Circle (the Finnish band): S/D

Of those mentioned so far, only the first album 'Meronia' is currently readily available, as it was reissued by Ektro in 2007.

'Prospekt' is being reissued by Essence Music shortly though, which is good news.

If you see any of the others then do not dally, as they are rather difficult and often expensive to find. The Circle/Marble Sheep split is the rarest of this lot (except 'Kollekt'), currently commanding silly money. I'm looking for those ones...

I have Kollekt! Didn't know it was so rare tbh, maybe I'll re-listen and review here for completist purposes.

Yeah, I used to have a rule about only hearing Circle albums as I was able to purchase legit physical copies, just to retain some sense of wonder and excitment or whatever. But I gave in after going about 18 months now without coming across a record I didn't have, after running through everything my local shops had, anything I could find on visits to Ann Arbor (one store in particular, Wazoo, used to have quite a few Circle things!), or anything I could order from Aquarius.

Yeah, I prefer not to spoil them, but I definitely heard most of the earlier ones via soulseek way before I found them to purchase because I just had to know what they'd be like. Buying a lot of their stuff was an epic study in patience spanning years and years. Ebay, Gemm and Discogs are places I regularly check. Things occasionally show up, sometimes even for reasonable prices ha. Besides Kollekt, Fraten, Surface, AMT/Circle split 7" (which I found recently!) the ones that have proven exceptionally difficult to locate are some of the Ektroverdes like Pingvin and Integral. Luckily Meronia and Taantumus have been reissued and I'm sure more will come alone sooner or later. I can't fault Jussi for generally looking forward rather than looking back, even if it can be super frustrating!

Oh yeah, the only reason I subscribed to the Aquarius mailing list was to know when new reissues come up because those guys always stock 'em! Its funny, I'm having trouble finding Fraten even through slsk or blog searchs.

I won't have a chance to think/talk about the music on these earlier albums until next week probably, but I did stumble across this interview with the guitarist of the period, Teemu Elo, from Aural Innovations in July 1999, which fits with this bunch of albums... http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue7/circle04.html

Now to take a different tact, I'd like to discuss the two main side projects that are effectively Circle alter-egos, Rättö Ja Lehtisalo and Pharaoh Overlord. RjL seems to have been unfairly overlooked by almost everyone, but PO is respected in stoner rock circles and known to some prog people. Both bands seem to appear after Circle reaches the evolutionary quantum leap that is Prospekt.

RjL is essentially Circle doing overt synth-pop with more or less conventional song structures and melodic elements. PO is Circle doing minimalist riff rock with an emphasis on trance, soundscapes and texture over outright musical development and melodic content. Both bands feature Jussi on bass generally. RjL is usually Jussi with Ratto, obviously, and PO is Jussi with Westerlund and Leppanen sans Ratto. These descriptions are a serious simplification, but they are the essential blueprints for each group.

Pharaoh Overlord - #1 - This is the first album to see Leppanen as the primary engine driving the music and also the first album to feature Janne Westerland, chainsmoking minimalist riff sultan and mumbler supreme, on guitar. This album was recorded circa 2000 so it's roughly from the same time period as Prospekt and it's quite informative to compare the two. Pharaoh Overlord is a lot like circle, focusing on a single riff obsessively repeated for a long time, only much more stripped down, focused and stretched out. Here the riffs are of the stoner variety, slow burning and with blue notes. Echo pedals are almost a 4th member on this album. Instead of building up like Prospekt, the songs linger and random fuzz guitar squeals buried deep in the mix keep them sonically interesting. Everything is reduced as much as possible to bare essentials. The drums are deceptively simple, almost skeletal (complete skeletal comes later with #3!) The heavily fuzzed out and echoed guitar textures conjure up all sorts of smokey and exotic desert imagery. The riffs are also catchy, I often find myself humming them for days after a careful listen to this cd. Awesome album!

Rättö Ja Lehtisalo - Kopernikus hortoilee näkinkengässä - An interesting disc that was quite startling to me the first time I heard it. Comes off as a kind of light-weight synth pop Neu! with smooth guitar played by Aki Peltonen (their usual producer/engineer) and goofy/charming (take your pick!) singing. There are simple song structures built on top of the polished motorik rhythms and feature tasty playing throughout. Some really great tunes here balanced by some that are a little forgettable. Utlimately a pretty harmless cd compared to the pop excursions that are soon to follow. The only real criticism I can level at this album is that there is no edge, no darkness to balance the evident joy the two men had making this little gem of a disc. It must have been a refreshing change of pace for them at the time after making so much serious art music with their main bands. I'm not sure exactly when this album was made, but I think it might predate Ratto's full time participation in Circle starting with Alotus. If anyone really likes this album, there's a companion LP that has 2 songs from this album and 2 unreleased songs from the same sessions. It's pretty good but I don't think I need to say much about it except that it's pretty much just like this, short synth pop songs.

Pharaoh Overlord - #2 - This one has gotten more exposure than it possibly deserves in relation to the rest of the ouvre, due to a fairly prominent North American release (as did forest and earthworm) but it's pretty good all told. Super laid back and drenched in atmosphere, if perhaps a little bass heavy. The main gripe I have is that it's a little too similar to #1 and feels kind of like they're not sure exactly how to get to the next level yet. The two tracks with improvised acoustic guitar excursions are the best by far, very lovely but still the work of the seriously focused band that made #1. "Skyline" is a staple of the live albums and the album version kind of weak in comparison to them.

Rättö Ja Lehtisalo - Pari lepakkoa Transylvaniassa - This is more like it! A totally bitchin' album, and one of the most astonishing and important things they've done. Here they abandon the synths, mostly, in favor of acoustic guitars and pure atmosphere. And singing!! The singing is a fundamental compositional element for the first (and so far only) time, employed as an instrument in and of itself. Oh's, ah's, c'mon baby's, dum de dum de dums, grunts, whispers, sighs... marvelous! No drums at all here and they aren't missed. Well there's some splashing cymbals and tom tom rolls at the very end of the disc courtesy of the wonderfully creative clattering percussionist Janne Tuomi, but they're almost incidental. This album is also catchy! The best song, "Harmittava Levitaatiotapaus" is borderline unbelievable. It features Ratto whistling and typing on a typewriter against compressed close mic rhythmic breathing sounds and a really rad bass line... suddenly he takes the page out of the typewriter and literally recites the poem/story he just wrote!!! Then he types a few more stanzas and starts whistling again... Amazing! The only lame part of this album is that it's more of an EP, very short, with one song being a meager electronic excursion that sounds like a leftover from the first RjL album kind of tacked on to stretch out the run-time. Oh well, still super highly recommended. Please, all, check this one out if you haven't yet. It's so worth it and completely unlike anything else they've ever done.

Pharaoh Overlord - Battle of Axehammer (live) - another USA release, this live album is quite interesting. This is our Finnish friends at their most relentless, single-mindedly riffing until time and space collapse. It's also recorded completely in the red, so it's more or less a wall of fuzzed out distortion! Very cool. They play mostly songs from the #1 and #2, with one or two new tunes to boot. This is one for the potheads amongst us. The funniest thing is how the songs just end, out of nowhere. They must use visual cues when it's time for the songs to wrap up and it's hilarious how random it sounds on record.

Pharaoh Overlord - #3 - This is also one of the most astonishing of all their albums and certainly the best PO to date (although I really love #4 too!) The mild-mannered men from Pori were really on fire at this point in time. This is the most stripped down and assured forward-motion music they've ever done. Tripped out skeletal minimalism, with a distinct seventies vibe, very much along the lines of Neu!, only much darker and with an agenda. It also brings to mind the Tony Conrad w/Faust album with it's prominent negative space aesthetic. Clean guitar ostinatos in front, often with neato delay effects, and fuzz squeals way in the background adding texture. The drums are the lead instrument! Leppanen owns this album, seriously. "Laivus 17" is a 13+ minute long shining diamond of rhythmic bliss, one of the crown jewels in the Circle catalog. Jaw-dropping. Jussi is also quite impressive here and his bass tone is something to be marveled at. It also features their best cover art in my opinion. PO is still a trio at this point but it's not surprising when they start to bring in more players for future discs because #3 would be borderline impossible to top without a seriously drastic change in style (and in fact they haven't gone back to this stylistic place yet and it's been 6 years!) The weirdest thing here is that this album of otherwise remarkable songs is broken up into two halves by a 10 minute song that is all feedbacking fuzz guitar by Jussi Saivo, a mysterious guy who has contributed random things to random Circle projects over the years. Wtf? Can't say it bothers me much, but it sure is strange. It's the part where you take a smoke break, I guess.

Rättö Ja Lehtisalo - Ed Benttonin briljantti stabilismi tai Taivaallinen kylpysaippua - Whew, now that's a title! A return to synth pop, but now it's much more accomplished and confident. There is a lot of overt humor here, but also a lot of badass bass riffs and killer melodies. Very playful, they're having a blast with this project. Leppanen joins them for this album and his contribution is much appreciated. The first song is probably the best one on Ed Benttonin, a longish and very complicated tune with a lot of layers and detail. Churning arpeggiators and warm analog synth melodies take center stage. Very, very cool and creative. Almost all the songs have novel structures and effects. Very catchy stuff, melodic hooks abound. Ratto is in top form as a singer and Jussi's baritone bow-de-bow-bow-bows are really cool. Terrific production and overall a very fun and rewarding, albeit somewhat puzzling, album. I can't think of much to say beyond that except: Sports, baby, sports!

Been listening to Meronia, Prospekt, the first Plain Ride album and the new Grumbling Fur...

Grumbling Fur is pretty strange, no?

I still need to get the Plain Rides, and also the Sweethearts. The Chainsmoker albums are really great.

ok so far i have listened to prospekt, pharaoh overlord #3, and Kopernikus Hortoilee Näkinkengässä
they are all so different!

so far, i like #3's vibe for everyday and am looking forward to listening to more circle (proper) when i can pay better attention. liam's description of Kopernikus is spot on enough that i don't really have anything to add except that this would be the sort of thing i would put on at a party and anyone who actively disliked it would be identified as someone i probably did not want to talk to.

can someone give me an idea of what the general demographic for this band is? i'm just curious.

tripsters

can you elaborate on that?

I would say 30+ year-old mostly male vinyl collector nerds with tastes that lean towards metal and krautrock.

i don't think i know any tripsters irl

tripsters are hipsters with a psychedelic fetish.
Mostly an ILX in-joke.
ARE YOU A TRIPSTER?!?!?! OMG WTF LOL
WHO IS #1 TRIPSTER OF NOISE BOARD
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=60&threadid=41

Jon's description is way more accurate and useful I would say.

i mean i only know of them apocryphally, i guess
tripsters hang out in groups, but jon's ppl are more familiar to me
can a person be a lone tripster?

Actually if I'm going to accurately describe the Circle fans I've spoken with irl, I'd have to add the descriptor "record store employee" because they are the only people I've actually talked about the band with.

The Circle fans I know are dudes in psych bands.

Have met a few metalheads and some noise type people at Circle gigs.

I'd have to add the descriptor "record store employee" because they are the only people I've actually talked about the band with.

mwahahahahaa krakow

Hey Liam no pressure, just clarifying: you are going to continue this awesome rundown with the 00s Circle albums, correct?

I would say 30+ year-old mostly male vinyl collector nerds with tastes that lean towards metal and krautrock.

bullseye.

loooving the rundown, liam! especially interested in the side projects since I've only dabbled here and there. was completely unfamiliar with Rättö Ja Lehtisalo for example.

is there a standout in the ektroverde catalog?

Guilty as charged on all counts.

Record shop employee, 30 years old, male, record collector nerd, noise dude, tastes leaning towards metal & krautrock...

only thing im not is record store employee. krakow can be my proxy though

Yeah I fall into all those categories too, except record store employee. Although I did spend 2 years on the waiting list to work at one back in college.

I would say 30+ year-old mostly male vinyl collector nerds with tastes that lean towards metal and krautrock.
yes no sorta yes
former record store employee

I will continue soon, and in depth. I need to do some listening and make some notes. I'm planning to describe them all including the more limited release live LPs and 7"s. Listening to Taantumus now and having a ball. Guillotine and Tulikoira are my favorites so expect a torrential downpour of hyperbole and hopefully infectious enthusiasm.

There is a standout Ektroverde, being Ukkosalalamma which should also be the easiest to track down as it was the last one. It's something of a coda to the whole Ektroverde experiment. Thanks for the interest everyone, glad to be of service.

Thanks for this! Pharaoh Overlord is the only side project I've delved into so far, my list just keeps on growing!

This has led to my discovery of tons of Finnish underground shit on Spotify, much thanks.

serious qn: can someone still be a tripster if he doesnt collect (or even own any) vinyl?

Back to Circle albums after an extended tour through the side projects...

Taantumus - This is probably the best Circle album to start with, all the songs are very strong and concise. For any other band this would be the ultimate album, the career high. For Circle it's just another chapter in an ongoing saga of excellence. Taantumus looks back to the shorter songs on Meronia while retaining the newly found maturity and freedom achieved with Prospekt. Jussi even sings in the old style on a few tracks. The production is polished and crisp, almost sounding like utopian pop music from hundreds of years in the future or something. This is a colorful album, each tune conjures up a different and distinct sound world. This is defitely their most energetic and uptempo album. It's a heck of a lot of fun. Jyrki Laiho and Teemu Elo especially shine here, it is very much a guitar album. This is also Janne Peltomaki's finest hour on drums; every song is grounded by a distinct and energetic syncopated drum rhythm played with absolute assurance. Leppanen is absent on this album (and Alotus and Raunio) and Ratto only appears as a vocalist on a few of the more epic tracks. A really excellent work, not a single song that even remotely resembles a dud. This is the album where they sever once and for all the ties to their past. This is a farewell love letter to the Circle of the 90s.

Raunio (live) - The second live album documents a Finnish tour around the time of Taantumus. It's compiled from several shows and the sound quality varies. The song here called Alotus (confusingly titled Työläisten Laulu on the actual album Alotus!) was my first Circle song and I was hooked instantly. Raunio sees them in full on post rock mode with the big crescendos and longish songs. This is the first album with Ratto as a full time participant and it's clear that he brings a lot to the table with his theatrics. It's a good enough album, but it's not one I'm particularly enthusiastic about mostly due to the fact that they have a fill in drummer and while he's not bad or anything, he lacks that certain essential spark of personality which Peltomaki and Leppanen add to the music.

Alotus - This is the swan song of the core Circle lineup that solidified with Andexelt, after this Jyrki Laiho and Janne Peltomaki will leave and start their own groups and Teemu Elo will stick around for only one more album. It's the first album where Ratto is fully integrated and essential. Alotus sees the band in a more trancey mood than we've experienced up to this point, very meditative and zen. All the songs approach or exceed the ten minute mark except for a short little breather in the middle of the disc. Everything is stripped down to bare essentials, almost as much as Pharoah Overlord, and slow tempos rule the day. The song called Alotus is one of their best compositions. It's almost like jazz in form. It starts with a theme/melody, followed by a long experimental free improv section anchored by a bass/drum groove (with Ratto playing skittery drums, dancing around Peltomaki's ostinato) and then a breakdown into a rubato section and finally a return to the theme. What singing there is on this cd is also very funny, more than usual! A lesser album, but an important step if only for this new style of composition signified by the song Alotus which will be used to great effect live and especially on the album Tulikoira...

Peel Session - This isn't a real album, but it can be found on the internet fairly easy. If anyone has trouble finding it, I'll upload it to whatever site you guys use now (sendspace still?). It needs to be heard! The quality of the sound is excellent. This is Leppanen and Westerlund's debut recording with Circle (I think?) There's also a second drummer who I think is from the band Magyar Posse and his contribution to this album's worth of material makes it almost as propulsive as Prospekt! The version of Alotus here in particular is jaw dropping, it practically levitates. I've had my fingers crossed for years that this will get a real release, it's very strong Circle, but so far no luck. There are 4 songs, all around twenty minutes each! All are extended tripouts, jam packed with color and sonic detail. The new blood in the band really brings things to life in spectacular fashion. Raunio pales in comparison to this!! Too cool to go unmentioned.

Sunrise - NWOFHM! One of the most astonishing (and certainly most unexpected) albums in the catalog. With the older members jumping ship and the addition of the Pharoah Overlord guys we almost have a completely new lineup, a lineup which has stayed consistent ever since. It's an all-star lineup, too, all the members have impressive credentials, leading or prominently contributing to many bands which are also worth exploring. Circle is now a focused and furious heavy metal machine! Well, sorta. This album seems to have been one of their most successful, getting a lot of press and accolades. Sunrise explores not just metal riffs and Iron Maiden type vocal theatrics, but also the more whimsical and enchanted side of the band as evidenced by the RjL albums. This is Ratto's album really, his ingenius vocalisations puts this one completely over the top. For my money, the rainbow skull artwork fits perfectly. The music is almost overwhelmingly ecclectic. Every song is completely unique. Special mention goes to the epic opener Nopeskunigas which features an insistent downbeat, killer distorted riffing, manic singing, swirling cosmic synths and even a prominent guitar solo! It builds and builds until it's all white noise and synth wash and then stops on a dime. Miraculous. The second song is the complete opposite, a floating elvish acoustic guitar excursion with delightful vocalisations... it's clear that from here on out the only thing we can expect from Circle is the unexpected. Ratto lays off the singing for the second (weaker) half of the disc and the intsruments and compositions get more and more demented and confusing. The final song is sort of a dud, it's too long even for them and nothing interesting really happens, but you barely notice because the rest of the album is so wild! This disc is also noteable for having very strange production, the bass and kick drum are very subdued and all the other instruments have a sort of magical sheen. This is a crucial piece of the Circle puzzle.

What groups are you digging up with Spotify, Tripster?

Definitely check out Markku Peltola if he's there! He's the main actor in Kaurismaki's film Man Without A Past and his music is very much in the Circle mode, except more organic maybe with lots of plucked classical guitars, violins and strange percussion. Sort of like an acoustic instrumental Circle combined with Ennio Morricone!!! Some of my favorite albums ever, both on the Ektro label. His old band Motelli Skronkle is almost as good, too.

Mostly Fonal stuff. I will look for Markku, I love that film.

and he's there!

whoa that sounds so good! going to look him up prontito.

liam, your writing is truly noteworthy, btw -- clear, informative, descriptive, and enthusiastic.

I think I am going to start calling them "sir-clay" just to watch people react with exasperation.

yes!

thanks again, liam. loving this. circle peel session - who knew? (well, not me at least.)

Which members of circle were in Tivol? i love them. Really loving the nightsatan spin off

I've never heard Tivol, will have to check them out, any band compared to Amon Duul is a band I want to hear. From looking at the discogs site it doesn't look like they're actually related to Circle. Nightsatan is pretty fun, I think the only connection there is that it's at least one member of Steel Mammoth and mastered by Jussi. I only have the 7" and of course it's impossible to say for sure who's who with a lot of the NWOFHM stuff because of the pseudonyms!

Thanks for the kind words Art Arfons.

the nightsatan vinyl is out now on svart i think. cd was last year. i need to pick up the vinyl.. Tivol really are awesome.

Only two today, but two good ones. I decided I needed to explore Guillotine in depth...

Elcric 7"- The title is Circle spelled backwards and the two songs here are totally out of this world awesome. As far as I know this was recorded along with Guillotine and Vesiliirto in one massive studio session. Both songs showcase the more relentless and motorik side of Circle and both are heaped in distortion and fuzz guitars. Both have riffs to die for, miniature crescendos and all sorts of weird slowed-down sounds buried way back in the mix. Bizarre sparse vocalese, two lean mean rocking psyche machines. Turns out the mature Circle is a killer singles band. Who would've thought?

Guillotine - With Guillotine, Circle finally and shamelessly embraces the weirdness they've only flirted with up until now. The concept of songs becomes a little less important for the next few albums... songs are now vehicles for exploration, the starting point, the launch pad. The edges blur, overlap, jumble. Every note sounds carefully considered and organic. This is my favorite album of theirs, period. I also consider this to be the ultimate krautrock album, they've learned their lessons well and bettered their elders in every way. It's an epic journey from lightest light to darkest dark and back again. The first song gets things off to a perfect start, a song that only Circle could've made. Chiming fender rhodes, lightly fuzzed and acoustic guitars, killer echo effects, tasty and dare I say jazzy motorik drumming topped by Ratto's most effervescent and effective elf vocals to date. The song builds to an amazing climax with a long tambourine roll and a big epic riff from Westerlund before gently cascading back down to the lightly churning propulsive ostinatos we started with. Amazing song, another career high!

In fact there are only three real songs on this album... the rest is jumbled confusion. The next few songs are acoustic workouts of the Amon Duul I variety, sans actual riffs for maybe the first time ever in Circle's history. These three songs are lo fi, too, another first and quite obviously a deliberate aesthetic choice. Hazy and demented. The first weird one, song number two, is all tangled acoustic guitars, sometimes accompanied by insistent hand drums that sound like they're on the verge of falling apart and all sorts of bizzarre, whispering, muttering and mewling vocals. Really way too cool, seriously. The third song features an ancient sounding melody, seemingly older than time itself and backed by demented half speed laughing!! Then a pulsing arpeggiated synthesizer appears, like some kind of aliens have arrived in this strange caveman world Circle has conjured up. The fourth song is more twisted acoustic guitars, an epic laid back guitar solo backed by even stranger vocal acrobatics - hissing and spluttering.

Then the second real song appears, another career highlight, called Teraskylpy. A twelve minute extended journey through the dark side. A lurching and demented ostinato riff played on both bass and guitar stomps through an underground cavern, pinned down by Leppanen at his most insistent and consistent, surrounded by cavemen banging together bones and rattling teeth. More primitive vocals are buried in the mix, giving the impression of primordial peoples dancing around some black magic fire pit. This is a place where language has yet to be invented... The song builds and builds, getting more distorted and wild, but the riff holds everything together. It breaks down, the riff continues but the cavemen chill out a little with the clattering and Jussi intones a bunch of strange otherworldly doo-wop in a gravelly near whispered voice. The riff continues on, unstoppable. We build up again, the dancing continues, growing more frenzied with every pass. Way back in the mix, the alien synths reappear, strobing and beaming the song up, tearing apart the very sound molecules themselves. Finally a big drum fill brings the song to a close and the synths are left with the vocals to exist in this new dimension...

...a new dimension where everything is wrong, causality is meaningless, time is suspended, rules are rewritten. Now we have a number of songs that start weird and proceed to get even stranger before gradually winding down. Just about every weird sound you can think of, and a few more you can't think of, is thrown into the stew. A veriteable cauldron full of murky madness. Slowed down tv news broadcasts and laughing are the most memoreable sound in this long stretch of album; in fact everything is slowed down - synth drones, voices, voices, voices, bent guitar notes, squeals, cymbal hits, tip tapping drums, clattering drums, half speed bass guitar that sounds almost like a tuba! This whole part of the album is extremely hard to grasp and extraordinarily bizarre. Eventually it slows down to a crawl, until it's almost unbeareable...

...and then the bubble bursts and we're back to the chiming fender rhodes motorik-style krautrock world the album started out with! The third, and very long, proper song on the album is two alternated bass notes and lovely bubbling electric piano melodies over a patented Leppanen minimalist march time drum rhythm. They cruise along, taking their time, just existing and enjoying this hard-earned and quite wonderful green-white-blue sound world. Eventually Ratto starts intoning what is apparently a long story in Finnish. Since I don't understand Finnish, I just bathe in the strange and sublime sound of his voice and enjoy the way it floats above the airy music. The song doesn't really go anywhere although it does in fact keep building in intensity the whole time until the end. They've mastered the art of staying still yet always changing.

A final bizarre song features Westerlund muttering strange broken english over top of an atmospheric plink plonk synth chord progression, a strangely fitting coda. In closing, this album is insane and amazing. A major statement. It's also difficult but extremely rewarding. When I had a conversation with Leppanen in 2007 we talked about our favorite Circle albums (yes I'm a nerd! his favorite was Miljard!) and I told him Guillotine was 'it' for me. He was really surprised; he told me no one ever says that! So my tastes might not line up with the average listener, even the average weirdo Circle fan, but I hope everyone interested in the band will give this one a chance. Magic stuff.

That single is so good. Feeling very regretful over not catching them on their last couple of trips to the states.

A twelve minute extended journey through the dark side. A lurching and demented ostinato riff played on both bass and guitar stomps through an underground cavern, pinned down by Leppanen at his most insistent and consistent, surrounded by cavemen banging together bones and rattling teeth. More primitive vocals are buried in the mix, giving the impression of primordial peoples dancing around some black magic fire pit. This is a place where language has yet to be invented...

underground primordial black magic fire pit cave dancing -- i can't wait to hear this!! grooveshark appears to only have various tracks from guillotine, but fortunately this is one of them. i don't know how else i would be able to hear it anyway, so i guess i'm thankful for scraps.
lurching demented scraps.

http://www.nrgm.fi/wp-content/themes/nrgm/icache/g/i/f/giffaa114circle2gif-660x700-non.gif

Actually pilfered from an "up-the-arse" thread on another board.

yikes!

was that board dffd?

The trio of standout studio albums (guillotine, forest and tulikoira) are all deserving of the full treatment in my mind and I can't resist looking at them in depth. I'm going to go back to more capsule reviews for all the others (except for maybe the Rautatie/Infektio knockout combo!), so please bear with me.

Forest - This was an album that was truly astonishing to me the first time I heard it. They are still in neato black magic caveman krautrock mode, only now they're approaching it from a more minimalist and highly rhythmic angle. Forest is a very apt title; this is a very dark album, sinister sounding and mellow. Aquarius records described it as a combination of Goblin and Can and that's not innaccurate. John Carpenter is a good reference point, too. There are very funny instructions printed on the actual cd: Play Loud! Synthesizers (specifically the Roland Juno 60, I think) appear as the prominent instrument for the first time, coupled with a heavy emphasis on unusual percussion. Drumset is absent, the percussion is performed with hand drums, rattles and shakers. Each of the four songs has a distinct flavor and unique compositional approach. The singing is perhaps the most surprising of all, Westerlund takes the lead for the entirety of the disc, with Jussi contributing some far away painful-sounding howling, coughing, throat clearing and other weirdness here and there. Ratto keeps entirely quiet! Westerlund sort of has a bluesy and massively cool laid back broken-english drawl here, with the words spaced out and freely disregarding and trampling over the prominent instrument rhythms like they don't even exist, to very cool effect. I don't think there is any bass on the whole album, Westerlund and Jussi seem to both be playing acoustic guitars.

The first tune is one of the more unique and atmospheric songs they've done. It's so insanely cool sounding. It's built around a twisted drum rhythm from Leppanen and a badass synth melody that is extremely hard to grasp (I figured it out once, but I forget what it is now and can't be bothered to count, I think they subtract a beat every other bar so it's all off center sounding) The rest of the band seems to all be playing percussion together in a straight 2/4, syncopating their beats and creating a tapestry that compounds and cushions the wacky melodic rhythms on top. Eventually Westerlund starts his demented broken english vocalising and then synth washes begin to overtake everything.

The second song is built around a very cool sounding acoustic guitar ostinato, backed by more twisted rhythm stuff; a strange sounding bass drum, hand drums and random percussion hits that sound almost like someone hitting a dinner plate with a metal spoon or something. Eventually a maze of delayed synthesizer arpeggiators overtakes the acoustic guitar, washing over everything and giving the track a very sci-fi feel that contrasts nicely with the overall acoustic vibe. More cool singing, "lookout..."

The third tune is the only one that sounds like a normal song, and a bluesy back porch one at that! The back porch is built into an evil alien space ship fueled by some seriously weird sounding synth work, but still... there are two sections to this one, in 3/4, a low key acoustic guitar riff and more weirdo mumble singing and then the acoustic guitars shift to a more insistent rhythm punctuated by backwards synth melodies and distant sequencer rhythms. Janne is singing all sorts of strange stuff with lyrics like "keep the booze, and the chemicals, too". This is a less ambitious song compared to the others, but it's a nice change of pace.

The fourth tune, Jaljet, is another monumental achievement, and another high point in the ouvre. This is a 17 minute long journey through supremely hypnotic rhythms that sound almost like gamelan! This one is overwhelmingly cool. This is the only song on the disc where they all play their instruments like normal, more or less. All the sounds are blended together into one writhing, pulsating, living mass of shimmering hypno-bliss. I honestly can't even tell what the hell is going on here for the most part, it's so well blended. They just coast along, effortlessly, sculpting the sounds, concentrating on the smallest of details. I think there is a tongue drum ostinato that holds it all together. Leppanen is playing the raddest sounding rim shots ever, and about halfway starts in with some ride cymbals. Jussi and Westerlund are playing insistent acoustic guitar rhythms. Ratto is playing a plink plonk synth ostinato and also wonderfully sporadic melodies that sound very futuristic and utopian. Every now and then Westerlund plays some slippery and twangy two or three note melodic guitar lines and/or sings. Way in the back are what sounds like heavily reverbed burping sounds and grunts (not to mention more slowed down laughing!) Out of this world.

Seek this out, post-haste, all ye fellow connisseurs of the weird, wild and wonderful!

guillotine and forest are such a strong (but creepy and wild) combo. love them.

forest was the first circle lp I ever listened to. bought it after a tremendous show in full NFOFHM mode and was deeply perplexed but the contrast at first.