Aural Innovations Issue #6 — Circle and Related
Aural Innovations was a magazine and website on space rock and related genres, offering reviews, interviews, and general articles. It ran from 1998 to January 2016. The website is no longer active, and all articles are being imported into DPRP, to keep everything available for everyone. Read Aural Innovations — A Brief History, written by AI founder Jerry Kranitz.
There is something in the water (or alcoholic beverages!) up in Finland. A lot of strange and wonderful music is happening. I recently traveled to Helsinki and spent a weekend where I was fortunate enough to meet up with Jukka Jylli from Kingston Wall, Mika Järvinen of 5.15, and the guys in the space rock band Dark Sun. You will learn more about these bands from the articles that follow as well as the great band from Pori, Finland called Circle.
Rounding out our profile of bands from Finland are reviews of several new releases from Circle and the offshoot bands Ektroverde and Lehtisalofamily. The AI staff highly recommends Circle as their music has established its own stylistic niche in the SpaceRock universe.
Scott Heller
There is a great record label based in Espoo, Finland called Metamorphis (Rantamäki 2 B 6, FIN-02230 Espoo, Finland). They are the ones responsible for releasing CD's by such psychedelic/space rock/experimental bands as Dark Sun, Circle, Moon Fog Prophet, Lotus, Tranceparents, Spiralothropes and others.
While I was visiting, I was exposed to a lot of different bands who are experimenting with psychedelic sounds. Moon Fog Prophet (from Pori) have been around since 1996 and have released a 7" record called "As I Grow" as well as two CD's, the most recent one in 1998, called "When They Opened Their Parachutes....Silence". The band play a hard rock style based on a piano and a vocalist that sounds like David Bowie circa 1969-1971. The music is quite varied and they get quite "Out there" at times when they jam. This band really grows on you.
Lotus are another highly experimental band whose live shows are known to contain very spaced out jams. The band is the mastermind of Ville Juvonen on guitars and programming. Their track on the "Metazoon" compilation CD (1997) called Messqualito is excellent stuff. They have also released one CD called "The Totuus". It has really incredible artwork and some really strange music with a strong space and prog rock influence. I can't really describe it adequately.
Mellow Yellow are a new band who in 1998 released a CDEP called "Teonanacatl", which featured 5 tracks of space/psych rock strangeness as well. Very cool EP. I received a demo by a band called Spiha as well, which are from Helsinki and have only been together for 3 months when this was recorded. The first song (I don't have the song titles), is a complex mixture of a cheesy keyboard sound and melodic vocal structure but then develops into real space-rock as the band head out into space with a very nice synthesizer break. Great song.
The next song starts off with circus like music with a flanged out vocal and then the song builds up to a hard rocker with a spacey feel. The extremely fuzzed out bass sound slowly moves to the front of the sound and then fades back again during the middle portion. Quite strange and wonderful stuff.
Finally, I picked up a CD by a band called Magneetti. Their CD is called "Megamania". The band sing entirely in Finnish and have a heavy dreamy psych sound. I don't know how else to describe them.
If we talk about some of the HEAVY bands, then we have the new Amorphis CD. This is a great band that have taken ancient Finnish tales and legends and recorded two CD's and CD EP's based on these. The music is heavy metal but they use some interesting instruments and arrangements. The band has 6 members (had, now a five piece) and started with the death type vocals but have evolved from that style. The new CD is quite different for the band and is a more melodic style, but still quite heavy with a mix of some flute by Sakari Kukko, who played with Kingston Wall as well. You can really hear the Kingston Wall influence in the new music a lot.
Slumgudgeon have a few CD's out and are a heavy riffing outfit who at times sound a lot like a heavier version of Soundgarden. SAN are a new young Helsinki band who have also listened to a lot of the Seattle sound. Their "Full Inside" EP from 1998 contains a mix of Pearl Jam and Nirvana-like tunes but a few have a great fuzzed out flangy guitar sound. Höyry-Kone are an avant-garde band that make a hard to describe music. They have released two CD's, "Hyönteisiä Voi Rakastaa" and "Huono Paturi", with the later being very progressive in nature. I like the description that Crohinga Well gives the band. "Finnish Chamber music and opera mixed with Magma, Univers Zero and King Crimson ('73 - '75). There you go!
I did not hear any of it when I was in Finland but apparently there is a large underground psychedelic trance techno scene happening with many bands making extremely far out music. Perhaps, I will report back on this later.
Rounding out our profile of bands from Finland are reviews of several new releases from Circle and the offshoot bands Ektroverde and Lehtisalofamily. The AI staff highly recommends Circle as their music has established its own stylistic niche in the SpaceRock universe.
Circle — Kollekt
(Bad Vugum, 1998, BAD-74CD)
Jerry Kranitz
Finland's Circle has become something of a favorite here at AI. Though clearly a gem for space rock fans, their music is, nonetheless, difficult to define and the band really has a sound all it's own. The music on their last three Metamorphos label CD's (Hissi, Fraten, and Pori) venture into the darkest unexplored black hole regions of the universe to produce some truly cosmically challenging music.
Kollekt ventures into the early Circle archives to give more recent fans a glimpse into the bands' early 90's roots. The CD includes their first three 7" releases: DNA ('91), Point ('92), and Silver ('93). We're also treated to five bonus tracks from '92-'94, though I don't know if these are unreleased or not.
The early Circle surprised me as seriously aggressive music. I want to use the term hardcore but must emphasise that it's not in the standard punk rock sense. And while the music is different, the Circle trademark of establishing a somewhat minimalist repeating rhythm and/or melody is already in evidence. The liner notes are unclear but it looks like Circle was a 3-piece on the first two EP's, becoming a 4-piece on the third, and only expanding the lineup in '94.
I don't know if the DNA and Point EP's are really a guitar, bass, drums power trio because I'm sure I hear two guitars. Whatever the case, this is phenomenally energetic music. The rhythm guitar crashes incessantly, the drums maintain a maddening pace, but the vocals, though not prominent, are eerie like chanting ghosts. This, however, changes dramatically on the song Fone (from Point). The vocals are downright frightening, like a male mixture of Diamanda Galas and Jarboe. And the music on this track is so manic that I could barely keep up.
Depoint gives a glimpse into the more cosmic music that would come in subsequent years. Metallic music and the ghostly vocals are accompanied by frantically freaky guitar work. The vocals become more prominent on the Silver EP and get a lot weirder, though the ethereal chanting is still present as well. Keyboards have been added at this point and the song "Circus" even has a new wave-ish feel to it.
The bonus tracks are similar to the EP's. One of my favorites is Armond which ventures into Chrome territory, but totally out energises that band for pure sonic aural onslaught. Hypto, at almost nine minutes, is the longest track on this set, and is another example of the space elements that Circle would soon incorporate into their music. The band lays down a driving guitar crunching beat around which freaked out psych guitar roams and explores. It's a wild combination of aggression and floating lava lamp spacerock.
If you are new to Circle then start with Hissi, Fraten, or Pori. But if you're a Circle veteran than this collection of early tracks is an absolute must have.
Circle — Surface & Marble Sheep - Marble Zone 2
(joint CD, 1998 Metamorphos Meta 023-CD (FI), Captain Trip CTCD-072 (JP))
Keith Henderson
Well, this is pretty much a "can't miss" item for me, seeing as I own near-complete collections of each of these two artists. Marble Sheep is the older band, having formed either out of, or along side, White Heaven in Japan; both entities responsible for the same sort of crazed, winding psychedelic jam rock. Ken Matsutani, guitarist/vocalist/leader of Marble Sheep (who also just happens to run the Captain Trip label), apparently had these live recordings from 1989 laying around waiting to be resurrected.
Of the three that are compiled here simply as Marble Zone 2 (no individual titles), two are live tracks and one is a studio demo. All three are extended duel guitar freakouts, recalling early Guru Guru. Unlike the later Marble Sheep jam style which owes more to the Grateful Dead, these ones are more like the very first albums (e.g., Old from New Heads), though original lead guitarist Michio Kurihara had left by this time.
Circle's tracks, on the other hand, are recordings from their March, 1996 concert in Tampere, Finland nearby their native Pori. In the three years since this show, the band has been quite prolific, so the eight tracks presented here seem to represent their 'earlier' material. The intro, "I Saw the Light" (an unfamiliar title), has a strong Neu!/Cluster flavor to it, and English lyrics (for a change) sung by Jussi Lehtisalo (or is it Teemu Elo?).
Circle then segues straight into the opening 1-2 punch from the album Zopalki; Brilliant Colours for Bright Ideas is one of the darkest and scariest tunes I've ever come across, but in a more subtle and hypnotic way than you might think. The live version doesn't quite capture the effect the studio recording does, but it's a perfect lead in to an awesome rendering of Valerian, which here surpasses the effectiveness of the original. Blazing guitars, spooky synth-swirls, and gothic vocals in the eerie Finnish language... makes your hair stand on end.
Re-masturbated then kicks in with a choppy rhythm, and slowly builds in dissonance towards a disorienting miasma of sonic imagery. Sprinkler is another tune that recalls a foggy night in a dark alley depicted only in black and white, punctuated with the regimented hollow-snare drumming of J. Ahtiainen. Two of their oldest tunes "Meronia" and "DNA" round out the Circle portion of the disc in their heavier industrial style.
OK, I'm sold... Circle is presently the most inventive band in the genre of... well, I don't know exactly... gothic/industrial/psychedelic/space/krautrock I guess. No, let's say "most inventive band," period. Their music is truly so original that it really needs it's own name. (I ain't gonna call it 'Finnrock' though.)
This live work demonstrates that they can deliver the goods on stage, though I'd be afraid they'd creep me out if I heard them in person. The Marble Sheep material is nice to have archived here also, and is a convenient way of discovering their early style without having to track down their other rare 80's recordings. Psychedelic Paradise Live, a live recording from 1994, is a fine example of their later S.F.-jam style and is recommended as an additional item to track down.
Lehtisalofamily — Interplay
(1998, EKTRO-003)
Jerry Kranitz
Another Circle side project is Lehtisalofamily, which is just that... it's Jussi Lehtisalo and two members of his family on guitars, bass, keyboards, and theremin, plus contributions from various Circle and Ektroverde members on guitar, saxophone, drums, and effects.
What Lehtisalofamily shares with Circle is the habit of laying down repeating patterns that remain prominent while the music develops around them. This is actually pretty spacey music, though the Circle influences abound. In fact, what makes this particularly interesting to me is the abundance of very freak spacey synth work along with Rock In Opposition styled guitar and percussion work on some tunes.
Some of the standout tracks include: The cosmic Mallorra sets the tone with a simplistic bass and drum pattern, but is made into a fuller work by the exploratory synths and acid guitar. Safety Valve is a spooky electronic piece that this time sets the trademark repeating pattern with an emotionless bleeping synth. But around this we have subtle Twilight Zone freakiness with a bit of an Indian feel. One synth sounds like a snake charmer in space. There's actually quite a bit happening here though each instrument occupies such an individual spot, the song as a whole sounds more simplistic than it really is.
Karmida is similar electronically but has a more composed and controlled feel. There is a vibrating synth that fades in and out along with other carefully place electronic patterns. A series of stringed and percussion instruments are banged and clanged throughout the song. The short "Paasta Ku Kontista" is like continuation of Karmida though we have a Fred Frith/Henry Kaiser sounding guitar at the forefront. "Aija" has even more of a spaced out RIO sound with clanging guitars and percussion along with bubbling shooting synths. And "Cosmic Baseball" is an excellent closing number as a saxophone jams away to the a wall of floating electronica.
Overall, Lehtisalofamily has produced some very interesting music here. It is unique in that the music is highly cosmic but not in a standard rock or psychedelic manner. It is exploratory, but in a more composed rather than jamming way. Like Circle, it's just different.
Ektroverde — Pingvin
(1998, EKTRO-004CD)
Jerry Kranitz
Yet another Circle offshoot band is Ektroverde. On Pingvin there are 8 studio tracks, two of which were apparently intended as a 7" release, and four tracks recorded live in Tavastia. Ektroverde's music is best described as melodic space fusion. The instrumentation is quiet, but busy. Everything moves along at a steady pace with the guitars sometimes taking the lead role and at other times the piano, but at all times playing cool melodic space fusion. The astral keyboard work combines with the jazzy feel of the music to make for an interesting mix that surprisingly seems to fit the music rather than oddly contrast with it. Miles Davis meets Hawkwind?
Things don't really pick up until the sixth track, Fish, where we get into the spacey fusion territory that defines the remaining tracks. There is some great standard jazz piano work and drumming made all the more engaging by the intermittent space synths. Not surprisingly, the live tracks are among the best. I really liked Messerschmitt, an easy going beat-jazzy tune with nice electric piano work and cosmic electronics. Vostok 2 strays into somewhat different territory laying down a more standard Circle repeating bass and drum pattern and introducing even more cosmic synths and even vocals.
The Ektroverde sound is maintained though with the electric piano jazz-jamming away the whole time. The other live tracks, Crescent and T-Ford, continue this cosmic foray into finger-snapping lounge fusion. From the "almost released" Talvena 7", Lumikko is a great percussion-heavy tune that has a bit of a Sun Ra feel to it and is one of my favourites.
Ektroverde further illustrates the varied interests and versatility of the Circle folks. It's also the least aggressive music I've heard from the Circle camp and represents an interesting twist on the standard jazz sound.
