The Movements, Dead Black Asteroid,
Bar Loose, Helsinki, 5 September 2009
The Movements from Gothenburg, Sweden, played their debut gig in Finland last Saturday, and since I’ve been enjoying their two latest albums a lot I just had to see them alive for the first time. This garage rock group that has been gigging a lot in other parts of Scandinavia and in continental Europe plays energetic rock music that has also been influenced by psychedelia, punk, space rock and pop and has lost of original 60’s garage spirit as well as more modern ingredients. They were supported by Helsinki-based Dead Black Asteroid who were previously totally unknown to me. This was also the first time I went to the downstairs of the new, relocated Bar Loose, so I was really looking forward to an interesting night out.
Dead Black Asteroid
The four members of Dead Black Asteroid that was formed in 2006 started their show around 22:20 for a still pretty small crowd. The couple of first numbers rocked pretty okay, the third song was a bit 80’s metal influenced, pompous stuff without that much content. Just when I was starting to think that this band doesn’t seem to be as good as I expected, the tighter going begun and the next tracks made the adrenalin levels raise. The band’s music could be described as stoner/hard rock, but it also has some more melodic elements that are being emphasized with the addition of a keyboard player. There were also some psychedelic elements in there, and I especially liked the endings of a couple of songs. Electric Wizard is one of their top friends on their MySpace site, but this surely isn’t that heavy shit. It more like reminded me of Mannhai. We got to hear some tight playing and good singing, which means that I must remember to keep an eye on this band in the future.
The Movements
Some more people had shown up while The Movements were starting their gig and the air was filled with enthusiasm. The band opened up with a couple of numbers from their new album The World, The Flesh and The Devil, and the audience was starting to warm up little by little. One of the gig’s highlights for me was the more melodic and beautiful “Save Me” from the aforementioned album, although the high-energy tracks also worked out totally great. A minor disappointment was that we only heard one song from the space rock album For Sardines Space Is No Problem that was also released this year as The Movements (Space Edition). This song was the amazing, Eloy spirited ”In The Footsteps of Gagarin” and towards the end the boys were space rocking so hard that my head almost exploded! Another winner was The Stooges styled, fast and tight “Going to Your House”. They played for example also the fierce single track ”The Battle of Being in Love” and apparently also a few new, or at least so far unreleased, songs. The Movements were in great shape and played a really energetic set. Especially the singer really gave all he got and jumped on the tables and also sung from the shoulders of the band’s bus driver. The audience seemed to dig the gig a lot, although they didn’t totally come along for the ride (so not much dancing, for example). Now I do understand why this band has a reputation of being a hot live act! I wish we can get The Movements back to Finland very soon. Here’s their set list:
1. No Such Thing
2. Approximately 24 Hours
3. Bockstens Gösta
4. Save Me
5. Looking For A Change
6. In The Footsteps of Gagarin
7. Cry For You
8. Going to Your House
9. The Fun Ain’t For Free
10. The Battle of Being In Love
11. You Don’t Know
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo, Tavastia,
Helsinki, 12 March 2009
When I heard sometime last year that our boys from
Pori Mika Rättö and Jussi Lehtisalo were preparing for an album and
tour with Kauko Röyhkä, one of the greatest rock icons in Finland,
I wasn’t even really surprised. In fact, it seems that one
can expect almost anything by these rascals. Like for example a
“children’s book” that Mr. Rättö has released
recently. The previous Rättö ja Lehtisalo albums and gigs have
partially tried to appeal to a bit bigger audiences, sure, but this
project is for sure the most grandiose by Lehtisalo’s Ektro
label and the album has also been on Finnish charts.
The trio’s studio album Hiekkarantaa is a
fine combination of Röyhkä’s lyrics that draw from the themes
of love and longing and his great rendering, popular music and the
hypnotic kraut rock of the Circle guys. The quite light overall
sound of the album didn’t prepare me for the band’s
live sound. Jussi had dropped the acoustic guitar in favor of an
electric one, they had hired Tomi Leppänen (also from the Circle
fame) as a drummer and some new blood was brought in with Tuomas
Niskanen (electric guitar, backing vocals) who get to show off on
his pedestal during the guitar solos and bass player Turo
Sinkkonen. In addition to lead vocals Röyhkä also played electric
guitar on some tracks. So the sextet performed substantially more
electric and often also heavier versions of the album tracks and
they drove the full-packed Tavastia Club into the point of ecstasy
with their set. The audience was naturally a mixed crowd or old
Röyhkä fans as well as friends of a bit more experimental music,
and it was nice to notice that everybody seemed to enjoy the gig
equally.
The most enjoyable thing for me was the extension
of some of the tracks towards the end of the set when they added
some pretty wild Circle style kraut rock jamming to the songs!
Rättö was set free to conjure his demons in his gibberish and
Lehtisalo really became inspired to rock out while the backing band
maintained the tight, repetitive groove. Röyhkä seemed occasionally
to be a bit out-of it during the improvisational sections, but got
carried away every now and then. The sound was just perfect and the
lightshow was exceptional, as well. The band seemed to be in high
spirits and this was a totally amazing gig in every aspect and I
really enjoyed in a lot as apparently did the rest of the audience.
It will be possible to see Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo on Finlands
summer festivals (at least in Provinssirock), absolutely worth
checking out.
Here’s the set list from Tavastia:
1. Näin sut unessa
2. Kesäinen polku
3. Hiekkarantaa
4. Kesätyttö
5. Ei kai miehen tarvi aina olla macho
6. Toinen kerta
7. Joulu Thaimaassa
8. Kulta intissä
9. Saarenmaa
10. Oi kaunis Anna-Liisa
11. Kaupungin kaunein tyttö
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12. Sut kerran nähdä sain
I also did a video recording of the whole gig
(thanks for the permission Jussi!) and I added the audio recorded
by the mix guy Tuomas Laurila, so here are a few tracks from the
gig...
