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Scandinavian Indie Digest Vol 01 Issue 03
Scandinavian Indie Digest Sat Feb 19, 1994 Volume 1 : Issue 03
There are 10 messages totalling 512 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Popsicle and more
2. Good Evening Manchester/Aknestik
3. Popsicle (2)
4. Popsicle, Easy, French Indie & Charlatans (2)
5. Finnish band ? (2)
6. New User presentation
7. Whipped Cream?
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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 11:02:32 +0000
From: hernande@manitou.ensmp.fr
Subject: Popsicle and more
Hello guys
this is the first time I write to the list so let's briefly introduce
myself. I'm probably the only French guy on the list as Scandinavian music
is not really popular here in France. In the Indie music context here, it
is however possible to get some Finnish or Swedish stuff like for instance
22-Pistepirkko or Easy.
My interest for Scandinavian music really grew up thanks to Kimmo
Saaskilahti, a Finnish net friend who has already written a couple of times
to this list and who made me know lots of Finnish bands and some Swedish
ones.
About Finnish bands, I must say that I have liked a lot some of them like
Good Evening Manchester or Poverty Stinks. But the one that has really
impressed me is Aknestik. Of course, the fact that they sing in Finnish
makes their music quite exotic to me but I think that their sound is
excellent, quite close to English bands like The Smiths, The Wedding
Present, etc... even if they don't really sound like them :-)
In fact, the most interesting Scandinavian band that I have discovered
recently is Popsicle. They use power guitars that remind again Wedding
Present, they have brilliant melodies and one of the singers also reminds
Paul Heaton, which is a very good thing for me !
I have been able to find in Paris their album Lacquer but their EPs are
impossible to find. I'm especially interested in some EP containing the
song Wonderful. Could anyone in Sweden tell me more about the EPs they have
released and also tell me which ones it is possible to find in the stores ?
I would REALLY like to get all those EPs !
Concerning French Indie music, which is not the subject of the list but
what I'd like to tell, if anyone is interested in getting stuff or simply
discussing about some band, please email me to the adress at the end of the
mail.
Bye
Bruno Hernandez
e-mail : hernande@cc.ensmp.fr
-----------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 15:26:47 +0200 (EET)
From: trkisa@uta.fi (Kimmo S{{skilahti)
Subject: Good Evening Manchester/Aknestik
According to Bruno Hernandez:
* About Finnish bands, I must say that I have liked a lot some of them like
* Good Evening Manchester or Poverty Stinks.
I gave my 0.02 Fmk worth about Poverty Stinks a while ago, and here's
the same for Good Evening Manchester...
The band comes originally from Aaland (the island between Finland and
Sweden) and like most Aalanders, they belong to the Swedish-speaking
minority in Finland (though that doesn't have a lot of importance
music-wise, but now you know). Their first release was an EP (four
or three tracks probably, never seen it) which they released
themselves. At this time they sung in Swedish, but that changed in
good time before their debut album "Learning To Sing" on CBS (how
un-indie can you get?! :-). The name of the album was a self-ironical
reference to the fact that the singer/guitarist/songwriter of the
band, Patrik Dahlblom, was not very comfotable with his singing,
especially live. On the album his singing is quite OK, in fact I like
his voice very much. Although he isn't technically that excellent,
his voice is very expressive and he can really reflect the emotions of
the lyrics in his vocals.
The sound on the debut album is very raw, due to the fact that it was
made from the demo tape that they sent the CBS. Apart from the Green
On Red cover ("Old Chief") the guitar playing brings to mind
Replacements and some traces of Bob Mould at times, but the songs
themselves are a bit more pop-oriented.
Another interesting thing are
Patrik's lyrics with lots of references to literature, other bands and
soul singers, one song even being about him seeing Tyrone Davis (an
obscure soul man from the 60's) in some program on Finnish TV! In
this sense the lyrics remind me of Lloyd Cole.
They recorder another album for CBS, but it was never released, thanks
to the fact that the first album sold about 100 copies or so, and
after a while they were dropped by CBS, which almost led to the
break-up of the band.
Fortunately Patrik bumped into an Irish guy, Ciaran O'Reilly, in a bar
in Turku, and when he heard Ciaran was a singer, the band started
again, replacing the original guitarist Anders Korpi with another
Aalander, Peter Hagerstrand. Some months passed and the band was
signed by EMI (again, not very indie :-) and their eponymous second
album was released (in 1991 or 1992, my memory is a bit hazy... the
debut, by the way, was released in 1988).
Their sound changed considerably on this album (partly against the
band's opinion), the producer (whose name escapes me at the moment)
adding lots of fiddles, pianos etc. to give it almost a folk-ish
feeling. On some songs it works very well, but there are a couple of
songs that suffer from the production.
Last year they released their third album, "Diana", which was more or
less a return to their original (and in their opinion, their "own")
sound. The guitars are even heavier than on the first album, but
there are some more acoustic numbers to balance the feel of the album,
and they are still searching for that perfect pop melody, getting
often quite close. Another thing I might mention as well are their
excellent vocal harmonies - there being three singers in the band at
the moment.
I don't know if any of the albums have been released outside Finland
(except that the first one was released in Greece, not that it would
help anyone...), but as they are on the major label, anything can
happen. They have played some gigs in Sweden with a considerable
success (according to press reports here in Finland), so there is a
fair chance that our Swedish readers might get an opportunity to check
them out in future.
* But the one that has really
* impressed me is Aknestik. Of course, the fact that they sing in Finnish
* makes their music quite exotic to me but I think that their sound is
* excellent, quite close to English bands like The Smiths, The Wedding
* Present, etc... even if they don't really sound like them :-)
Yes, the guitar sound of Aknestik bears a resemblance to above
mentioned bands (at least to "George Best" -era Wedding Present), and
there is maybe a dash of Kitchens of Distinction and Chameleons buried
someplace. Their songs aren't, however, as 'epic' as the Kitchens
songs often are, but maybe a bit more straightforward and traditional
pop songs. One thing that probably makes the band sound exotic (in
addition to Finnish lyrics) is that there is a fair amount of Slavic
melancholy in their music, like in lot of Finnish music in general.
There are of course a lot of happy tunes, but many of them have an
underlying sense of sadness... maybe it's due to the long dark winters
they have up north (the band comes from a village called Haukipudas,
which is near Oulu, check it from your maps).
I could go on much longer about them (as you would probably
guess :-), but I'll leave that until some other time.
A short discography:
Toukokuussa 7"
Ojat on rajat LP/CD
Syvat veet EP
Surupusero CD5
Valassaaret LP/CD
Maailma on naisia pullollaan CD5
Congratulations if you made it this far, I'll try to be a bit more
compact in the future... :-)
Kimmo
--
Kimmo Saaskilahti * "If music be the food of love, play on"
trkisa@uta.fi * - Shakespeare
-----------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 15:38:53 +0200 (EET)
From: trkisa@uta.fi (Kimmo S{{skilahti)
Subject: Re: Popsicle
Accoding to Bruno Hernandez:
* In fact, the most interesting Scandinavian band that I have discovered
* recently is Popsicle. They use power guitars that remind again Wedding
* Present, they have brilliant melodies and one of the singers also reminds
* Paul Heaton, which is a very good thing for me !
It's a good thing that neither of the Popsicle singers sound like the
singer of The Wedding Present! :-) Although I love David Gedge's
voice, I am the first to admit that he isn't a very good singer, and
it would be a disaster for him to try a Popsicle tune... :-)
As I advertised yesterday, there was a broadcast of a Popsicle show on
the radio last night. Unfortunately it was only half an hour long, but
from what I heard it sounded very good (I didn't listen very
carefully, because I was watching ice hockey on the TV at the same
time - I am a Scandinavian, see? :-) I also got the show on tape, so
if you're interested in a copy, drop me a line. About a half of the
set seemed to be from "Lacquer" but there were several tracks that
sounded unfamiliar to me, I wonder if they were new songs or older
ones, or perhaps from EP's or somewhere else... though I doubt anyone
can help me on this... :-)
Later,
Kimmo
--
Kimmo Saaskilahti * "If music be the food of love, play on"
trkisa@uta.fi * - Shakespeare
-----------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 16:16:51 +0100 (MET)
From: "Henrik Sj\vdin" <h-sjodin@dsv.su.se>
Subject: Re: Popsicle
I don't remember what you (=Kimmo) said about the date and origin of the gig
they broadcasted, but I wouldn't be surprised if the "unfamiliar" songs
you heard, were the same 2-3 *new* songs they played at Gino here in
Stockholm a few weeks ago...
They were very good in my opinion, though I admit it's hard to tell from one
single gig.
/Henrik Sjodin (h-sjodin@dsv.su.se)
----------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 00:56:40 +0100
From: chief@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Popsicle, Easy, French Indie & Charlatans
Some thoughts on yesterday's scan-indie feed..
* Popsicle. You might think it is strange to hear that I don't like them.
I just don't see what's so great about their music? Would anyone care
to explain this to me? I've been listening, reading and hearing a lot
of good things about them since they first started. Good reviews, praise
in the music press, people saying they're the greatest thing in Sweden,
even NME wrote something like that in an issue last year. Yet, I find
their "indie" to be nothing special, more like boring really. I fell
into the trap once though, and bought "The Power Ballads E.P.". It is
now stashed way back in my CD collection.
* More Popsicle - hernande@manitou.ensmp.fr wrote:
> I have been able to find in Paris their album Lacquer but their EPs are
> impossible to find. I'm especially interested in some EP containing the
> song Wonderful. Could anyone in Sweden tell me more about the EPs they have
> released and also tell me which ones it is possible to find in the stores ?
> I would REALLY like to get all those EPs !
Do you have the discography? I think Ludde (the guy who makes it) should
update it, now that they have released a new album (or was it a single?).
I thought I saw something somewhere. I do know that there are at least
two different versions of Lacquer out there. The covers are different but
I'm not sure about the contents. Their 1992 and 1993 EP's wouldn't be
so hard to find over here though. I can post the discography here if you
want.
* Even more Popsicle - h-sjodin@dsv.su.se wrote:
> I don't remember what you (=Kimmo) said about the date and origin of the gig
> they broadcasted, but I wouldn't be surprised if the "unfamiliar" songs
> you heard, were the same 2-3 *new* songs they played at Gino here in
> Stockholm a few weeks ago...
You were there? It was that "show swedish music to international labels"
night wasn't it? Who else played? I'd like to hear more about that event
as I missed it completely myself. :(
* Easy. Well, that's a different thing, because I have only heard a couple
of songs, and I'm really not sure what I think. I still have to listen
some more to be able to say something worth saying. :)
* French Indie - hernande@manitou.ensmp.fr wrote:
> Concerning French Indie music, which is not the subject of the list but
> what I'd like to tell, if anyone is interested in getting stuff or simply
> discussing about some band, please email me to the adress at the end of the
> mail.
I would like to take this opportunity to continue what someone wrote at the
start of the list about a tape-chain. There would probably be enough to make
at least two or three tapes with bands from Norway, Finland and Sweden.
(I don't think we have any Danish or Icelandic people on here yet, do we?)
But I would also like to hear indie music from, say France and so on. Is
it a good idea perhaps to make a tape with Non-UK and US indie instead of
just a scandinavian tape? Comments please!
* Side Note
Non-Scan-Indie: Who : CHARLATANS
Where: Gino, Stockholm, Sweden
When : 26-Feb-94 (next saturday)
Time : Be there before 10pm
I will (of course :)) be there. Anyone else? Would be fun to meet if
possible, if we can arrange something. Quick question also: anyone know
when their album will be released in europe? The U.S. release date is
on the 22nd of March, and I hope that this doesn't apply for europe
as well.
-------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 09:31:23 +0000
From: hernande@manitou.ensmp.fr
Subject: Finnish band ?
Hello
I've recently got a compilation of some demos of a French label which
includes a song from a band called Alivaltiosihteeri. The song is called
"Nasta kaupunki". I was wondering if this was a Finnish band (because of
the name, of course :-) and, in this case, if anyone could provide more
information about it, please.
To answer to our "chief" who was asking what we find so great about
Popsicle isn't very easy to me because my english is not great but I'll try
to make a first explanation... I hope Kimmo will develop this later :-)
Of course, there is nothing really original in the Popsicle sound but in
the field of power pop there are not a lot of bands who are able to combine
fast guitars and rhythm with good singing and brilliant pop melodies. The
first time you hear a song like "Hey princess", you know that you are not
going to forget it the minute after, it follows your mind everywhere !
When comparing this band to some other British similar bands, you realise
that Popsicle succeeds where some others fail. Take the example of Mega
City 4 or Senseless Things : their sound is good but there are not really
good songs and for MC4, the voice is awfully boring ! That's a band that I
never find myself humming a song from !
I'm sure that all these explanations are of no help when you don't catch
all this in Popsicle songs. It's all a question of feeling, isn't it ?
Bye
Bruno
---------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 10:27:01 +0100 (MET)
From: Petter Tiilikainen <burrito@ludd.luth.se>
Subject: New User presentation
Hi!
I am a 19 (soon 20) year old student, living in Lulea.
I am a huge fan of the swedish groups the Bear Quartet and Bob Hund.
The Bear Quartet comes from Lulea aswell and I've seen them perform
a couple of times and I think they are excellent.
According to Matti Alkberg, the singer of Bear Quartet there is
going to be a new EP released in March or April.
(He told me this on new-year's eve, and both of us were very
drunk, so this info isn't 100% reliable.)
l8er!
/Petter
--------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 16:32:31 +0200 (EET)
From: trkisa@uta.fi (Kimmo S{{skilahti)
Subject: Re: Finnish band ?
Bruno Hernandez writes:
* I've recently got a compilation of some demos of a French label which
* includes a song from a band called Alivaltiosihteeri. The song is called
* "Nasta kaupunki".
Yes, they are a Finnish band indeed. Here's some info:
The band is from Tampere (the city where I live, incidentally) and
they are signed to Hiljaiset Levyt (based in Tampere as well). The
band started as a half-joke band (their name meaning literally 'vice
secretary of state' ie. some kind of a bureaucrat of a lesser status),
being a parody of civil servants, other bands and pop stars etc. On
stage and interviews (and maybe in their private lives as well?) they
are dressed up like average men from some anonymous office in a
ministry or whatever.
The comedy aspect in their music has remained there, but it has given way
to musical values along the years. They have released about 4 albums
and a number of singles during their life-span, gaining gradually
larger attention from both critics and the buying public, partly
thanks to their weekly one-hour comedy programme on the Finnish radio.
In their earlier days they couldn't play their instruments very well,
but now they are a 'proper' band, who have no problems with covering a
number of various styles. Especially the guitar player, Pasi Heikura,
knows what he is doing. An important part of their appeal to the
masses are their witty lyrics, making fun of various subjects -
especially they like to mock other bands. The song "Nasta
kaupunki" ('a nice city') which Bruno mentioned, is a parody of a quite
well-known Kauko Royhka song "Paska kaupunki" ('shit city'), making
Royhka's 'angry young man' lyrics sound quite ridiculous.
Musically, I wouldn't call them an 'indie'
band (though they are on an indie label...it's quite complicated
issue, as you see :-), more like a regular mainstream rock band.
They sure enough aren't the hippest name to drop in the indie circles
around here... I think...
I'm rather surprised to hear that they appear on a French label,
though, as at least in my opinion, one of the most important part of
their act are the Finnish lyrics, but it's a strange world, y'know.
Kimmo
--
Kimmo Saaskilahti * "I never met chocolate
trkisa@uta.fi * I didn't like"
* - Deanna Troi
-----------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 08:51:43 +0100 (MET)
From: Henrik Sjodin <h-sjodin@dsv.su.se>
Subject: Re: Popsicle, Easy, French Indie & Charlatans
On Thu, 17 Feb 1994 chief@lysator.liu.se wrote:
> Some thoughts on yesterday's scan-indie feed..
>
> * Popsicle. You might think it is strange to hear that I don't like them.
> I just don't see what's so great about their music? Would anyone care
> to explain this to me? I've been listening, reading and hearing a lot
> of good things about them since they first started. Good reviews, praise
> in the music press, people saying they're the greatest thing in Sweden,
> even NME wrote something like that in an issue last year. Yet, I find
> their "indie" to be nothing special, more like boring really. I fell
> into the trap once though, and bought "The Power Ballads E.P.". It is
> now stashed way back in my CD collection.
What's great? As the cliche goes: "Wonderful tunes and harmonies, woven
into a mess of barbed wire of screaming guitars.". (Freely translated
from Swedish). Now, I'd be the first one to admit that in itself doesn't
make them a good band. What makes them great is rather something like
this: * Very good lyrics
* Good songs (seriously!)
* First Swedish guitar indie pop band
* Interesting attitude
Or something like that....:)
> * Even more Popsicle - h-sjodin@dsv.su.se wrote:
>
> > I don't remember what you (=Kimmo) said about the date and origin of the gig
> > they broadcasted, but I wouldn't be surprised if the "unfamiliar" songs
> > you heard, were the same 2-3 *new* songs they played at Gino here in
> > Stockholm a few weeks ago...
>
> You were there? It was that "show swedish music to international labels"
> night wasn't it? Who else played? I'd like to hear more about that event
> as I missed it completely myself. :(
Yes, the "Warner International Showcase"! :) The only other band was the
Flesh Quartet, and I missed that since the stupid bouncer enjoyed taking
his time letting people in. Ok, I know you're supposed to be there in
time, but I actually enjoy getting to gigs in the last minute. I hate
waiting. Popsicle played 5-6 songs, and as you may know, their songs
aren't that long, so the show was over in maybe little over 15 minutes.
It was good though.
> * Easy. Well, that's a different thing, because I have only heard a couple
> of songs, and I'm really not sure what I think. I still have to listen
> some more to be able to say something worth saying. :)
I haven't heard anything from their new album. I liked their debut album,
but I didn't find it that great. By the way, is the Fortran 5 remix of
the new single ("Listen to the bells" or something, right?) as good as
people say?
Henrik
---------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 11:56:56 +0200 (EET)
From: trkisa@uta.fi (Kimmo S{{skilahti)
Subject: Whipped Cream?
Hello everybody in the Scan-Land!
A Whipped Cream (who are Swedish, I assume? If not, apologies for
this post...) CD has been sitting still in a local used CD shop for a
couple of months, so I guess nobody else in this town is going to grab
it (so I might make the owner of the shop an offer he can't refuse and
get it for a bargain price).
But, I don't know a lot about them, having only seen an OK-ish video
by them in the 120 Minutes on MTV a couple of times about 5-6 months
ago.
So, I lay my trust in you - what are they like? Should I go and get
the CD (the name of which escapes me, alas)? Anything else?
Thanks,
Kimmo
--
Kimmo Saaskilahti * "Everything's cool because nothing is dull"
trkisa@uta.fi * - Rosa Liksom
--------------------------
End of SI Digest #1.03
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