Salaliitto – Ollaan nuorii & Is This Really Me – Sun

This one will probably be a rather slow blog week, because waking up at 4am takes away all the energy and my head will be a foggy mess all week long. Of course the whole year has been slow here and the latest Salaliitto album Melankolia that came out early in the year is a prime example of that. I love the band, I love the record, but I’ve barely mentioned the album here. Thankfully at least based on my social media bubble, promoting them isn’t all that necessary anymore, because everyone already knows them and loves them. And don’t you go on bursting my bubble, if you have not heard them yet. Just watch their fairly new music video Ollaan nuorii below and join me in this beautiful dream where Salaliitto rules the world.

Salaliitto at Facebook

The Iron Door by Is This Really Me was one of my favorite Finnish albums of 2016. Recently Ice Will Melt Records released this wonderful folk album in Germany, Austria & Switzerland and the band put together this gorgeous music video for an excellent album outtake called Sun.

Is This Really Me at Facebook

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Vähäsarja – Uusi iloinen Petri

Helmi Levyt released the new Vähäsarja album Uusi iloinen Petri a few weeks ago and it’s again a triumph of beautiful and rather minimalistic folk. Petri Vähäsarja is one of my favourite Finnish songwriters these days and his songs always hit me hard and right to the core. Especially these solo albums are absolutely amazing and I love them wholeheartedly. This is the opener Tennistä from the new one.

Vähäsarja at Facebook

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Quivers – Pigeons, The Luxembourg Signal – Blue Field & Verandan – Short Dream

A couple of surprises for tonight. 1. There’s a new blog entry 2. It’s about pop music. A little pop goes the world type of thing. Maybe I should make a few more of these things down the road. I’m still a pop kid at heart. Ok, even I don’t believe that kid part anymore. I’m an old wreck, but one who will always love good pop music.

I kick things off with Quivers who are the inspiration behind this little blog entry. I can’t say I’m a big expert on the Tasmanian pop scene, but yesterday I stumbled upon a song called Pigeons by Quivers and instantly fell in love with it. A brilliant pop song and the chorus is so true. The other songs Chinatown and Ridin’ on the Hearses I’ve heard are also super good and I’m extremely eager to hear more.

Quivers at Facebook

Moving on to California. Shelflife Records will release the new album by The Luxembourg Signal on the 13th of October. There’s Aberdeen, Trembling Blue Stars, Fonda people in the band, so it’s really no wonder that I’m very much into this. Beth Arzy is a personal hero, who together with Bobby Wratten was the glue that kept my heart together back in the early 00s. Bobby also makes a guest appearance on an album track and I can’t wait to hear it. I’m getting little teary-eyed just by thinking of it. But hey, this was not supposed to be a nostalgic praising of the legendary Trembling Blue Stars. It’s 2017, The Luxembourg Signal sounds absolutely wonderful. This is the gorgeous title track of their forthcoming album Blue Field.

The Luxembourg Signal Website

Last stop Finland, but sticking with personal indie pop heroes. Verandan is a new group led by Ville Hopponen from Cats on Fire, Le Futur Pompiste, The New Tigers etc. Soliti will be releasing their EP sometime this fall. There’s a couple of tracks out there already and I like them a lot. Definitely shows that Ville also has the ability to write rather marvellous songs. Not that I had any doubts. This one is called Short Dream.

Verandan at Facebook

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