Music

J and A walked along the Aurajoki river. It was another warm, sunny day in this summer when the weather was fantastic, day after day. They were looking for the place where the UMF cruises would leave. "That's the place", they reckoned noticing a group of young people across the river.

The cruise was worth experiencing. DJ playing good music and glamorously dressed up dancers entertained the passengers, who took advantage of their right to bring their own beverages on the boat.

Soon enough they boarded near Varvintori, the main venue for the daytime acts. One of the first performances was by Track'n'Field with strings, who - as the name implies - had cellists and violinists playing along with the synthesizers. Together with the later group LBJ with 3 drummers they made J wonder why electronic music always gets better when they add acoustic instruments. Possibly the biggest name of the day (as if J had ever heard of any of them), Autechre, didn't convince J. Maybe he was not intelligent enough to understand this so called Intelligent Dance Music genre, he thought. Magyar Posse was again more enjoyable.

The evening program was in Manilla, an old factory complex turned into a culture center. J was truly impressed by the absolutely fascinating place, quite perfect for this kind of event. Packed with people and artists performing on five stages it was impossible to catch more than few of the acts. The last one they saw was Possible Apple, a guy playing Apple Macintosh. The music was good, but again, J could not help comparing the performance to more traditional ones, say, a rock concert. When you watch a guitar player or a drummer, their playing seems to take a lot more effort. They need to move their hands or feet in exactly the right way at the right time, and you can hear the effect immediately. Whereas these modern day musicians click a mouse or a key every now and then and a computer starts playing a new prerecorded sequence. "There is just that something missing," J thought, but being an open-minded person at least in his own opinion, "maybe that is like comparing (possibly) apples to oranges." Har har.

J and A saw the older man from the previous day a couple of times, still wearing the same sailor-like suit. He remembered them, greeting friendly every time. Late in the evening at Manilla, A finally stopped him. "Excuse me, but I just have to ask you... Everybody seems to know you, who are you really?". The man smiled. "I'm the father of [the main organizer of the event]."

There weren't very many people yet at Samppalinna terrace, waiting for the opening of Uuden Musiikin Festivaali, an electronic music festival. Not that they were missing anything, as the artists were still doing soundchecks, even though the first group should have started already. J and A watched as an older man approached with another man. "Are these seats free?" he asked, and since they were, A told they are, and the men sat down. The older man looked like he could have been living on street but instead of excrement, he smelled like after shave.

"Is it ok to smoke?" he asked pointing to his pipe, and since it was, A told it is, and he fired up the pipe. The man looked like an old, drunken sailor.

As the scent of pipe tobacco spread, the man and A entered a discussion about topics such as growing organic tobacco at home or which artists to see at the festival. Despite his looks, the man seemed to know the scene.

The man pointed out a skinny young man at the crowd. "The main organizer", he told and left to change a couple of words with the organizer. The artists walking by greeted the older man, as did some gorgeus women entering the terrace. J and A watched in awe. Whoever this man is, he must be worth knowing, A stated.

The Mysterions had the honor of opening the festival, about an hour late, but definitely worth the wait. A great start, J thought, looking forward to the rest of the festival.

Next up, M.A. Numminen, after his opening speech, performed together with DJ Sane. Quite amazing for a 66 years old guy, A and J thought, to perform on a modern, electronic music festival, with a DJ who could be his son, as Numminen said, but is not, because Numminen "has not united with his mother". J had always had difficulties in categorizing Numminen's music, it was just out of the normal scale. This performance was no exception, and J could not decide whether he really liked it, or only in camp sense, or whether it was just like emperor's new clothes.

J had known that there are unproportionally lot of beautiful women in Turku, but it still vastly surprised him to see so many of them. Like the ones sitting in front of them, one with a cute short hair and petite looks, and her friend, just as cute, with long, fascinating greyish-white hair, like an anime character, which J told her in a beer line. "I am not such" she quipped.

J and A skipped a few artists to get something to eat, and while they got back from their slow-food experience, the evening was already getting cold. J had not been foresighted enough to take a sweater with him when he left the hotel room. Grassy smoke smell in the air somewhere nearby, J was shivering while they listened to more artists, who, for some reason, J didn't fancy as much as the earlier ones. He could only think about getting back to hotel, between warm bedsheets.

The Hell has frozen over and Finland has won the Eurovision Song Contest. This is so utterly unbelievable, after 40 years of misery in the history of the contest and now the all time point record. Amazing! Huh!

Congratulations to Lordi! Rock on!

I didn't pay much attention to Indica first, although (or because) their singles got extensive radio play, but after seeing them live and actually listening to the songs for the first time I was captured into their mystic world.

Female singers with unique voice are close to my heart and Indica's vocalist Jonsu fits the description. I was mesmerized by her theatrical and flirty act on stage, but sometimes I couldn't help thinking that her voice is not yet on the level required by their songs. I get the same feeling while listening to the record, so maybe it is some sort of stylistic choice.

What I like most in this album is the beautiful and poetic lyrics. The music is good as well, with lots of catchy melodies. The album is full of songs worth listening. All songs are written by the girls themselves, which adds to the credibility of the group. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Indica soon.