Thursday, 26 May 2016

Me The Tiger album review

Hi all!

This time I have the honour of reviewing latest album by Me The Tiger (album sane name). This is another totally new artist to me so I had no expectations of the band and no idea what was coming. That's the way I like it :)

As I write this I am listening to the album naturally. What we have here is synth pop album that is well-crafted and balanced. The female singer's voice really reminded me of Emiliana Torrini from time to time. Her voice is strong but has that vulnerability, I just don't know how to explain this, but I do mean it in good way though.

As for the sounds, they do sound fresh, but have that retro feel also neatly together. No complaining there. Melodies are nice, beautiful and quite simple. With this kind of music, that works usually the best. Album is quite varied with some uptempo, danceable songs in the middle like Ambulance Dico Light and then it goes back to more listening territory with medium tempo or slow tempo. Ambulance was followed by slow The End. The feel really changed drastically between these like the end of the night at your local disco, The End is beautiful, somehow sad song. And that is followed another danceable one, with retro synth sounds. I'm not sure if this was the best possible track order, since The End felt like end of the album. In a way this feels bit bumpy.

To sum the album, I'd say it is a good album, not the best I've heard, but definetly good and recommended. It does feel bit bumpy with tracklisting, since all faster songs are followed by slow one. I would change the track listing a bit but, that is matter of taste. Still I found no track on the album I didn't like. If you like synthpop fresh with some retro vibe on some songs thrown in, check them out!

Official web page

Saturday, 21 May 2016

Chimaera Interview

Now this was long time coming thanks to me. I did interview with Chimaera and it is finally here! Chimarea is duo known better as Skitzofrenik and Toni Taskinen, both members of Mindcore team. Sorry of the bad translation, did my best, but I ain't a pro :) Also in finnish below.

How did Chimaera got started?

Well, we've known each other for now about 6 years and the latter 3 years we have spend time closely with music (that's probably why the term my boyfriend's boyfriend) and that time has included
quite many sets together. Due those we realized we both like dark sounds and that is how it pretty much happened

2. Which artists have influenced Chimaera's sound?

Toni: For me one of the biggest source of inspiration has been Deathmachine, who actually did help me a bit getting started on producing. Other of my liking are for example
Switch Technique, Dithe, Djipe, Sei2ure, District7 and naturally Ophidian.

Metrsi: TOA,Tomcat,Ophidian,Tieum,Sei2ure,Switch Technique and Catscan has been inspiration for me. Especially the older Ophidian's productions are very inspiring.

3. How do you see the scene in Finland and in Europe changed over the years?

Toni: Of European scene I canät say much and I haven't followed Finnish scene for that long that I would have strong opinion on this matter. Tiny thing I've noticed is that popularity of the genre changes quite a lot.
Mertsi: Scenes are growing in Finland  and in Europe fast. Artists and events have gotten bigger and been produced better than before. Due this also more marginal events gain more attention and there are new producer emerging to the
scene a lot more than before.

4.Harder music is now really big hype thanks to meteoric rise of hardstyle and this reflects also to hardcore. Has this been only positive thing?

Toni: Thanks to hardstyle many punters have for sure discovered hardcore, but I wouldn't put it necessarily that way. The main thing is that genres support eachother in a way many party-goers have noticed:
If there is a bigger event there is usually something for both lovers of hardstyle and hardcore and this is only positive thing. And what goes for effect, it most likely is positive eventhough there are some
facebook group brawls of the subject. ;)

5. How did you come up with the name Chimaera?

Mertsi: Chimarea popped into my mind when I imagined best way to describe our musical backrounds and how those have affected on our productions. Toni as quite strong history of drum & bass and I've got mainstream hardcore
"history". So there will be influence of both mainstream hardcore and of drum & bass.

6. What can we expect from you in the future?

We've been progressing slowly due Toni's school, but pushing things forward of course. Couple of upcoming tracks have some old school industrial flavour, so mainly dark varied hardcore and mainstrean hardcore with drum & bass influences :)

Finnish version

1. Miten Chimaera sai alkunsa?

Noh me ollaan tunnettu toisemme nyt jotakuinkin 6 vuotta joista viimeiset 3 vuotta ollaan vietetty aika tiiviisti
musiikin parissa (tästä varmaan termi poikaystäväni poikaystävä)
ja aika paljon siinä yhteisiä soittotuokioita on tullut vieteltyä ja sellainen havahtuminen siinä tapahtui
että tykätään molemmat synkistä soundeista joten siitä se ajatus vähän sitten lähti.

2. Mitkä artistit ovat vaikuttaneet bändin soundiin?

Toni: Mulle yksi suurimpia innoittajia on ollut Deathmachine jolta olenkin pientä opastusta saanut että pääsin tuottamisessa alkuun. Muita omaan makuun kovia
ovat mm Switch Technique, Dithe, Djipe, Sei2ure, District7 ja tietty Ophidian.

Mertsi: TOA,Tomcat,Ophidian,Tieum,Sei2ure,Switch Technique ja  Catscan on innoittajina mulle. Varsinkin Ophdidian tuotannot kaikessa laajuudessaan on erittäin inspiroiva lähde.



3. Miten näet Suomen skenen ja Euroopan skenen muuttuneen vuosien saatossa?

Toni: Euroopan skenestä en varsinaisesti osaa sanoa juuta enkä jaata ja en tätä suomenkaan skeneä ole niin pitkään seurannut että mitään
vankkaa näkemystä lähtisin esittämään. Sellainen pieni havainto on tullut kuitenkin tehtyä että genrejen suosiot ovat melko aaltoilevia.

Mertsi: Skenet kasvavat Suomessa sekä Euroopassa kovaa vauhtia. Artisteista ja tapahtumista on tullut isompia ja ja paremmin tuotettuja.
        Tämän ansiosta myös nämä marginaalisemmat nimet saavat enemmän huomiota ja uusia tuottajia ilmestyy skeneen aiempaa enemmän.

4. Rankempi musiikki on nyt todella pinnalla hardstylen kovan nousun ansiosta ja tämä heijastuu myös hardcoreen. Onko vaikutus ollut pelkästään myönteinen?

Toni: Hardstylen takia moni bilettäjä on varmasti löytänyt hardcoren mutta en välttämättä muotoilisi sitä ihan noin.
Pääasia kuitenkin on että genret tukevat toisiaan tavalla jonka varmaan moni bilettäjä onkin huomannut:
Jos on isommat pippalot kyseessä niin sieltä löytyy yleensä tarjontaa "molemmille kuuntelijakunnille" mikä on pelkästään hyvä juttu.
Ja mitä tuohon vaikutukseen tulee niin kyllä se varmasti myönteisenä on pysynyt pieniä fb-ryhmägenremähinöitä lukuunottamatta ;)

Mertsi:Toni vastasi aika kattavasti kyllä. Ei tuohon ole lisättävää.

5. Mistä keksitte nimen Chimaera?

Mertsi: Chimaera tuli minulle mieleen kun ajattelin parasta tapaa kuvata musiikillisia taustojamme ja sitä miten se vaikuttaa meidän tuotantoihin.
        Tonilla on aika vahva Drum & Bass historia ja itsellä mainstream hardcore "menneisyys" Luvassa siis on vaikutteita niin mainstream coresta kuin drum  &  bass:ista


6. Mitä voimme odottaa tulevaisuudessa teiltä?

Tässä on nyt edetty aika hitaalla tahdilla Tonin koulunkäynnin takia mutta eteenpäin pusketaan tottakai.
Parissa valmistuvassa biisissä on vähän pientä industrial old school henkeä mukana eli pääsääntöisesti

synkkää corea laajalla skaalalla ja mainstream core & drum bass vivahteilla ;)

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Upcoming parties

Hi all!

Sorry for not writing anything here for awhile. Been sick and had not energy nor time to write anything that would make any sense. But now I'm back on bike :)

And let's see what's coming up first!

20.5.-21.5. Future Energy Festival

Got a weekend with no plans? Head here, this will be banging! Line-up looks like this: You can buy two kind of tickets: Only for Pakkahuone or Klubi, or ticket for both.

Friday:

PAKKAHUONE (main room)
► WILDSTYLEZ (NL)
► PSYKO PUNKZ (NL)
► DEETOX (NL)
► SASHA F
► CARBON BASED LIVE
► ALCHEMIIST & DECION
► YEDIAH

KLUBI (Club)
► VIRTUAL RIOT (GER)
► TOPI (Never Say Die)
► NOCOMPLY
► MEFISTO

TERRACE PERJANTAI 20.5.2016:
► TREMONT
► NASTYWIP
► DRS


Saturday:


PAKKAHUONE LAUANTAI 21.5.2016:
► ZATOX (IT)
► EVIL ACTIVITIES (NL)
► ATMOZFEARS (NL)
► PROTEUS
► SUBSTANCED & HORZI 
► WAILY
► MEKE

KLUBI LAUANTAI 21.5.2016:
► INSIDEINFO (UK)
► REDOM + MC C.I (FIN/SWE)
► ILLUVIAL
► O4KLY
► FA NA TYK

TERRACE LAUANTAI 21.5.2016:
► PHIL PARONI
► DIFFICULT
► MIKADO


And be prepared for the afterparty kicking off at 5 am on saturday :)

28.5.  Fury presents Technoboy & Sub Zero Helsinki / Nosturi

Technoboy needs no introduction and Nosturi is legendary venue by the sea bit outskirts of city centre, but easy place to get to. There used to be legendary after parties and tons of concerts. Finnish support looks like this:
Galrav & Fearsome
Efialtes & Zerathep - Early Hardstyle Classics -set
Tickets are available at tiketti.fi

2.7. Hardcore Blasters Helsinki /Wäiski

Another month, another banger and this time at legendary restaurant boat Wäiski. This will be epic!

Northern Europe's 1st and leading UK/Happy Hardcore record label, 'Finland Full Throttle' go head to head with 'MINDCORE' the #1 Hardcore organisation in Finland, to give you an unmissable, complete experience at:

!!! HARDCORE BLASTERS !!!

Will you endure Mindcore's Torture Chamber..
or find refuge in Full Throttle's Therapy Room..?
We shall fuckin see!

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
❖ LINEUP

Upper Deck
Finland Full Throttle: Therapy Room

Malmen (SWE)
Daniel Seven (IT)
DJ Neon
Substanced & Horzi
JNKS & Tornadoz
Oskill8
Crash & D-Shark

Down Below
MINDCORE: Torture Chamber

Waily LIVE
Chimaera
Dj Toxic Green
Jan-D
The Finnishing Dutch
Tarec


16.7. Harder.fi Keehaul Wäiski

Same venue different people and another banger!

xl8r vs Decion
JKA vs Yaya
Camfer vs Andy F
Xelfer vs Ozma

13.8. Odysseia A loudest Summer Cruise

Better put on your lifevests for this one, since the beats will sink the boat!

No line-up as yet, but it'll be Proteus' Birthday party. Nuff said! Tickets are extremely limited, only 200 available
✪ INFO:

M/S Emma, Kauppatori / Linnalaituri Helsinki
Lauantai/Saturday 13.08.2016
Ikäraja/Age limit: K-18

Pääsy laivaan/entry to boat: klo 16:30
Lähtö/departs: klo 17:00
Paluu/returns: klo 22:00

✪ TICKETS: 

✰ Lippuja myydään vain 200kpl!
✰ Limited 200 tickets only!

● Osta liput täältä / buy tickets here: http://bit.ly/1pxJvvG

Solar Fake Helsinki On The Rocks 

Might've mentioned this before, sorry if I've done so. Just so excited of this gig.

English
Dark Helsinki & On the Rocks proudly presents: One of the most remarkable artists on the German dark electro scene, Solar Fake is coming back to Helsinki in September 2016! During these last couple of years after their first amazing show in Finland in 2014, Solar Fake have had a lot to do, touring new places, playing sold out shows in their home Germany, performing at major festivals around the globe and even having released their gorgeous brand new album “Another Manic Episode”. Now the long waiting for their Finnish fans has been finally paid off and the band will play in Helsinki on Saturday 17.09.2016 at On the Rocks Club. This will ensure an unforgettable evening full of drive, dancing, fun and loud music. All of these combined with touching beautiful melodies and the singer’s incomparable voice is guaranteed! Don’t miss this at any cost and book your ticket right now!

Support: Ten After Dawn (FIN)

AfterShowParty: Dead Souls Gathering DJs

20:00 doors
21:00 Ten After Dawn
22:00 Solar Fake
23:30 Dead Souls Gathering DJ:t

Advance tickets from 14,50€, at door 15€
Advance tickets with On the Rocks loyalty card from 12,50€, at door 13€

24.9. Fury presents Dirty Workz "take-over" Helsinki / Nosturi

This fall Dirty Workz 10 Year Anniversary World Tour lands in the heart of Helsinki together with 12 Year Club Fury.

Bringing you an exclusive roster of the labels biggest artists and Finnish supports. Fury and Dirty Workz, one night only.

Dirty Workz Artists:

DJ ISAAC (NL)
www.facebook.com/djisaac

CYBER (SUI)
www.facebook.com/DJCyberMusic

MC DL (NL) - Host
www.facebook.com/MCDL.NL

RIIHO & DIGITAL MINDZ (FIN)
www.facebook.com/MrRiiho
www.facebook.com/digitalmindzmedia

Club Fury Residents:

GALRAV & EFIALTES (FIN)
www.facebook.com/galrav
www.facebook.com/efialtesdj


tickets: Coming soon to - www.lippupalvelu.fi

24.09.2016
22:00-04:00
Nosturi 
Telakkakatu 8 00150 HKI

Friday, 29 April 2016

De/Vision gig report

Hi all!

I just got back from Berlin, where I attended to De/Vision's preview show. And it was worth the trip! Just perfect night of good music and nice people. And it was really nice to meet people, whom I've chatted online, but never met in person before.

The gig took place at Lido, old movie theatre turned into concert venue. This is what I love of Berlin: The mixture of old and new. Lido has it's own atmosphere as a venue that I liked. It shows it's history, but manages to be good concert venue for smaller, intimate gigs.


First up Empathy Test. Totally unknown to me this British band, but still good warm-up act. Nice melodies and they managed to create nice vibe. Only thing that I didn't like that much was singer's voice that lacked power. But still interesting new band. Some of you will like it, so check them out if you like it melodic and bit slower. The band will be touring with Mesh later this year on their tour.


Next up: De/Vision. They really rocked and had support from this kid, I think he was singer's godchild or daughter, not sure, since I don't speak german. He was up there for few songs and you really could feel the love between those two.



The band played nice mixture of new material from upcoming album 13 and old ones. New songs sounded good. Top quality you have gotten used to expect from the lads. Old ones got crowd going well and singing along. As for the crowd, they were really dedicated fans and you really could feel it. It showed how music can unite people of different ages and backrounds, especially since most of the crowd was older than I expected, but who cares when the atmosphere is magical. They did have some technial problem during set, but I assume they only joked of it (in german of course).

Steffen has really nice, clear and strong voice that I like. He really shines live and also on albums. And he knows how to work the crowd. Rage was one of the songs that really rocked the crowd, but hey, almost all the songs had that effect. What can I say? The gig felt like family gathering of sort. More gigs like these please!

News!

Some of you might've heard of my new project called club Interface. If not, here's the deal: We are planning to organize 4 events per year dedicated to darker electronic music. First one will be held at the end of the year and I'm not going to let out details as yet, but I'll assure you, it will be good one :) We got 2 live bands and 2 djs booked for your aural pleasure. And we are on Facebook too, so follow us there and join in our group created for like-minded people.

What I can reveal now is that plans are being made for the club nights and some extras too. Watch the Facebook page to keep up-to-date of this project!

Interface official facebook page

Group page

Monday, 18 April 2016

New project

Hi all!

I just started a new project called Club Interface. Music policy is alternative electronic music (synthpop, ebm, synthwave, alternative etc,) and we will host 4 parties a year. Also I launched both official site for the project as well as group for people to connect with each other.

Official Club Interface site and the group

If you like your electronic music bit darker or alternative, join us and jack into the music!

Eventhough I started these projects, I will also run the blog :)

Monday, 11 April 2016

Album review: Electronic Saviors Industiral Music to Cure Cancer

Good day and have a good week!

This time around I thought I'd review an amazing charity compilation Electronic Saviors. This is ongoing comp series that raises funds for battle cancer. What I have here is 2nd installment in the series.



Comp series is curated by cancer survivor who also writes of his own battle with cancer in the inlay. It was eye-opening to read to be honest and it is good to see record label such as Metropolis to go along with this kind of project, as well as artists.

How do I review this kind of box, especially since my mother was diagnosed with cancer? I'll do my best to be objective. The box is just beautiful as you can see from cover and is a digipack holding 6 (you read right) cds! So you do have more than your money's worth of good music and even better, some are exclusives or rarities!

Cds are named as 6 steps of acceptance, which really works well. First up we have shock. This cd holds 18 tracks, such artists as Edge Of Dawn, Tenek etc. This one was bit easier one compared to rest of the cds. 2nd cd is Denial and has just 17 tracks. One of best ones was Solitary Experiment's Immortal (Icon Of Coil mix). Rest are named as anger, bargaing, depression and acceptance. Total amount of the tracks is huge 105! And best of all, compilation is quite varied. Some tracks were too harsh for me, but there were 1-2 on each cd I didn't quite like.





I hope you can read at least some of the artists from the pic. I highly recommend that you buy these compilatios NOW! They are cheap and money goes to an important cause. Buy your copy here

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Peckerhead interview

Good sunday to you all!

While sipping my morning coffee, thought I'd add latest interview. This time Denmark's own Peckerhead was kind enough to lend me his time for this. So big thank you for him! Also I got big news that I can finally tell you guys. Solar Fake, one of my fave bands, is coming to Helsinki!!



Best of all, tickets are really cheap! Advance ticket from Tiketti. Price is 14,50€ advance, door 15€ But if you have On The Rocks' card price is only 12,50€, door 13€

Dark Helsinki & On the Rocks proudly presents: One of the most remarkable artists on the German dark electro scene, Solar Fake is coming back to Helsinki in September 2016! During these last couple of years after their first amazing show in Finland in 2014, Solar Fake have had a lot to do, touring new places, playing sold out shows in their home Germany, performing at major festivals around the globe and even having released their gorgeous brand new album “Another Manic Episode”. Now the long waiting for their Finnish fans has been finally paid off and the band will play in Helsinki on Saturday 17.09.2016 at On the Rocks Club. This will ensure an unforgettable evening full of drive, dancing, fun and loud music. All of these combined with touching beautiful melodies and the singer’s incomparable voice is guaranteed! Don’t miss this at any cost and book your ticket right now!

Support: Ten After Dawn (FIN)

AfterShowParty: Dead Souls Gathering DJs

20:00 doors
21:00 Ten After Dawn
22:00 Solar Fake
23:30 Dead Souls Gathering DJ:t


And the promised Peckerhead interview:

How did you get into djing and producing music?

Around 2007 or 2008, i was at a friends home - He had a smaller party going on for a few friends. We talked about music and what relation we had to it, i had played the bass-guitar once as a smaller kid and tried a shitty producer software called "E-jay". We instantly searched on the computer for some music software and ended up getting FL Studio (fruity loops), this was the first time i saw more than just bricks of sound you could move around.
We had fun for many hours, drinking and trying to figure out what and how to do. Around that time, i listened to a lot of trance, and went out to a smaller psytrance club called The Tube. This was the place where i got my first bar job, i met 100's of different people every weekend, many of them dj's or producers. One day some of the dj's stayed at the club after closing hours to have an after-party, the club owner told me to go in the dj booth and play music for them. I had no idea how to...Luckily they enjoyed my shitty attempts to entertain them, over a smaller period of time i became friends with one of the dj's from that night - He started to practice with me after closing hours every now and then. I got better and better, and one day i was offered to play a dj set at a forest party. After that i quickly got very interested in dj'ing and started to record sets that i would send out in the hope of getting more dj jobs.

Why the speedcore/terrorsound?

In the beginning of the Peckerhead project i was producing very noizy and harsh music. I guess that it is easier for beginners to just produce noise or really fast nonsense ;) I really do a lot of different styles now, instead of just focusing on 1 or 2 genres - I want to do a little of it all and at times also combine the genres.

How is the hardcore scene in Denmark?

Well, the scene isn't really here. There is a an amount of people in many parts of Denmark listening to core music - Normally, those people would go for raves in DE,NL or BE. There has been some crews who made parties back in the 90's and early 2000's. I guess that Denmark just wasn't really getting interested in the harder music when it came out. Nowadays the techno and house scene bigger in Copenhagen, it is great to see the interest in electronic music that is rising and rising as time goes by. The environment of dj's, producers, clubowners, people who arrange parties and so on, is getting closer and closer - People are starting to figure out that they need each other to make this scene great and to inspire people to have a great time enjoying electronic music rather than running around in the nightlife acting like morons and pretentious shits.

You released some stuff on legendary Mokum, how did this happen?

I tried for some time to send in some demo's - My sound didn't really fit the label... After several attempts i got some more or less positive responses, as I wrote earlier "I really do a lot of different styles " - I figured that i would do a very mixed genre ep, just making the styles that i wanted instead of targeting a labels classic sounds. IT WORKED! As crazy as the idea and sound was, the more or less schizophrenic idea had proven success. 

How has your sound evolved over the years?

As time goes by and you meet different people on your way, life changes and you experience new things and experience the same things again and again - These things are shaping you along the way in life, unconscious coloring your definition of music and sound. I also feel that getting a bit older since the beginning has made me more interested in producing and listening to a broader variety of music instead of performing as a dj.

Where do you get inspiration?

I listen to music everyday, at home, in my headphones when I'm out, when I'm going to concerts, club nights, raves and so on. It's just a big part of my daily living - Mostly i have tons of weird ideas in my head, the tricky part is to get those ideas out and releasing them. People, friends and family is also a very important factor because for me, feelings and mood is sound. I really just do what i need and want to do, the freedom of choice is inspiration.

What kind of equiptment you use in studio?

 I don't own a lot of gear, i have had some and do still own a little - I sometimes sell and buy new gear to pass on the opportunity to try something new instead of owning a lot of machines that is just collecting dust in a studio or in my home. Friends of mine has a lot of interesting things, as new and old classics - Jamming with friends or lending gear has been a huge gateway for me to be able to produce music, I of course have vst's and produce music in software as well - I don't think that there are rights and wrongs when it comes to music, its what you make of it and that the end result is the most important. Roland and Yamaha is probably the favorite brands of synths and drum machines.

How easy is it for up and coming artist/dj to make it these days?

Nothing comes easy, and if it does it wont last. It also depends on which genre you are trying to do, what your purpose of being an artist or dj is - You either have to be talented like hell, or know a lot of people in the right places to push you in the right direction. Anyhow, this wont necessary make you a great artist, maybe just a well distributed name...There is a huge difference, i don't make or play music in the intention of making money, this is by me and for me, i am grateful that it has affected some people and that it has created a smaller interest for others.

Any advise for the next generation?

Im terrible at giving advises, though i would like to say that it is important to do what YOU want to do, instead of doing what others do or what you think others want. Be creative, mess around, never give up - You never know how close you are to accomplishing your next goal :)

Kind reguards, Daniel // PECKERHEAD - not anormal day since 1992