Our friends at CPL Music and Nordic Notes had another banner years for releases in the genre of World Music. The sampler includes tracks from the Balkans, Scandinavia and Asia among other locales, and it’s a great way to taste what the label has to offer.
Finland
Pekka Pohloja – Jokamies (Everyman)
Jokamies (‘Everyman’ in Finnish) is a collection of tracks for a television series of the same name composed by the Finnish bassist Pekka Pohjola. After his work with the hard-rock/progressive outfit Wigwam, he ventured into jazz fusion (perhaps New Age as well) and made some of the most impressive Continue Reading
Lackluster – One-Offs EP
From the Bandcamp site: “Monotonik is very proud to present an exclusive 6-track EP from Finland’s Lackluster, aka Esa Ruoho, an artist we’ve been releasing (as Distance) since way back when we were putting out .MODs, and have seen go from the limited-edition “CDR#2” on Monotonik (our only physical release Continue Reading
Uusikuu – Karuselli
Welcome to the world of Finnish tango as brought to you by Uusikuu, who celebrate their 16th year with this charmer of a disc. As this wonderful release from the ever wonderful CPL-Music isn’t on Bandcamp, I would like to point you to their Qobuz website, as I’m not much Continue Reading
Esa Ruoho – Collage
Esa Ruoho is a project out of Finland who works with really long, sinewy drones and atmospherics to get lost in on a headphone trip. Fine ambient music, something rare in a time when the term is so badly abused.
Pekka Pohjola – Harakka Bialoipokku (B The Magpie)
Hands down, this is my favorite Finnish progressive rock album. I was introduced to Pekka Pohjola early in life, and now that I am listening to this album in my middle age, I can hear how beautifully it aged. Pekka’s bass is at the forefront, of course, and his playing Continue Reading
Uzu Noir – Zo!
Uzu Noir is the monicker used by Finnish audio engineer-mixer-producer (having worked with Richard Dawson & Circle, Brian Eno, The Tindersticks, These New Puritans, Ulver, Natacha Atlas, Pharaoh Overlord, The Utopia Strong, Cyclobe, Old Man Gloom, etc) Antti Uusimäki. With such an incredible résumé, one would expect that his debut Continue Reading
Pelkkä Poutanen – Pyhä Veri Vuotaa
Finland’s Pelkkä Poutanen provide one of 2022’s best World Music albums, combining a wild combination of Scandinavian folk, drone, throat-singing and, if you can believe it, a very light touch of tango.
Various Artists – New State Of Flux
The second release from Raffaele Pezzella’s Unexplained Sounds Group’s latest acquisition, the magnificently dark Reverse Alignment record label. This is a different affair from yesterday’s compilation, which was more extreme in sound. New State of Flux doesn’t have the same reach in terms of geography, but it covers music which Continue Reading
Onségen Ensemble – Fear
I wish to thank my friend Slava, who is based in Kazakhstan, for introducing me into this avant-prog treasure. The Onségen Ensemble are a Finnish group who have a rather open personnel, which is in keeping with their mission statement. The sound is a mix of heavy progressive, psychedelic rock Continue Reading