Blog of Matti Paalanen - Reviews, thoughts and frozen silence

Shinjuku Thief is one of those projects that go under your skin. Dark and brooding horror ambient with very soundtrack-like feeling. First time I heard Shinjuku Thief was during one of our role-playing game sessions. It was one-shot horror scenario and The Witch Hammer was used as the sole soundtrack for the game. And it literally brought the imaginary horrors to the room surfing on the soundwaves. I’ve never been so scared in my life. The associations were so intense that even now when I’m listening to the album, I get shivers down my spine. It is definitely not an easy album and the intense soundscapes won’t yield exactly enjoyable experience, but I still wholeheartedly suggest to try it out.

Project Divinity’s album Divinity got it’s first official review from finnish noise.fi webmagazine. It is sadly written in finnish, but you can find it here in any case.

As a summary I’m very happy for it, the writer understood the project and it’s main influences correctly, analyzed it honestly and wrote the article with sense of detail and warmth.

The album can be gotten either from Jamendo.com or as a physical version from levyvirasto.net.

Star Trek was originally created by Gene Roddenberry and it is one of the most important sci-fi classics in the media of film. Later many continuation series were produced that built on the same universe and from those series TNG is in my opinion the best. It is warm, mellow and hopeful. Unlike in Battlestar Galactica, humanity has managed to transcend into responsible and better beings and the series revolve around the concept of exploration and knowledge. Patrick Stewart manages to flesh out an exceptional character from captain Jean-Luc Picard - he has got to be one of the best leaders ever written. You could say that Picard is the series. He has the final call on most of the things and most often he makes decisions that allow situations to resolve without excessive violence or conflict.

Some would say TNG is too charming and easy going a series, and I’m ready to admit that, but to me, there’s nothing wrong in charming and easy. I enjoy the funny moments, small jokes, interaction between the characters and the way the crew works. There are so many exceptional moments in the series that it carries it over the occasional weak moments. Data, Worf and Picard make up the most enjoyable trio with the entity Q thrown into the mix. From those four such lively situations are made that I just can’t smile enough.

If you are into science fiction and enjoy easy going atmosphere, I recommend checking out TNG. There are some excellent episodes out there just waiting for you to watch them!

One word: cocksucker.

Deadwood updated the genre of Western into modern 2.0 version. It got a lot more grittier, raw and brutal. There’s mud, swearing, blood, pain and whores. There’s whisky, struggle for power, ideals and decency mixed with trauma caused by the hard times and world where everyone has to endure conflict and loss. If there’s one character that embodies that is Deadwood, it’s got be Al Swearengen played by marvelous Ian McShane.

Like with most of the HBO series, the level of production is top notch. Casting, scenery, the look and feel, dialogue, everything just works. Deadwood has divided the audience to those that hate it and those that love it. But at least it has the courage to take a leap into one direction and not succumb into boring middle that tries to bow towards everyone. Yes, there is a lot of swearing going on, and yes, the historical west probably wasn’t exactly like this, but hell, if it’s enjoyable and feels belieavable, I’m not complaining. After all, it’s not a documentary.

I’ve always been a fan of Aaron Sorkin. He manages to write excellent, fluid dialogue that has tight and enjoyable rhythm and it makes you think and smile. The West Wing is probably his best work so far and if I didn’t have the first seasons in my DVD closet, I’d be a hollow man.

With the series, Sorkin manages to paint a vivid image of the political intricacies going on at the top level of U.S. power struggle between democrats and republicans. Martin Sheen embodies the presidency with the character Josiah Bartlet in such a way, that if he would run for presidency, most likely most of the U.S. citizens would vote for him - Bartlet is written so well that he in many way defines the perfect president.

There are many excellent moments in the series, but I think it’s enough to say that there are no weak aspects in the production. The camera work, casting, scripting, directing, everything just works so damn well. The illusion of being there is unbroken throughout the series (although sadly the quality and vision drops quite a bit after 5th Season). If you don’t find politics too boring and would like to have some virtual look at the way things supposedly could work in the White House, you wouldn’t go wrong by picking up this series.

The thing about The West Wing is that after you have watched it for some time, the characters have become so real that you actually feel a sense of loss when you leave the series. And to me, that is the ultimate definition of a good series.

Closer is one of the most important albums to me. It was my first step to the realm of gothic rock, post-punk and new wave. I still remember the moment I heard Decades start playing from my friend’s cassette player. I was 12 years old and couldn’t comprehend that such music existed. It was the beginning of a long musical journey.

Joy Division has gotten more publicity lately with the new film and of course New Order is still publishing new material, so the legacy lives on today, but to me, Closer is the album that defines and embodies the essence of Joy Division. It is crude, hollow and straight like a punch. There’s combination of melancholy, hope and nihilism entwined with sense of purity and sacred.

Decades is perhaps the tune I’d play to people that would like to know, what makes Joy Division so special group. It is pure magic.

Kings of Convenience are a norweigian duo that sound and feel very much like Simon & Garfunkel - two men singing with clear and beautiful voices over acoustic guitars and other instruments. Tunes are often filled with sense of melancholy and sense of remembrance. Compositions are simplistic and minimalistic, but interesting and do not follow the most trodden paths of modern pop music. It is music that I very much like to listen on the background if I’m having sort of a stressful day. This music instantly manages to make me relax and realize that things are not as bad as they seem.

Riot on an Empty Street is an excellent album. It flows like a river, feels coherent and structurally stable and doesn’t contain bad tunes. It’s like a mellow summer day with a hint of rain.

Patlabor 2 is one of the most interesting animation films ever produced in my opinion. It has compelling storyline, well written dialogue, belieavable characters and it doesn’t contain any of the so typical elements of japanese animation that I’ve come to hate (too much noise, too much speed, too much action and annoying character designs). Directed by Mamoru Oshii, Patlabor 2 is a modern political thriller that has very japanese vision and point of view. It has very strong soundtrack, composed by genius Kenji Kawai that enhances the atmosphere remarkably.

One of the remarkable moments in the film is a short monologue that is accompanied by drifting ambient soundscape and slowly scrolling views of buildings and scenery. The monologue offers us a view inside the mind of one of the characters and the combination of sound, images and the ideas entwine together in such a way, that the experience becomes quite compelling.

There’s not much I want to say about the storyline or the concept, let’s just say that it is a film definitely worth watching.

Substrata is one of those albums that is hard to describe with words. It is intricate and deep, in a myriad of ways that defy definitions. Geir Jenssen is a norweigian master of ambient music and father of Biosphere. The sound of Biosphere feel like reminiscent trails of fjords recalled in the emptiness of cosmos. It is at the same time warm and cold, arctic and cozy. It sends you into deep slumber, but there is lot of activity in that slowly moving silence. Hints and guesses that point at various directions and possibilities.

Biosphere combines classical ambient elements with sampled pieces from film dialogue. Musically the pieces are surprisingly complex and multilayered, even if they do not sound that way in the beginning. Good example would be polyrhythmical sequences that are created by slow soundmasses. The listener may very well be oblivious to the difficult musical patterns playing around him as he is sent on a inner journey towards the self.

Substrata is very much like a awakening dream, that leaves you bewildered and craving for one more minute of that lovely vision, so unreal and beautiful.

 

I realized that I probably listen more to norweigian bands than finnish ones. Weird, but such is life. I’ve mentioned a few times that for some reason atmospheric melancholy elates to me and holding that in mind, we gaze at Norway.

The 3rd and the Mortal was my first touch to atmospheric doom metal. The band has sadly already quit producing music, but the legacy lives on. Long before Nightwish the group gathered classical female vocalist, brutal distortion walls and beautiful harmonies woven together in a complex and multilayered structures. The 3rd is still one of my absolute favourites. Tears Laid In Earth was their first album release and it is one of the purest and minimalistic doom metal albums ever. It had quite crude sounds, but the compositions and atmospheres were solid and clear. Painting on Glass is my favourite album from the group. I have this sort of a ritual when the winter comes - when the world is filled with snow and starlight I lay in my bed and listen to Painting on Glass. It defines winter to me. The whole album sounds like ice on glass.

Ulver is a project that defies categories. Their first album Bergtatt was a metal album with a twist - the vocals were partly guttural growls, but mostly high pitched, clean, boy choiresque singing. The general atmosphere was really distinct and I was instantly in love. The tricksters had other things in mind thought, and the album was followed by acoustic folk, trash metal, electronic experimental music and brooding soundtrack for movie Svidd Neger. They recorded music for William Blake’s marriage of heaven and hell and finally the circle closes with their latest, Shadows of the Sun. It is melancholy in it’s purest form. "Sun is far away, it goes in circles."