Alamaailman Vasarat
Vasaraasia
$18.99
Listen to "Asuntovelka" in Real Audio
Courtesy of Hollow Ear and A.V.)
Listen to "Mamelukki & Musta Leski" ("Mameluc & Black Widow") (from the band's web site)
Listen to MP3 samples of all the tracks
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Other recordings by Alamaailman Vasarat
Translation: "Masters of the Underworld." The sound: other-worldly. This Finnish band (the offspring of Höyry-Kone) skirts the boundaries of jazz, hard rock and folk music without every entering any of that territory. In other words, they make completely original music. They have been called "Ethnic brass punk" and "kosher-kebab jazz" but each song is so damn different that you might as well have 13 descriptions, one for each track.
The band describe themselves: "a bunch of musicians with a background in different kinds of rock or jazz music make a statement: To rock, you need no electric guitars! All you need is a pump organ, some brass, solid rhythm section with drums and cello and no prejudicies allowed, except that major keys are mostly banned. With this sort of recipe you will surely come up with something extraordinary."
The musicians:
Jarno Sarkula - soprano sax
Erno Haukkala - trombone
Miikka Huttunen - pump organ, keyboards
Marko Manninen - cello
Teemu Hänninen - drums, percussion
Audio ©2000 Alamaailman Vasarat
Photos by Niko Luoma
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"There's a lot that you won't hear: no violins, no guitar, very little of conventional melody instruments, but they won't be missed. All of the lower pitched instruments pinch-hit melodies, though the more poignant leads generally belong to the sax. The cello can played in upper range; it can also be used to produce "heavy metal" without a guitar - the distorted cello had to be recorded multiple times to get this rather astounding effect. The sliding trombone is used to great effect, and the old-fashioned harmonium can be anywhere it is needed. The band itself being an experiment of a bass-player (Sarkula) taking up soprano sax, these guys really are masters of the under-world! - Don Weedea (Hollow Ear) "Vasaraasia' is laden with impressively articulate orchestral jazz-rock horns, pump organ, piano and what sounds like the occasional heavy metal guitar but is actually (as I am informed) cello through a pile of distortion pedals.... Contemporary, timeless and Finnish - that'll do nicely!" - World Music Charts Europe "Vasaraasia is an exceptional album. It contains an extraordinary mixture of sounds and musical styles, and the compositions are brilliant, full with energy and played with an amazing sense of rhythm, melody and counterpoint." - Jaume Pujol (ProgVisions)
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