Indie Shoutout vol. 5

Cassie is a Finnish post-rock band with much potential to grow over the barriers of ordinary post-rock. Their newest release is an EP titled Old Light which was released February 2014. The band's sound is very typical for the genre with dreamy guitar leads and long crescendos. The female vocals which are not so typical for post-rock bring a nice touch and the sound of the lead vocalist Sofia Thurén fits the sound of the band so well. Believable and beautifully emotional lyrics are a key point in the vocals also.

Old Light EP

Post-rock is known for bringing "non-rock" instruments to the mix and so does Cassie with the inclusion of a string quartet. The almost-a-cliche "post-rock tremolo" -sound is amazing combined with the tremolo violins in the opening track of Old Light. 

The first track simply called Old Light Is a pretty typical post-rock song with a long crescendo which erupts in the end. What makes this track for me are the beautiful vocal melodies and the AMAZING quest appearance of Callisto-vocalist Jani Ala-Hukkala. Being a huge Callisto fan I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw he was in this track. His screams create a post-hardcore-ish vibe to the high-point of the track.

The second track Keep Your Kings In The Back Row starts out with a nice groove. The song has a nice tone to it with the strings bringing a nice touch of comfort. The track is very enjoyable and beautifully arranged to the point of myself failing to see any (even minor) problems.

"You are so afraid of life and I only have courage for myself"

The EP ends with a track titled White Waves. The track starts with a bang which sounds much like a Caspian song but then it continues with a beautiful melodic and dreamy part. The vocals carry the song towards the calming latter half of the song which starts out with a guitar lead. The song proceeds to a beautiful "explosion" of vibrantly colorful sounds again much like a Caspian song and continues to an even more tough part with a slow blast beat which erupts the whole song. The track ends and the listener is left with a complete expression of the bands sound. 

Overall the EP is a great piece of art with much potential for the future. What comes to the quality of composition, arrangement and production the sound of Cassie is on par with bands like Caspian, Explosions In The Sky and other epitomes of post-rock. The vocals are a major pro from me and I just fell in love with the vocal melodies of the album. The Old Light EP made me take a closer look on the band's earlier stuff which i have earlier considered as too cliche'd. 

I hope Cassie continues their effort to make more amazing releases and wish them luck on their tour which takes place both in Finland and the UK.

Love

- Matti

ps. more stuff coming soon as I'm done with my matriculation exams.

A little about my soloproject

I started writing songs like almost 5 years ago when I was in junior highschool. At the time I didn't have my own guitar or anything... I had to resort to my dad's old acoustic guitar (which my brother had actually used for composing some post-rock a few years backwards) and Guitarpro 5. My first songs were not that good (well I guess you can't expect to write masterpieces right away). With time I got better and got used to writing with my equipment. I experimented with different genres and styles differing from electronic to rap to metal and even some classical-influenced but somehow post-rock and post-metal just stuck with me.

A photo of me with my acoustic Landola from early 2012

In early 2011 I had bought my first electric guitar and even upgraded to GuitarPro 6. I started composing and arranging my first album. Some pieces didn't fit to each other and some of the songs were not yet completed when I decided to record the album. During 2012 I had recorded Remedy (part.1) with my brother. I bought some recording equipment and started working on the recordings in November 2012 and decided to try to release it in time for Christmas as a present for my girlfriend. I composed Remedy (part.2) during the recordings and the whole Solitude, My Friend song was an experiment I did one day with recording different sounds on top of an ambient pad loop. 

The concept of the album kind of wrote itself. The songs tell of my loneliness in junior high when I didn't really have many friends and the title of the album Remedy For Solitude refers to my girlfriend who I got to know during my last year there (and we've been together since). 

Front and back cover of my album.

Only 10 physical copies of the album were made and I numbered them by hand

I've been working on new songs for a second release but I feel like I'm having a writers block as I have to write and do everything alone. Finding bandmates would help much with writing. 

You can download my album for free at bandcamp (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com/) and follow me in facebook (https://www.facebook.com/untoldproject). By donating money you can help me get new equipment to help me with the next release. 

I really don't feel like translating this all to Finnish :S 

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Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti

Indie Shout Out vol.2

Toinen loistava löytö tänä syksynä oli suomalainen yhdenmiehen bändi/projekti Stars As Lights, jonka uusin julkaisu As If Time Had Stopped on huikea kymmenen kappaleen post-rock teos, jossa jokainen kappale kertoo oman tarinansa.

Stars As Lights on jyväskyläläisen Lauri Paavolaisen sooloprojekti. As If Time Had Stopped on kaikkine post-rock -kliseineenkin juuri täydellinen taidepläjäys minunlaiselleni musiikin ystävälle. Albumi erottuukin joukosta edukseen juuri sävellyksen ja tuotannon puolesta. Koko albumi on rauhoittavan kaunista kuunneltavaa alusta loppuun eikä yksikään kappale kuulosta samalta. Albumin kokonaisuus tuo mieleen Explosions In The Skyn alkutuotannon.

As If Time Had Stopped kuuluu ehdottomasti tämän vuoden parhaimpien post-rockjulkaisujen joukkoon Sigur Rósin ja God Is An Astronautin uusimpien albumien rinnalle.

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Another great discovery from this fall was the Finnish one-man-band/project Stars As Lights whose newest release As It Time Had Stopped is an immense ten track post-rock work in which every track tells its own story.

Stars As Lights is the solo project of Lauri Paavolainen from Jyväskylä, Finland. As If Time Had Stopped is just the perfect piece of art for a music lover like myself even with all its post-rock cliches. The album sticks out from the crowd with its amazing compositions and production quality. The whole album is restfully beautiful from the beginning all the way until the end and none of the songs sound too much alike. The album as a whole brings to my mind the earlier works of Explosions In The Sky. 

As If Time Had Stopped belongs easily to the top post-rock albums of the year alongside the new albums by Sigur Rós and God Is An Astronaut. 

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Also the artwork is absolutely amazing! :)

- Peace And ΓΟΛΕ - 
Matti

Come On Die Young

"Of all I knew,
I held too few
And would you stop me,
if I tried to stop you?

Old songs, stay till the end
Sad songs, remind me of friends
And the way it is, I could leave it all
And I ask myself, would you care at all?

When I drive alone at night, I see the steetlights as fairgrounds
And I've tried a hundred times, to see the roadsings as day-glo

Old songs, stay till the end
Sad songs, remind me of friends
And the way it is, I could leave it all
And I ask myself, would you care at all?"

Mogwai - Cody

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The saddest song I know, Cody had an instant effect on me when I first heard it when I was like 14 or 15.
The line "Old songs, stay till the end, Sad songs, remind me of friends" stuck in my head for eternity and even today is one of the most inspirational piece of lyrics I've ever stumbled upon. 

Comforting Sounds

Eka postaus! Pari päivää oon hiljaa mielessäni miettinyt musablogin aloitusta ja päätin kokeilla. En aio pitää minkäänlaista postausrytmiä, vaan postailen millon huvittaa. Ideoita postauksiin riittää aina top-10 listoista musiikilliseen fiilistelyyn, oman musiikkihistoriani valaisemiseen ja paljon muuta. En oikeastaan itse edes lue muita blogeja, joten tämä on siinäkin mielessä uusi kokemus.

Oma musamakuni ylittää kaikki genrerajat ja pyrin olemaan avoin kaikentyyliselle musiikille aina klassisesta nykymetalliin. Mitään tarkkaa lempibändi-listaa en aio tehdä, mutta muutamia eniten mun elämään vaikuttaneita yhtyeitä on Explosions In The Sky, ISIS, Mogwai, Opeth, Katatonia ja vaikkapa Devin Townsend (aika synkänpuoleiselta vaikuttaa EITS:iä ja Deviniä lukuunottamatta - pitäiskö olla huolissaan).

Mut joo - voisin kertoa hieman itsestäni; olen Joensuulainen 18 v. poika, joka ei voisi elää ilman musiikkia. Soitan kitaraa, laulan, sävellän ja ennenkaikkea kulutan musiikkia sekä kerään levyjä. Kitaraa olen soittanut ehkä nelisen vuotta ja biisejä oon vääntäny yhtä kauan. Oman sooloprojektini demo on ladattavissa ilmaiseksi bandcampista (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com). Demon julkaisin joulukuussa 2012 eräänlaisena joululahjana tyttöystävälleni (mut joo, ehkä jauhan Untold Memoriesista jossain toisessa postauksessa).

 Yup, That's me.

 Last.fm:ssä voit seurata minua http://www.last.fm/user/Masavain täältä ja kaveriksikin saa pyytää.

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First post! I've been thinking of starting a music blog for a few days and now I decided to give it a try. I won't be posting regularly - only when I want to. I have a lot of ideas for future posts like top-10 lists, musical hyping, enlightening my personal history on music and many more. I hardly ever even read other blogs so this will be a new experience in that light also.

My musical taste extends over genre limits and I try to as open as possible for all genres of music ranging from classical to modern metal. I won't be doing a favouritebands -list but some of the bands that have had a significant effect on my life are Explosions In The Sky, ISIS, Mogwai, Opeth, Katatonia and Devin Townsend (quite melancholic except for EITS and Devin - Should I be concerned).

But oh well - I could tell you a little about myself: I am an 18 y.o boy from Joensuu, Finland and I couldn't live without music. I play guitar, sing, compose and above all consume music and collect albums. I've been playing the guitar roughly for 4 years and making songs as long. My personal soloproject's demo is available for a free download in bandcamp (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com/). I released the demo in December 2012 as a christmas gift for my fiance (but anyhow, maybe I will ramble about Untold Memories in other posts).

You can follow me in Last.fm at http://www.last.fm/user/Masavain and i will accept friend requests too.

Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti