz rhythm section. The result was an exciting combination of bebop and classical music instrumentation originally released as two albums in 1950. The whole idea came around accidentally when Parker was playing saxophone in a recording studio and during a break he visited a neighboring studio room in which a symphony orchestra was making their own recordings. Parker asked if he could join them with his saxophone and the rest is history.

I am of course so excited about this because of the Bird With Strings! concert I saw at Pori Jazz about a week ago. As I already told in my Pori Jazz report, that concert was a live recreation of some of the coolest Charlie Parker with Strings recordings. Jukka Perko, his ensemble and Pori Sinfonietta (“Pori city orchestra”) really made the thing come alive. Then, why am I talking about this stuff in this blog... Because I think this is one of the best ways to get interested in old jazz and because these recordings are just beautiful! They are very baroque and the alto saxophone is one of the loveliest instruments in the whole world.. Besides, Charlie Parker was the best.

Just Friends was the song which Charlie Parker said to be his favorite “Bird with strings” recording. It is lovely... Check it out, and other stuff such as Summertime. The whole Charlie Parker With Strings compilation album, released in 1995, is also available on Spotify.

Listen to Just Friends by Charlie Parker with Strings on YouTube

Pori Jazz 2010 and What I Saw There

It is time for another report from Pori Jazz, my favorite summer music festival! This fesival also happens to be the biggest public festival in Finland which is no wonder due to the nine-day duration. I spent four days at the Jazz and saw a couple of dozen acts most of which were free of charge. I linked most of the artists to their MySpaces or other sites with music samples. This time there are no pictures in the Jazz report... Sorry about that.

The Pori Jazz organization had, once again, booked many big artists that have nothing to do with jazz. John Fogerty, Toto and Tori Amos are great artists but not very jazzy, I think... But those non-jazz artists do bring the masses to the festival and help the festival to pay the bills. It may be possible that Toto performing at Pori Jazz actually benefits the jazz side of the festival. Another good thing is that there is always plenty of jazz too. The absolute coolest things this year was hearing Charlie Parker's symphony orchestra recordings played live at Pori theathre.

Jouni Hokkanen Quintet. Jouni Hokkanen's band was a good start for my Pori Jazz 2010. Contrabassist Hokkanen and his friends played some traditional jazz with swing and great instrumental solos. The material was original and the songs had fun names such as Paten ja Jussin kanssa kalassa (Pate and Jussi gone fishing) – a song that obviously was born while fishing with Pate and Jussi. This gig was a great introduction to the priciples of jazz, such as the structure of a typical jazz tune.

Conjunto Café. Not to be confused with the American band of the same name.. This was definitely the first time I heard salsa at Pori Jazz! Conjunto Café are the first and only salsa band from Satakunta area but they were very good. Good playing, nice singing.. I just loved those rhythms, they are very danceable. I don't hear stuff like that very often: music from Cuba and other Caribbean islands.

Ted Curson Ensemble. Ted Curson is famous for performing at every Pori Jazz festival – since 1966! He is also known for performances and recordings with Charles Mingus. This time he performed several concerts, some of them being free admission gigs. Curson is a trumpeteer who also sings. The performance was excellent and Curson singing stuff like Georgia on My Mind was really wonderful.

Bird with Strings! Pori Sinfonietta playing with alto saxophonist Jukka Perko's quartet was a mind-blowing experience. This concert was a recreation of some of the recordings that saxophone legend Charlie Parker made with a classical string section back in the late 1940s nad early 1950s. It was an impressive and extremely beautiful recreation. The symphony orchestra followed the original arrangements very closely while Jukka Perko added some features of his own style to Parker's original bebop saxophone work. The beauty of it all was that the jazz ensemble focused on maintaining the jazz swing while Perko soloed and the symphony orchestra played what they know best: playing in the style of classical music, sort of spicing the jazz with lovely symphonic elements. You can't really make a symphony orchestra swing so this is the best possible way to bring jazz and classical music together. I highly recommend checking out Charlie Parker's original recordings of these songs.

Ricky-Tick Big Band was all about a 15-piece group of young talented Finnish jazz musicians playing together and performing their original material, conducted by Valtteri Pöyhönen. These musicians are also in other smaller jazz ensembles (The Five Corners Quintet, Timo Lassy Band, Astro Can Caravan...) and many of them make recordings for Ricky-Tick Records. I enjoyed hearing modern big band jazz and original compositions, as well as seeing all these talented jazz musicians.

Dallapé. A legendary Finnish jazzy dance orchestra that has survived from the 1930s to the 2010s? That should be at least a bit interesting. Well, mostly it wasn't. I expected to hear something jazzy but ended up hearing new and old Finnish schlager songs performed by a big, classy orchestra with some quite interesting threatrical elements being brought to the stage... Dallapé was good at what it did on the stage, the lead singers (including Sami Saari) were good, the white suits were nice... But I would have wanted to hear more of that jazzy side. I mean... They were performing at Pori Jazz – why not play jazz?

Kadri Voorand feat. Jussi Kannaste. This year's Estonian guest was the lovely jazz singer and composer Kadri Voorand who performed with her band and Finnish saxophonist Jussi Kannaste. Voorand proved to be a talented songwriter and an excellent singer with a very distinctive voice – perfectly suitable for her jazz that contains elements from contemporary pop and latin jazz. Voorand brought sunshine, emotion, great songs and impressive scat singing to Pori Jazz.

Dalindeo is a talented combo of young Finnish jazz talents with all or at least most members also being in Ricky-Tick Big Band. Dalindeo's sound was exotic and fast-paced. Polyrhythms created by conga drums made the music even more danceable. The band characterizes its music as cinematic jazz. In my opinion, this music was very entertaining and energetic. I will definitely go see them again if I get the chance.

Tuure Kilpeläinen performed some nice singer/songwriter stuff accompanied by his band that really seemed to be in a mood for Latin American music. Kilpeläinen is a quite famous songwriter and solo artist from Finland. I have never really listened to his music properly but this gig was good and memorable. This was actually the second time I saw Kilpeläinen live – I also saw him last year in Tampere opening for Egotrippi. He performed alone with his acoustic guitar. Already then I decided that when it comes to his voice and singing style he is Finland's Mike Viola. I still agree.

Plop is a band lead by Mikko Innanen, a talented Finnish saxophonist who has been in many bands and projects. I saw Innanen's other band, Mikko Innanen & Innkvisitio last fall at Tampere Jazz Happening. This gig was consistent with that performance. Innanen loves adding some totally weird stuff to his music and performances. At one point the musicians are playing sweet jazz melodies, the next moment you see the band playing unusual percussions and rather scratching their instruments than playing them... Based on what I have seen and heard I recommend Mikko Innanen's music to jazz experimentalists.

Myron & E with the Soul Investigators. This was the last performance I saw at the festival. The Soul Investigators are a soul/funk band founded in Finland 1998. The band is known to release lots of vinyl singles on Timmion Records. They previously worked with Nicole Willis and at the moment their vocal section is in the care of a California male vocal duo Myron & E. This Californian-Finnish soul band sounded amazing. With excellent playing and a soulful vocal section doing their job with expertise the result was people dancing all around. The Soul Investigators played really catchy melodic music that I hope to hear more.

So, it was a good festival, as usual. I already look forward to next summer. You always learn something new at Pori Jazz, and even when the jazz is downplayed, you get to hear lots of other interesting music. Now... It's time to listen to Charlie Parker!

Pori Jazz website