― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Friday, 10 March 2006 19:14 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 19:15 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Friday, 10 March 2006 19:18 (7 years ago) Permalink
― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:29 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Giles Manius (jsoulja), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:35 (7 years ago) Permalink
Rättö ja Lehtisalo, spacey experimental synth pop with progressive overtones.Kuusumun Profeetta, trippy folk music (actually one of their 4 albums is pretty straightforward old school heavy) with Mika Rättö on vocals and Rhodes.
― mikko (mikko), Friday, 21 April 2006 05:08 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Friday, 21 April 2006 08:09 (7 years ago) Permalink
― josh in sf (stfu kthx), Friday, 21 April 2006 16:31 (7 years ago) Permalink
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 21 April 2006 18:59 (7 years ago) Permalink
― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Sunday, 30 April 2006 23:54 (7 years ago) Permalink
― prince rupert, Tuesday, 2 May 2006 20:48 (7 years ago) Permalink
― JW (ex machina), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 20:57 (7 years ago) Permalink
― a, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 07:54 (7 years ago) Permalink
Circle fucking DESTROYED last week.
― mikko (mikko), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 11:45 (7 years ago) Permalink
have received two packages quite quickly so far and jussi is really quick and friendly with his responses to queries.
― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Wednesday, 12 July 2006 18:35 (6 years ago) Permalink
― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Friday, 4 August 2006 02:33 (6 years ago) Permalink
― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 4 August 2006 08:33 (6 years ago) Permalink
― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Saturday, 2 September 2006 15:49 (6 years ago) Permalink
Upcoming Circle Sunrise on No Quarter kind of fucking kills. Everything they do (including the 'NWOFHM' stuff) is on here, and it all jams. "Paholaisratsastaja" = !!
― Dominique, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
That's a re-release of the 2001 record, right?
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
Oddly enough I'm listening to some of the Doktor Kettu stuff this afternoon. Nice, though it all kinda blends together.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
yeah reissue!
― Dominique, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:45 (5 years ago) Permalink
actually there is a new record coming out on No Quarter too, but I can't get to play on my PC
― Dominique, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 22:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
hey, you know what's pretty fucking good? prospekt. wish there were more vocals and more violin, though. probably my favorite of the circle rock albums atm.
panic on the other hand...
― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Monday, 19 November 2007 17:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
Prospekt is my favorite, too. It's the only one I've got on double lp. Love this youtube clip of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FWftvvaVok
― Trip Maker, Monday, 19 November 2007 17:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
a timely revive - been meaning to check these guys out for a while, but their discography keeps growing and i have no idea where to start. seems like there's a huge, huge variety of material covered in their dozens of releases.
so, what's a good circle full-length to start on? preferably one that's relatively easy to find from the good mail-order places.
― Mark Clemente, Monday, 19 November 2007 17:45 (5 years ago) Permalink
Circle :: what album is their best
― peepee, Monday, 19 November 2007 19:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
thanks
― Mark Clemente, Monday, 19 November 2007 19:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
As of 2007 my favorite Circle album is Miljard. It's ambient music, so not typical for them, but very nice.
― Dan S, Monday, 19 November 2007 19:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've been playing Miljard as my bedtime music for the last couple of weeks, in rotation with Villalobos's Fizheuer Zieheuer and Iasos's Inter-Dimensional Music.
― krakow, Monday, 19 November 2007 21:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
Been a fickle fan of this band for a few years, since the Static/Resonance issue of Prospekt back in 04 or so, though I'd been reading about 'em and wanting to hear stuff since the early 90s late Forced Exposure era. Love Prospekt and Sunrise to death, love the full-on cosmic Valhalla epics from their NWOFHM era. Empire's a good live record, though a bit too forest folk oriented. Fucking LOVE the early dirty grind of Meronia & Zopalki. But I'm not familiar with much else, and my exposure to Circle's sensitive side hasn't enouraged heavier petting.
Anyway, am adjusting to the relatively restrained Krautrock horrorshow of Katapult and considering picking up the Sunburned Circle LP. Anyone heard that, got any reports? Any recommendations for other material along the lines of Prospekt and Sunrise? With Mika wailing in full effect, ideally.
― Bob Standard, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 23:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've got that lp. It's pretty good. Tulikoira is a particular favourite of mine.
― Herman G. Neuname, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 23:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
Most Sunburned Hand stuff I've heard is skittery and unwashed, like it was made by people with lice, like NNCK on a bad day. So I'm leery. But I could see as how the bands might draw each other in interesting directions - Circle to loosen up a bit, SH to straighten up and fly right.
― Bob Standard, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 23:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
I finally got hold of Tulikoira, particularly spurred on by watching it race to victory in the poll, and it's the business. Great rocking rhythmic genius. I can't believe I took so long to get round to this piece of the Circle puzzle. Along with Panic, which I'm also liking a lot, it's reinvigorated my Circle obsession after being disappointed with Arkades, Tower and Katapult. I'm definitely going to go back to those ones now though, as I didn't listen to them more than once or twice since I didn't like them too much and was craving more of a Pharaoh Overlord-type hit at the time.
― krakow, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 09:59 (5 years ago) Permalink
Oh man, that final minute or so of Tulikoira is fantastic. Maybe this counts as a musical spoiler , so look away now if you haven't heard the album, but... when it all kicks back in for the final wee bit of rawk at the end after fooling you (or at least me) with the preceding extended quiet pseudo-ending, it's just perfect. NWOFHM indeed.
― krakow, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 10:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've heard Raunio. And Sunrise I have Sunrise and Katapult (a new one on No Quarter). All of the above are great. I really like that latest a great deal.
― Nate Carson, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 11:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
I saw them last night and they slayed pretty hard. They have a mid-set interlude where they do Greco-Roman wrestling on the floor
― DJ Mencap, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 11:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
I really like Circle feat. Verde. A lot mellower than their usual output. Slightly more akin to Chick Corea's 'Return to Forever' or even some of Vladislav Delay's output.
― Ulysses, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 14:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
Any recommendations for other material along the lines of Prospekt and Sunrise? With Mika wailing in full effect, ideally. Check out the live album Raunio. Heavy wailing vocals. Includes a really great version of the first song on Prospekt, "Dedofiktion." The atmosphere is really heavy throughout. There are opera vocal breaks throughout the set, between the rockers. It was the first Circle album I heard, I need to listen to it again.
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
I don't suppose anyone's managed to see the Saturnus Reality documentary that is mentioned on the Circle website?
It supposedly premiered at the recent Avanto festival in Helsinki and sounds very interesting...
Saturnus Reality (2007) is the Finnegan’s Wake of Finnish rock documentaries, and a fabulous cul-de-sac in a stream of consciousness. The film’s subject is Circle, the prolific Finnish experimentalists hailing from Pori, but it is a self-ironic vicious circle of a film that focuses on the curious world of the band and its musicians, shot on a home video camera. Jussi Lehtisalo, Mika Rättö, Janne Westerlund, Tomi Leppänen and Tuomas Laurila appear in the film as if they were acting out themselves.
The film is nominally centred on the recording sessions of Miljard, one of the latest albums by this extremely productive band, whose output includes 28 albums in 16 years. Starting out as a traditional rock documentary, the film soon runs loose on various sidetracks: to the depths of a forest, onto a frozen lake, into the darkness of night. The band’s primeval music becomes the soundtrack for magic rites performed in nature. The musicians meet the mysterious Oracle of the Reed Sea, a strange meteorite has landed in a snowy landscape, and so forth. What matters in Circle’s fantastic world is totality of vision, while details are treated somewhat generously. The new genre the band has coined, NWOFHM (The New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal), may just as well mean fragile atonal piano improvisation or catatonic one-note walls of sound. Inspired by the ritualistic films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger, the film moves to the beat of double and triple exposures, the atmosphere balancing in the timeless opening between childish horseplay and reckless pathos. Enthusiastic live commentary can be heard beside the camera by the director/cinematographer, Pori’s multi-talented craftsman of the psychedelic, Esko Lönnberg. His earlier works include the splendid concert film with Doktor Kettu (also from Pori), shot through a distorting lens.
- Mika Taanila
Saturnus Reality (Finland, 2007, 60 min, Finnish dialogue, English subtitles) World premiere at Avanto Festival, Helsinki
― krakow, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 22:47 (5 years ago) Permalink
I just received Alotus today, following a successful eBay purchase last week, and it's another winner on first listen. Nice and repetitive, no outright craziness, more in a relatively subdued rocking vein, with some really nice grooves and bass playing going on in particular.
My belief in the cult of Circle is strengthened yet more.
― krakow, Saturday, 8 December 2007 22:52 (5 years ago) Permalink
Wow. I just discovered this band over the weekend. I picked up Katapult and the "Vaahto" 7" and I'm really happy I have this thread to dig through to find out where to go next. As corny as it may sound, this is one of those thrilling new discoveries that reminds me why I love music so goddamn much.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 4 February 2008 13:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
I just won a copy of "Pori" (the Feldspar version) on ye olde eBay - new Circle excitement!
― krakow, Sunday, 2 November 2008 23:02 (4 years ago) Permalink
On the actual new release front there's a new full length CD album on Ektro called Hollywood (extended Earthworm EP style action) and a 2LP vinyl only live album on Fourth Dimension called Triumph (ala Arkades).
NWOFHM continues!
― krakow, Sunday, 2 November 2008 23:07 (4 years ago) Permalink
ahhh yeah, i was hoping for some more duff stuff. i hope ektro re-re-releases the fucknig jesters of destiny cd, it's pretty great.
― ROBIN TROUSERS (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 3 November 2008 01:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
fucknig. well.
There's plenty of Duff stuff on the new one, well worth it for Earthworm fans.
Just got word last night from Fourth Dimension that the Triumph vinyl should hopefully be out next week after long delays.
― krakow, Monday, 3 November 2008 08:19 (4 years ago) Permalink
"hollywood" has already appeared on slsk. it's pretty good, maybe less thoroughly "metal" than the ep (if you leave off the two tracks from the ep, which they should've done) but still a good time.
― ROBIN TROUSERS (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 3 November 2008 10:50 (4 years ago) Permalink
camera obscuraU2magenta skycoderadioheadthe LKorange juice
― Kevin Keller, Monday, 3 November 2008 16:24 (4 years ago) Permalink
camera obscuraU2
magenta skycode
― Kevin Keller, Monday, 3 November 2008 22:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
No prob, Alan. They had put that PO song up on Soundcloud at one point but I guess they took it down after the album came out.
As far as suur-pori I guess it depends on how much you appreciate confusing improvisation, ha. It is something I personally really go in for when the performers have very distinct personalities like these guys! I listened with headphones and had a lot of fun but I did only listen to only one side of the cassette at a time. The whole thing is indeed a bit much for one sitting!
Maybe it's worth listening for the percussionist's contribution, he is always adding subtle color, and also the work of the mixer guy. The latter is very active in shaping the overall sound and adding the effects (they never had effect pedals the times I've caught them live at least.)
― liam fennell, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 18:23 (4 weeks ago) Permalink
yup, I'm definitely into improv, so I'll listen again soon and hone in on the percussion. ;-) I honestly don't remember much about it at this point (only listened once) except that I found it a bit too 'jammy' for my tastes.
also recently spun the second ratto ja lehtisalo record for the first time and it's been on high rotation ever since. pretty killer. love all the percussive vocal stuff on it.
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Wednesday, 24 April 2013 19:26 (4 weeks ago) Permalink
I know, right! Glad you checked it out. That Ratto ja Lehtisalo is so neglected and so fascinating. The typewriter song is so funny. And also the one that is like "jue jue, ou ou ou, knock knock, push push, bebopaloolaloolaloola" is just out of this world with the goofy chanting contrasted by the kind of sacred church atmosphere!
Did you ever hear their side of the split 12" they did with Reverend Bizarro? So great, along the same lines vocally as the 2nd album but with motorik Leppanen drumming, electric guitar & synthesizers!
― liam fennell, Thursday, 25 April 2013 14:24 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
no, I'd never heard this until just now, but wow, I love it!
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Thursday, 25 April 2013 14:48 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
and yeah, the typewriter and "knock, knock, push, push" tracks are both hilarious and great!
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Thursday, 25 April 2013 14:50 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
listening again, and although they don't sound awfully similar, this one definitely reminds me of pharoah overlord #3. both lps strip things down about as far as they reasonably can and this intense focus really makes individual elements pop out. the impact of sounds interacting magnifies and becomes a lot of fun for the listener to follow and the introduction of new elements gets more dramatic as well.
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Thursday, 25 April 2013 16:31 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
It's always a happy day when a new package from Aquarius shows up on my desk with new Circle. This time I picked up Manner on CD (already had the vinyl, but hey) and the Golem/Vesilirto reissue. Particularly excited for the latter, as I've not heard that one at all yet.
― i kant believe it's not buffon (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 1 May 2013 19:54 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
The Manner, Golem/Vesiliirto and Horn reissues are all essential! The bonus tracks on the latter two are pretty unexciting, though. Jon, if you get a chance let us know what you make of G/V, it's pretty confusing stuff! I find the Vesiliirto disc in particular pretty rewarding with the manic clockwork drumming, bass noodling and strange swirling freak out space organ.
I agree about the POs, Alan. I always thought #3 was super skeletal, it is so stark and high contrast. Maybe the artwork also reinforced this reading! They just sound so great as a band unit. The timbre of the drums and the bass is so delicious. Focused. And the guitars are so very insistent and tastefully stripped down. I also love how you can hear the minute mistakes, a stray missed drum hit or a single dead guitar note, they don't go back and overdub everything to perfection, they get a great performance and let it breathe and live - in high fidelity!
The two guitar playing brothers are pretty interesting on the newer Circle and PO albums, they aren't so rigid/disciplined and they often improvise and let their guitars get all tangled together in a very organic way. Which is part of the fun in listening to Suur-Pori. They work in unison. I don't know if they are actually twins, but they sound like twins. You can't really tell them apart, kind of like when the Beach Boy brothers harmony sing together. It is a cool dynamic!
― liam fennell, Thursday, 2 May 2013 12:04 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Heh, I've only had a chance to spin G/V once so far, but right now I'm slightly preferring the studio stuff - there is a nice jazz vibe going on that I really love.
Speaking of Pharoah Overlord, I swung by a shop yesterday afternoon and picked up not only the Horn reissue, but also CD copies of #3 and #4! I was pretty excited to find 'em all at once.
― i kant believe it's not buffon (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 20 May 2013 20:54 (2 days ago) Permalink
Ha, you're going to have a lot of fun with that haul! Cool shop! The ersatz metal of #4 might not line up with most people's tastes but I sure think it's a blast.
― liam fennell, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 11:42 (Yesterday) Permalink
Well I've heard both #3 and #4 before, just happy to finally have copies of each.
― i kant believe it's not buffon (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 13:57 (Yesterday) Permalink