Circle (the Finnish band): S/D

Are they ABSOLUTELY MUST SEE LIVE?

I have to pick shows very carefully this month....

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.

Circle fucking DESTROYED last week.

have received two packages quite quickly so far and jussi is really quick and friendly with his responses to queries.

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" = !!

That's a re-release of the 2001 record, right?

Oddly enough I'm listening to some of the Doktor Kettu stuff this afternoon. Nice, though it all kinda blends together.

yeah reissue!

actually there is a new record coming out on No Quarter too, but I can't get to play on my PC

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...

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

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.

Circle :: what album is their best

thanks

As of 2007 my favorite Circle album is Miljard. It's ambient music, so not typical for them, but very nice.

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.

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.

I've got that lp. It's pretty good. Tulikoira is a particular favourite of mine.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I just won a copy of "Pori" (the Feldspar version) on ye olde eBay - new Circle excitement!

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!

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.

fucknig. well.

If you are looking to pick up some things on Bandcamp today three Ratto Ja Lehtisalo albums have recently been added and they are all terrific, especially Matematiikka, but all of them.

I've been starting to catch up on Kuusumun Proffetta as well and also love the ones I've heard so far (Hymyilevien Laivojen Satama & Huutoja Hiljaisesta Huoneesta).

This one is sounding pretty good so far

http://circlesl.bandcamp.com/album/terminal

I found the Aktor album for cheap and, I admit, didn't really get it at first; now I feel like its dominant influence is Blue Öyster Cult's Agents of Fortune and after stuff (weird blend of uneasy guitars and keyboards with kind of anthemic, upbeat choruses - I mean, the chorus to The Mover!) and not-quite-metal hard rock (and/or prog bands trying to "dumb down" and play hard rock like Saga or something) from the early 80s. It's cool! But it's such a weird sound.

Or like late 70s Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash, etc.

I totally love it.

When I posted a little while back about original inspirations for Aktor and the Iron Magazine EP* I was reminded about this thread:

1981 = year of 70s dino rockers w modren/wavo comeback LPs

Be sure to check out High Spirits' 'Motivator' album as well. Chris Black is some kind of genius.

* "...lazer-buzzing, intergalactic HARD ROCKIN' at that nexus of 1980 where greasy 'n' galloping heavy metal, Sunset-strippin' hard rock, and space-cased AOR all crossed DNA for one brief moment."

And don't miss the Aktor single. Just a couple of bucks on Bamdcamp I think. The B side 'Buried By The Sea' is more prog than anything on the album.

Nice! Thanks!

Going to have to scour that 1981 thread, I'm kinda feeling that era right now.

great photo:

https://i.imgur.com/Vy3n1GI.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/51716654430/photos/a.10153089188539431.1073741825.51716654430/10155801400749431/?type=3&theater

Inordinately enjoying Krypt Axeripper right now, will have to check out Steel Mammoth. The Aktor album and 7" kinda fit with this weird vibe, too.

If I remember right, the Krypt Axeripper came out just before Jussi Lehtisalo started releasing his Jussi and friends (what I call these things) NWOFHM 7"s, and is I think the first in that series of worthwhile experiments. Which is to say I hope if you plan to keep digging that you don't neglect the Traktor Pulling, Motorspandex, Mercedes Hell, and Arkhamin Kirjasto 7"s, all of which are along those lines and are about as rich with content as 7" records can possibly be! Those lines being pomo eclectic warped motor metal. All these releases are pretty fun. A less good but still worthy NWOFHM cassette came out more recently that may or may not still be available, and features otherwise unreleased tracks from some of the above projects and others.

Steel Mammoth is also clearly this genre, and is also a really fun band, and probably closest to the Krypt Axeripper record's sound, just Jussi has minimal involvement with SM far as I can tell after their first two albums (it's confusing!) Another good group is Night Satan, whom are totally unrelated member-wise I think, but have an exceptional 7" themselves (mastered by Jussi) which is NWOFHM instrumentals with synths pretending to be distorted electric guitars! Their first full length drops the metal posturing and features mostly John Carpenter-type minor key arpeggiated synth instrumentals.

I agree the Aktor stuff is very much a return to that sound! Just slicker! The singer/songwriter is very, very strong, and I understand has other projects which are highly regarded, and his strength combined with Circle's rhythm section makes for an interesting group indeed!

Wow man... so much stuff to catch up with! Thanks for the tips!

i heard Jussi made an album with the people from Mamiffer -- has anyone heard it?

Tangentially Circle related (Jussi and Tomi are members), but absolutely highest recommendation for the two Mahti albums out this year, Musikki 1 and Musikki 2. Not always a fan of letting the band speak for themselves, but this description is pretty accurate:

Mahti are a Finnish four-piece group presenting a unique mixture of ambient-rock, electronic music and traditional Finnish-Karelian music.

Lengthy semi-improvisational pieces are built on top of complex, hypnotic grooves which are layered with opaque guitars and strangely soothing noise elements. In the heart of it all there's kantele, an ancient Finnish string instrument played by Hannu Saha, who has studied Finnish folk music in theory and practice for nearly five decades.

Some of the most wonderful cover art as well:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0538001792_10.jpg

https://mahtifinland.bandcamp.com/album/musiikki-1

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0241654974_10.jpg

https://mahtifinland.bandcamp.com/album/musiikki-2

Ugh, I am in love with those covers.

I'll probably bump the Richard Dawson thread with this news, but just got an email from Riot Season that a third Mahti album is on the way, but this time the lineup has expanded to include Richard Dawson on guitar and vocals, as well as Sally Pilkington on keys and vocals.