Five Songs: Finnish artists
As previously mentioned, after this week I’m taking a break from all things Musical Chairs for the next two weeks as I relax on holiday in Finland. This seems almost the perfect excuse to do a Five Songs feature on Finnish artists. In the last few months I have become more and more alerted to music from that particular country since my girlfriend was born and raised in Finland and has brought with her music from a good range of bands and artists. I’ve mentioned some of these bands in the past few months but here are some songs you should check out and that are free of anything related to Lordi.
1. Kaunis Ja Ylpee by Ultra Bra – Ultra Bra’s career was made out of big-sounding pop rock with brass and strings and proper orchestration, but this song is from their more rockier final album, Vesireittejä. It’s a lot more frenetic than a lot of their work but good fun.
2. Sella by Zen Café – I’ve not really been much of a fan of these veteran rockers apart from this short burst of punk rock. This has an incredibly catchy refrain, and despite the fact it is sung in Finnish you’ll still be singing along even if you don’t know any of the language.
3. Helsinki Vantaa by Kerkko Koskinen – This might be cheating since Kerkko used to be in Ultra Bra and this orchestral number is an instrumental cover of one of that band’s songs. I don’t care though, as it’s a brilliant arrangement and worth listening to.
4. Paskaa by Sydän, Sydän – This band are all about the riffs, whether they are heavy and like Queens Of The Stone Age, synthy, or just on acoustic guitars. Paskaa is acoustic-based and it’s still pretty rocking.
5. Joku Raja by PMMP – One of the most popular bands in Finland at the moment and, whilst not all of their material strikes a chord with me, this one of my favourites in terms of rhythm. Again, this is catchy, despite us English listeners having no real idea what it means.
Like this? Try these!
Posted on July 14th, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Five Songs
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