Summer sounds lovely - let it rain

I've been busy and not-so-busy this summer with a lot of stuff (mainly my graduation, music festivals, my band and my civil service [equivalent to military service only non-military]). New bands have found their way into my library of music but I've also re-discovered some older material that has been totally forgotten (i.e found a copy of Brave Murder Day by Katatonia in a second hand music store last week). 

Lately I've also had a look towards Finnish rap artists like DJ Kridlokk, Eevil Stöö, Tuuttimörkö and such. 

Anyway, the main point for this update was to talk about Ilosaarirock music festival which is held in july every year in my hometown of Joensuu. For me it's the best festival Finland has for many reasons. First of all the festival area is beautiful, large and versatile (suiting a music festival perfectly). I have lots of memories regarding Ilosaarirock (for example the best show I've ever been to was ISIS at Ilosaarirock in 2009). The line-up is always great and variant with artists from different genres like hardcore, electronic, rock, metal, pop etc...you name it. 

This year was yet again a great one for Ilosaarirock as the line-up had some bands I was really anticipating for some of the bands. The memorable artists/bands this year were definitely Gracias & The Globe Band (hip-hop), OJJ (electronic), KC/MD Mafia (hip-hop), Oranssi Pazuzu (psychedelic black-metal), Night Lives (hardcore), Haim (indie rock), Opeth (progressive rock/metal) and last but not least Portishead!!

The highlights of the festival were definitely Opeth and Portishead. They both played an extremely pleasant show and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Opeth played some older material (early 2000's Deliverance/Damnation era) as well as newer stuff (mainly from Heritage and Watershed). Mikael was funny as always and his growls seemed fine to me. I don't really get the hate from fans towards his growling vocals (I mean c'mon the man is over 40 already with over 20 years of touring and playing in several bands and growling his lungs out like a beast for so long). 

Portishead was beyond magical and huge. They played songs from all of their albums and the total playtime for the show was over one and a half hours. They didn't speak anything in between the songs until a few thank-you's after the show. The visuals they had were very fitting to the songs with some psychedelic vibes and moody photography. 

All in all once again I had a great time in Ilosaarirock this year (also this is a bit late as it was a month ago but I've been busy so that's a valid excuse). 

Next time I will write about one of my favourite albums of all time and a re-mastered version that was released this year. 

Peace and Love
- Matti

New guitar cover up on youtube

Uusi kitaracoveri on katsottavissa ja kuunneltavissa youtubekanavallani

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New guitar cover is up for views and lisnenings on my youtube channel

- Matti

Catch of the year - Vuoden löytö

Tämän syksyn uskomattomin musiikkilöytö minulle oli jyväskyläläinen ∞ (lausutaan eight), joka yhdistelee post-rockin maalailevaa puhtautta ja post-hardcoren aggressiivisuutta - ja vielä suomeksi laulettuna! Bändin noin vuosi sitten julkaistu albumi Näyt Kauas on ladattavissa bandcampista (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Myös bändin aiempaa tuotantoa löytyy samalta sivulta.

Näyt Kauas on sekä musiikillisesti, että lyriikallisesti kaunista kuunneltavaa. Erityisesti minuun kolahti kappale Elä Sinä Minusta, joka alkaa hiljaisella introlla ja kasvaa seuraavaan kappaleeseen johdattavaan loppuun.

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

Albumin toinen kappale Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme on selvästi post-metal -vaikutteinen ja jaksaa viihdyttää kuulijaa koko seitsemän minuutin keston.

Bändin lyriikat ovat ovelia ja saavat ajattelemaan niiden oikeata tarkoitusperää. Omien tulkintojeni mukaan lyriikoiden keskeisimpiin teemoihin kuuluu yksinäisyyden kuvaus. 

Odotan innolla mitä ∞ saa aikaan tulevaisuudessa ja suosittelen kaikille pienempienkin bändien tukemista. 

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My most unbelievable new discovery this fall was a band from Jyväskylä, Finland called ∞ (pronounced eight) which combines artistic purity of post-rock with the aggressive motion of post-hardcore - and they sing in finnish! Their album Näyt Kauas which was released a little over a year ago is available for download at bandcamp (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Their older works are also available on the site.  

Näyt Kauas (Finnish for You Appear Afar) is both musically and lyrically beautiful to listen to. Especially the track Elä Sinä Minusta (I wont be translating the names or the lyrics because they can have many meanings and i don't want to upset the band for translating their visions wrong) affected me greatly. The track begins with a quiet intro and builds up into an end which leads to the next track. 

lyrics for Elä Sinä Minusta: 

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

The second track of the album Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme is obviously influenced by post-metal and it keeps the listener entertained for the whole duration of seven minutes. 

Eight's lyrics are genius and make the listener ponder about their real meaning. According to my own interpretation one of the biggest themes of the lyrics is solitude. 

I am eagerly waiting what ∞ does in the future and I deeply recommend everyone to support smaller bands.

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Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti

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