Year 2011 Round-Up Part 5 – The best Finnish songs (unreleased or self-released)

Title pretty much covers it all. These are Finnish songs that I absolutely love and adore. Some are waiting to be released, some will probably (and unfortunately) forever remain unreleased, some are self-released. All are utterly wonderful. I hope I didn’t forget anyone really important. Of course there’s plenty of others I really enjoyed as well, but these are the ones I really loved the most. It’s actually rather pointless to divide these finnish songs into label-stuff and unreleased, because let’s face it. If I make a top 30 finnish songs of the year list, these all would make it to that list.

Here we go (again).. These are not in any specific order.

Carmen & The Devil – Love Drove My Baby Away & Tell-Tale Heart

Impossible to decide between these two Carmen & The Devil originals, so I have to include them both. It’s definitely been a year of Carmen & The Devil at this household. I loved their concerts and those three limited edition cassettes. Playing just the kind of music I love these days and doing it exceptionally well. Country duets, traditional folk songs, great cover choices, beautiful originals. Hopefully an album next year.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/12211863″]
 
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28673494″]
 

Carmen & The Devil at Facebook

Tolbiac – Elokuussa

Just how amazing is this song? The radio host of the highest order and the writer of the legendary indie hit Purkkaa , the international man of mystery, Tolbiac returned with a couple of stunning songs. Especially this song entitled Elokuussa is so good that I could listen to it all day long.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/24343728″]
 

Heartjet – Grace

A big onechord.net favourite, power pop duo Heartjet gave a couple of new songs for free. Grace & World are both awesome. A bit more serene than before, but equally great.

Heartjet at facebook

Puskii! – Mä haluun bändin

Puskii! has an album ready, but it seems to take a long while to get it out and available. A big shame, because I love listening to them. This song is a whole lot of fun and sometimes that’s everything you need.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/17006370″]
 

Puskii! at Facebook

The Wonderminers – Stars in the Window

Petri Nakari’s new band released a digital 4-song EP that is a thing of beauty and takes a high place on the best EPs of the year list, if I decide to make one. This slice of pop heaven is called Stars In The Window.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/15055848″]
 

The Wonderminers Website
The Wonderminers at Facebook

Swaying Wires – Never Fade

Swaying Wires is a new band from Turku and I’m enjoying them more and more each day. They have four songs over at Soundcloud. I can’t really decide which one I like the most, because they are all extremely good. I previously posted Bluebird, so let’s go with Never Fade this time around. It brings to mind early Songs: Ohia occasionally. I’m loving it.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/22124175″]
 

Swaying Wires at Facebook
Swaying Wires at Blogspot

The Spoonshiners – Three Years

The Spoonshiners EP hits all the right spots for a fan of 90s US indie, and 70s power pop. I especially loved this track called Three Years, because it reminded me of things like Dinosaur JR and Buffalo Tom.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/25574468″]
 

The Spoonshiners at Facebook

Treehouse – By The Lake

I was totally into this song early in the year and it still sounds brilliant. Just a fantastic pop song. A bit of TFC, a bit of Popsicle and a bit of country. A perfect formula if you ask me. And I love those harmonies..

Treehouse – By the Lake from Hessu on Vimeo.

Treehouse at Facebook

Matti Jasu & The Loose Train – Fingers Crossed

And then a really late favourite. This outtake from the upcoming Matti Jasu & The Loose Train album is friggin’ great. I loved Matti Jasu’s work at Goodnight Monsters and this new stuff seem to be equally awesome.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT80lUksDRs]

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FOTM presents: One Chord to Another 10th Anniversary – The Genuine Fakes (Sweden), The Sugarrush, The Wonderminer

Flavour Of The Month and One Chord to Another joined forces and are celebrating their anniversaries at Pikku-Torre, Turku on saturday 3rd of september. The host of the evening, Flavour Of The Month club turns 13 years old and this little blog is celebrating 10th anniversary. And we have something very special to offer. Two fabulous Finnish pop bands/artists The Sugarrush and The Wonderminers sharing the stage with our Swedish friends, the wonderful Stockholm-based power pop group, The Genuine Fakes.

FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH presents:

One Chord to Another 10th anniversary / Flavour of the Month 13th anniversary
The Genuine Fakes (Sweden)
The Sugarrush
The Wonderminers

la 3.9.2011 klo 21-03
Pikku-Torre, Yliopistonkatu 30, Turku
liput 4€

The Genuine Fakes (Sweden)

The Genuine Fakes from Stockholm, Sweden will headline the evening. They are one of the best nordic power pop bands at the moment and actually their debut album entitled The Striped Album is even one of the best power pop albums I’ve heard during the recent years. I’m extremely excited that they are coming to Finland (update: The Helsinki concert didn’t work out, So they will only play in Turku on 3.9.2011). They are marvelous and remind me of Popsicle, The Posies, The Merrymakers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnLhR8STW3Y]

The Genuine Fakes Website

The Sugarrush

A huge favourite of mine and it was totally obvious that if there will be some kind of onechord.net party, The Sugarrush had to play there if they were willing and able to. Thankfully they were and it will be so great to see this hardest rockin’ pop band in the world play a live concert.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMAWnGGmIfY]

The Wonderminers

And last we have The Wonderminers going solo. Their drummer Olli Moilanen is currently investigating the indie pop scene in Bangladesh, but Petri Nakari from The Wonderminers is able to create a lot of pop magic also on his own and will start the evening with some high quality guitar pop songs.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/15055848″]

The Wonderminers Website

And the FOTM DJ Team will also be there playing (for example) a whole lot of nordic power pop, finnish pop music. See you there.

And the Finnish press release:

FLAVOUR OF THE MONTHISSA JUHLITAAN KYMMENVUOTIASTA ONECHORD-BLOGIA

Turkulaisen Flavour Of The Monthin syyskausi käynnistyy lauantaina 3.9. juhlatunnelmissa, kun klubi itse täyttää 13 vuotta ja klubin DJ-ryhmään kuuluvan Vesa Lautamäen One Chord to Another-blogi juhlistaa kymmentä toimintavuottaan kolmen live-esiintyjän voimin. Lautamäen kuratoimassa tapahtumassa esiintyvät tukholmalainen The Genuine Fakes, vaasalais-helsinkiläinen The Sugarrush sekä vielä varmistamattomalla kokoonpanolla esiintyvä pääkaupunkilainen The Wonderminers.

One Chord to Another aloitti suomalaista kitarapoppia käsittelevänä nettisivustona ja muuntui blogiksi muutama vuosi sitten. Erityisesti blogivuosina sivustolla on käsitelty enenevässä määrin myös ulkomaista musiikkia, kuten vaikkapa ruotsalaista Genuine Fakesiä, jota voitaisiin kuvailla sekä Flavour Of The Monthin että One Chordin prototyyppisuosikiksi. Kvartetti työstää häpeilemättömän klassista, yltiömelodista powerpoppia, jonka ilmeisiä vaikutteita (Popsicle, Merrymakers, Wannadies, The Posies jne.) bändi ei pahemmin peittele.

The Sugarrush puolestaan on vuosien varrella esiintynyt FOTMissa useasti ja Lautamäen kaikkien aikojen lempibändinä itsestään selvä valinta illan esiintyjäkaartiin. The Wonderminersin jäsenet ovat niin ikään esiintyneet eri kokoonpanoissa (mm. Red Carpet ja Sister Flo) FOTM:ssa useasti ja edustavat osaltaan One Chordin ja FOTM:n käsitystä laadukkaasta popmusiikista.

tapahtumatiedot:
FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH esittää
ONE CHORD TO ANOTHER 10 V!
THE GENUINE FAKES (SWE)
THE SUGARRUSH
THE WONDERMINERS

+ Flavour Of The Month DJ team
Pikku-Torre, Yliopistonkatu 30, Turku
La 3.9. klo 21-03
Liput: 4€

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News: The Wonderminers, Karhumauri

The Wonderminers have released their debut EP. Currently you can only get it from iTunes, but other digital retailers should pick it up soon. EP will be full of high-quality guitar pop and it’s definitely a must buy for me. Check out this amazing song Stars in The Window below (and more on their soundcloud page).

The Wonderminers Website
The Wonderminers at Facebook

Stars In The Window by The Wonderminers

Karhumauri’s frontman Mauri Heikkinen used to operate under the name Drowsy and released two great folk albums on the highly acclaimed UK label Fat Cat Records. Now he has changed the language to Finnish and started a new group called Karhumauri. I really liked Drowsy and therefore it’s not a big surprise that I seem to enjoy this new direction as well. Their self-titled debut album will be released today 18th of may by Helmi Levyt. Here’s a song called Saimaalla from that album. Check out another great song on the label’s soundcloud page.

Karhumauri – Saimaalla by Helmi Levyt

Karhumauri at myspace

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