Fresh from Finland

The Island in the Sun festival is undoubtedly among the most eccentric festivals of the summer! Arranged on the 16th and 17th of July, on Jurmo, Brändö on the Åland Islands, this summer extravaganza can be a real splash. One can see it as a packaged get-away of sorts, two boat rides and a summer festival in the middle of the ocean. Interested, I am.

The modest in size festival is located on Brändö, that has an incredible 520 inhabitants and over 1200 islands of various sizes! This should already give you some headway into what you might expect from the location. There are shops, being careful not to stress to plural too much, but no ATM. Scared yet? Maybe you should be. With props like these, this isn’t just a indiepop – electro summer festival, it’s a ludicrous summer adventure!

Main act of the summer, the Concretes, the modern soulful pop Swedes are making the Island in the Sun festival their only visit to Finland this year, even as the Åland Isles is more like the Switzerland between the two countries. Three full length albums, several other releases and international touring experience from some large attractions build this seven piece orchestra up as an attraction waiting to be (heart)felt.

Check out more on the Concretes on their MySpace!

Even as the program of the Island in the Sun festival remains unpublished to its full extent, the confirmed line-up so far looks something like this:

• Anna von Hausswolff – MySpace
• Masshysteri – MySpace
• Manna – MySpace
• Leo Med Lådan – MySpace

Largely due to the extraordinary circumstances this festival extravaganza is set up in, one cannot help being intrigued. Amidst the vast ocean with music sounds seems unrealistically idyllic, especially in the middle of summer, which is why it is hard to not get carried away. One thing is sure, this little sister of a festival is surely a whole other experience, from the rest of the Finnish festivals.

More information on Island in the Sun can be found on IslandInTheSun.nu

As the summer approaches and we begin looking forward to various outdoorsy music festivals, the first official place to be Jyrock hosted its 25th annual event. Despite the build up, the party was no freakier than usual. The program featured vastly different performances, from different genres, much like previous years. The line-up consisted of guests from abroad, the more accustomed cult-performers, smaller artists, as well as some of the more hyped-up artists of this year – this year on three stages, in stead of the previous two.

Despite the three stages, not one of them functioned without fault. Depending on the distance to the stage, the acoustics ranged from excellent to a slush like cacophony. Restaurant Ilokivi must have had an impact, among other dubious arrangements. The audience was generally at a distance, at all the shows, and it seemed impossible to gain access to the best spots – right next to the stage – as the crowd was packed in mid-way. A couple years back they had the stages in a different arrangement on the top floor, which worked better in my opinion.

Even as the arrangements had their faults, one could not complain about the performances. Although Jyrock has featured some more vivid line-ups, there was not one dull act among this years performers either. There were surprises. Almost all bands sounded better than what I had anticipated and heard from their MySpace pages. An example, G-ODD that has already been booked to Ilosaari and Provinssirock, some of the biggest outdoor festivals of the summer, turned out to be anything than I had expected. In stead of the expected psychedelic sounds, they performed with a much more electric set, which was nothing to be ashamed of!

G-ODD

As is the case in way too many festivals, two of the most interesting performers on Friday were scheduled at the same time. Upstairs featured Shine 2009 (Mikko Pykäri from Regina etc.). In front of the stage, the sounds were all over the place and it was hard to make anything of the performance and at the back, you could hear the house-influenced electro pop from the outdoor stage. Confused. Me.

Shine 2009

Downstairs got it right though. Mintzkov from Belgium sounded like a band that the Finnish radio would love, Finnish hockey narrators would love and finally, half of Finland would love. The band reminded me of many different artists, but nothing too clear and obvious. The coarse vocals accompanied by the rest of the crew, gave me the image of Placebo on stage, that were dining with Ash, yet had stolen their attitude from Nirvana. The grunge vibe was not even limited to the plaid shirts. The songs were packed with a punch, some even direct hit material, although I would probably have enjoyed the band more in my teens, due to the prominent somber tones.

Mintzkov

Hottest act on Saturday was as well a guest from abroad. It’s fair to say that domestic acts put on quite a show before that too. Kiki Paus stage charisma had clearly developed and the toned down performance was among the best I had seen by that band, even as the acoustics dampened the performance notably. TV OFF suffered from similar problems, but their performance seemed to suffer even more due to the problems, which leads me to conclude that they’ve had better shows. Alpo & Tomi were among the best of the weekend. The stage presence was something from a show by Jesse, but the “true to their roots” sounds and Justice influences worked their magic. Based on the two shows I’ve seen by this duo, they are among the best Finnish electro bands and one can only hope they squeeze that record out soon.

Kiki Pau

TV Off

Alpo ja Tomi

It was close that Alpo & Tomi didn’t come out the winners of the best performance of the whole weekend, but still to come was Swedes Bye Bye Bycicle, that actually was sort of a flop for me, even as they were best of the night. On the stage upstairs, the five Swedes jammed on stage and the singer was so tall, that I think he even raised the roof with his head, quite literally, a couple of times. Bye Bye Bycicle has a debut album full of sincerely great indiepop tracks, that went a long way to a great show, even as the stage presence was rather controlled. The live performance did not bring any real added value to the tracks, at least not the way the other performers managed to create it.

Bye Bye Bicycle

All in all, as a whole, the 25th annual Jyrock was just the way one could have imagined it. The stage by the terrace was a nice addition, but the problems encountered already last year, were still problems. Still this adorable little festival in the middle of Finland will lure me out next year, as long as they manage to attract fresh and interesting names as they have so far.

Summer’s creeping up on us and we’ve got some light towards the end of the summer! Helsinki’s Flow Festival has announced some confirmed artists for the summer festival in Suvilahti, 13-15 of August. We’re thrilled, as last years Flow Festival was a blast, not just musically speaking, but culturally speaking.

M.I.A

Some of the confirmed artists;

• M.I.A (SRI / UK)
• The xx (UK)
• Air (FRA)
• Sigur Rós (ISL)
• Marina and the Diamonds (UK)
• Ricardo Villalobos (CHI)
• Major Lazer (UK)
• Diplo (US)
• Four Tet (UK)

More confirmed artists can be seen here! Check them out!

Flow Festival has acquired quite the reputation, even though it is amongst the younger festivals held in Finland. The crowd at Flow has always been a tad more considerate than those up North in Finland and this year was no exception, seemed that most people were there for the artists. The Festival had gathered a diverse set of artists, with Lily Allen as the most notorious and well-known of the lot, but the rest were handpicked jewels from gods own creation. Now in no distinct or specific order..

Collie Buddz & The New Kingston Band by Eerikki Pokela

Collie Buddz and The New Kingston Band put on quite the show, warming up their crowd for twenty minutes before the show time. Collie Buddz proved to be worth the hype and went on to move the audience for the better part of an hour. His rhythmic tunes and high energy show took a grip of the spectator and wouldn’t let them rest. With such different shows in Flow, it seems trite to say that this one stood out. It was, nevertheless, an awesome show.

DJ Mehdi at Flow 2009 bySami Heiskanen

On Friday, when the action cooled down outside and everyone moved in to the old warehouse building to see Djs Mehdi and Huoratron perform, it got a little crowded to say the least. Personally, I didn’t mind, since the nights in Finland are already cooling down and wearing shorts, the huddle of familiar partiers seemed like a small reassurance that I would not freeze to death this particular night. In any case, the French Dj Mehdi played a long and intense set, that would just not let you rest. After a few minutes, the cold weather outside was mere memory of something a lifespan ago and the well set up stage performance took a hold of you. It turned out that Mehdi kept us on our feet, so that we did not have the energy to do anything after his show and decided we had to go cool down with a few drinks. One could argue that Medhis set caused a severe weightloss and exercise peak at the festival, to say the least.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble by Vilhelm Sjöström

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble was one of those acts that we had looked forward to for quite some time and were expecting a lot from. They played well and got the audience involved, and their show combined several elements in a fun way. Maybe it had something to do with our expectations, but it seemed lacking in some ways. Maybe we were expecting a more hip hop – influenced show, or something along those lines. All in all, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is one of those groups who make for a great listening experience, be it live or on record.

Jenny Wilson by Jussi Hellsten

The friendly neighbourhood swede Jenny Wilson was also quite enjoyable. At first, she came accross as a tad too excentric, but that mellowed into the back of our minds as the show progressed. By the third or fourth song we were enjoying ourselves thuroughly as the soulful sounds took ahold. She is familiar in many ways, but in many ways she is quite unique. I’m convinced that it was her outfit that made such a statement at the start of her set.. Don’t you wish my notes from that show wouldn’t have got smushed in my pocket..

With a full on diverse set of acts, it is clear that you’re not going to be able to catch everything. Even a team of four couldn’t do that. We were swayed by the dub step in the smallest of the clubs, the Tiivistämö and that is where the rest of our flues got the eviction order. Tes La Rok and Loefah and MC Sgt Pokes put on quite the show, with minimalistic elements and a bass to remember. There were many havens to be taken shelter in with the drizzling rain every now and then, but the general amidities at the festival were well taken care of and none of the dawns foot-soldiers were left without help.

Lily Allen by Vilhelm Sjöström

Lily Allen had apperently fumbled the previous night and her back was jammed so badly, that she kept tearing up on stage. It made for an interesting, yet truly genuine show and came accross as quite adorable. Our theory is that she was out clubbing and forgot the little show in Helsinki. Nah, she’s sweet, she wouldn’t do such a thing, would she?

Flow Festival has always been an event filled with mixed emotion, for one it is a great festival with an often compassionate crowd, but on the other hand it is the last real festival of the summer. It always tells the ending tale of another year of great and successful music festivals. Fear not, come autumn, we will dig up such things that will make you quiver in your trousers.

“Until then”, she said, and left her knickers hanging on the doorknob.

There are so many summer festivals that we’re drowning in photos from them all, and our trigger happy photographers just keep piling more on us as we go. Drowning, I say, Drowning! We thought it would be a laugh to do a blog post of the Pitkä Kuuma Kesä – festival (literally translated as, Long Hot Summer – festival) in pictures only!

This was in Suvilahti, Helsinki the 27 and 28th of June.

Bring on the digital age!

Frank Turner

The Melvins

Damn Seagulls

The Sounds

The Soundtrack of Our Lives

The Flaming Lips

The hot performers involved:
Frank Turner
Damn Seagulls
The Sounds
The Flaming Lips
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Melvins