Music abroad

[Kotoroiwa 64]

I listen to music compulsively. It's probably something neurological.

However, my native language is a small one and at my age everything recorded in Finnish and worth listening to, I have already heard. (Along with vast amount of stuff not worth of just about anyone's time...) So what next? The global big names are familiar as well, of course.

What about the smaller ones? Those I've never even heard names of. Is there a Nightwish in Kratzenia? Who's the J. Karjalainen of Zurbustan? Whom to ask? Well, here's an international audience...

If you wish to promote an artist or band from your respective area, please do so in this thread. I'll start by including few YouTube links to songs I'd say one would designate as representative of mainstream music in Finland. Other niches to follow... if mainstream is a niche, that is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chanko Thief 67]

Do you like older music or just modern sound?

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Anything goes. Most everything worthwhile was done before 1789 anyway. Well, there are exceptions.

[Benihana 1,921]

I'm surprised you didn't feature the No.1 band singing finnish.

 

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Yes, I hear Eläkeläiset ('Pensioners') has for a long time been popular in German speaking Europe. At one time the band consisted of so many members, it was able to give concerts simultaneously in Finland and Germany. But I wouldn't mention them in any "serious" context. I wonder how they can be enjoyed without knowing the lyrics. Or with knowing them, actually.

Halavatun papat operates on the same field. If they exist any more as it seems their vocalist just died. I won't link to a song of theirs for reasons of modesty.

Oh, a Nightwish reference...

[Yamanashi 3,825]

Can you give us a paragraph describing the impact of Lordi in the development of costumed monster/demon bands that goes from GWAR to Demon Kakka?

[Kotoroiwa 64]

About the only thing I can tell about Lordi is that the local metal audience tends to be more or less embarrassed about them ("that shameful ESC participation and – hell forbid – a victory"). I count myself among the majority in this. Everything about them is worthy of quadruple facepalm. Even a Kiss tribute band would be less cringey.

The local national broadcasting company happened to write about their later endeavours just few days ago (in Finnish only, unfortunately) and how this sentiment lingers on after well over a decade. And why not? Everything about them reeks of puerility and not in a sense, say, Hevisaurus does. Hevisaurus used to be my niece's huge favourite, but now at the ripe old age of almost ten, she's grown out of them.

So sorry, I have no insight about this. But here's a kiddo metal song anyway.

 

 

[Yamanashi 3,825]

There has actually been a decades-long "feud" between Lordi and GWAR.  When asked if they would be interested in a co-tour with GWAR, Mr. Lordi said:

"The problem was that the whole 'battle' thing. We felt uncomfortable with the whole idea to, you know, 'play that game.' First and foremost, we are a band. We're a rock band, hard rock band, heavy metal band if you will, and that's it. Yeah, I mean we dress up as monsters, our image is monsters, but that's where the buck stops."

In other words, "they're just a stupid monster band, while we are a respected heavy metal band that happens to dress up as monsters."

To see this astonishing interview (complete with Mr. Lordi smoking a cigarette and using "air quotes" with 6-inch fingernails):

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/community_feed/why_didnt_lordi_go_with_gwar_on_co-headlining_tour.html

I dare you not to bust out laughing.

(Incidentally, Mr Lordi's English is top-notch; maybe better than mine, and I'm from California).

Edited May 16, 2020 by Yamanashi
had more stuff to say.

[Benihana 1,921]

20 hours ago, Kotoroiwa said:

Yes, I hear Eläkeläiset ('Pensioners') has for a long time been popular in German speaking Europe. At one time the band consisted of so many members, it was able to give concerts simultaneously in Finland and Germany. But I wouldn't mention them in any "serious" context. I wonder how they can be enjoyed without knowing the lyrics. Or with knowing them, actually.

Halavatun papat operates on the same field. If they exist any more as it seems their vocalist just died. I won't link to a song of theirs for reasons of modesty.

Oh, a Nightwish reference...

 Yes, about 20 years ago they were a bit popular. I think it was that Weird Al Yankovich singing in a funny, yet fascinating language* sensation. You can add in Mika Häkkinen was VERY popular in Germany at that time.** You KNOW what you are hearing is "Movie Star", but...well, you know what i'm trying to say. I remember we even had a big Eläkeläiset-themed party and dressed up like them. We had a blast, but the people who saw us invading the near Burger King that night must have thought we were completely bollocks.

*Kalsarikännit...perkele, you are some cool mofos!

**I could go on longer why germans who (think to) know Finland have sympathies for that country. Funny language, nice, modest people with a great humor, having coffee instead of blood in their veins, dancing tango and so on. My grandpa, who "lived" (i'm sooo glad he was in Finland, not further south, you know what i'm talking about) there for a brief time, never uttered a single bad word about country and people.

This always makes me laugh:

Spoiler

 

Yes, a NW reference. Their you new album is "THE HAMMER", how we germans say. Tuomas is a genius and that hollands meisje...*sigh*

Edited May 17, 2020 by Benihana

[Kotoroiwa 64]

12 hours ago, Yamanashi said:

I dare you not to bust out laughing.

I did smile at the end. I have nothing against those guys but that stuff just isn't my cup of tea.

[Kotoroiwa 64]

4 hours ago, Benihana said:

 Yes, about 20 years ago they were a bit popular.

(…)

My grandpa, who "lived" (i'm sooo glad he was in Finland, not further south, you know what i'm talking about) (…).

This always makes me laugh:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yes, a NW reference. Their you new album is "THE HAMMER", how we germans say. Tuomas is a genius and that hollands meisje...*sigh*

So their fame has dwindled. Nothing's permanent.

If your grandpa retreated through Lapland, I'm afraid my late father (being of the youngest cohort to be recruited) was after him.

Never in a million years would I have thought Munamies is known even in Åland, Internet or not. Let alone anywhere else.

Nightwish, of course, leads me to what Finland is known (if known at all) in regards of music, viz. the heavier stuff. Let's see who to mention in this regard. Meanwhile the reaction channel favourite:

 

 

[Benihana 1,921]

5 hours ago, Kotoroiwa said:

If your grandpa retreated through Lapland, I'm afraid my late father (being of the youngest cohort to be recruited) was after him.

Never in a million years would I have thought Munamies is known even in Åland, Internet or not. Let alone anywhere else.

Nightwish, of course, leads me to what Finland is known (if known at all) in regards of music, viz. the heavier stuff. Let's see who to mention in this regard. Meanwhile the reaction channel favourite:

Well, my grandpa was on the wrong side, so...

I found Munamies on some website, collecting funny videos and pics. There's another gem of old internet, which was one of the first virals reaching the material world:

Spoiler

 

 

This is amazing. I follow music reaction channels since 2 months or so and it's incredible how the Nightwish reactions exploded. All GLS reactors i've seen so far (MANY), immediately are in love with the music and Floor's voice. My favourite reactos are Kel & Rich and Guylain Prince, a franciscan from Quebec in Canada. He is exploring the new album right now, track by track. His reactions and analysis are très formidable.

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLgEPVdSS-RWobAow6Upfhw/featured

https://www.youtube.com/user/GuylainPrince/videos

 

 

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Oh, Ieva's polka resurfaces semi-regularly, it seems. I noticed some time ago that my newly found favourites Отава Ё (a folk (not sure about the categorization) group from St. Petersburg) has their own cover of it, but the video doesn't include themselves, so I'll add two of my favourites from them below.

Gyulain Prince I remember being mentioned in this context. I need to schedule that link. My personal favourites among the first-time Floorgasm experiencers are HalfLifeSistah and Wolfkain. That woman's reaction and its intensity came as a big surprise to me. I tend to get emotional with music, but nowhere near like she does. Now that I've mentioned this, I guess I need to provide the link to that one as well.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Kotoroiwa
Correction to the last link... Nope, it still jumps near the end and needs to be manually returned to 0:00. Hmm...

[Benihana 1,921]

I watch them too. Sistah sometimes is a bit over the top, but that doesn't make her less likeable. You should watch their video about Nightwish - Shoemaker, it's brilliant. Shoemaker is the next big Nightwish hit showing up in reaction channels.

[Yaochozuna 137]

This topic made me register. So hi to everyone from Prague, Czechia :-)

I used to listen quite a lot to Finnish music during my folk metal phase a couple of years ago. Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, Moonsorrow to name a few. And not just folkmetal or metal in general. Well, Kotoroiwa, if you like Nightwish, how about The Gathering? Their album Mandylion charmed me a long time ago. They are Dutch, however, so I¨ll proceed to Czech music. You probably know Master's Hammer. They used to be quite influential back in the early 90s. But do you know about their comeback? And do you know that they have a song about Pentti Linkola (may he rest in peace): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kBQPwZmzM The trouble with Master's Hammer is of course their stubborn use of Czech. But man, are those lyrics good. Franta Štorm is in his professional life a typographer (an internationally famous one) and for some time he was teaching at a university. His playful approach to language with lots of archaisms taken from books in which he studies the scripts is pure delight.

Speaking of unusual metal. Workoholic Lord Morbivod and his many bands: Umbrtka (work, dirt, industry, greyness, more dirt and more work; and work); Stíny plamenů (sewer system in West-Bohemian Plzeň and the mythological beings inhabiting it), War for War (war, mining), Trollech (trolls, gnomes, folk tales) and others. Research for yourself, the man is insanely prolific.

What else? Silent Stream of Godless Elegy comes to mind. Not that all albums are good (or to may taste at least) but Relic Dances is worth a try. A fine fusion of Moravian folklore music and metal.

You do have Apocalyptica over there, don't you? Well, we have Tara Fuki. Not metal, but they do play cellos and, curiously, they sing in Polish, not in Czech.

And if you like your dose of classical music from time to time, try to find anything sung by the Armenian soprano Lusine Zakaryan. She was a goddess and no less.

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Oh, I've seen it. For once a reactor (funny word to use about a person) had done his homework. Far too many reaction channels offer nothing meaningful to the song.

Unfortunately no Kratzenian has yet introduced their favourites, so I'll add few Finnish female artists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Yaochozuna 137]

Moderation of my first post took some time so you may have overlook my Kratzenian two pence...

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Hey, now I can see it. Nice to see I've got someone to delurk themselves.

I'm a bit of a font junkie, so I do recognize Storm as a font producer! I believe Czech and Netherlands are the two (relative) powerhouses in this area of expertise.

I'll search for those names mentioned! Excellent! I wouldn't have guessed though, that someone abroad knows Linkola.

[Yaochozuna 137]

Heh, I'd never heard about Linkola until MH's album Fascinator was released But Štorm tends to write songs about all kinds of weirdos,  including Camille Flammarion or Nicolae Guță. I don't know much about typography but I did read his Eseje o typografii and it was a pleasant read.

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Lyhyestä virsi kaunis. The first one appears to have been shot in Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Today the YouTube algorithms sent me towards Hirosaki, Aomori! Today was a good day.

 

 

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Now that I've listened to them more closely, I'd say these guys are stupendously good for anyone who loves 'classic' heavy rock.
 

 

 

 

[Yamanashi 3,825]

2 hours ago, Kotoroiwa said:

Now that I've listened to them more closely, I'd say these guys are stupendously good for anyone who loves 'classic' heavy rock.
 

 

 

 

I agree.  "Colour Out of Space" is not only impressive musically, but a great shout-out to the weird fantasy writer (and real weirdo) H.P. Lovecraft.

[Kotoroiwa 64]

 

 

[Kotoroiwa 64]

Actually I was about to mention that Finnish reggae is a thing.