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.

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.

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."

 

In a nutshell, this album is a collection of minimalistic instrumental tunes that paint a blue and silent image of the old west. Piano, violin and glockenspiel are well represented and harmonical layers are constantly limited by the hollow emptiness that embraces the sound. If I’d have to point one album that delivers that which I aspire to deliver via Frozen Silence, it would be this.

One of the best soundtracks ever produced in my humble opinion. This score works on it’s own, distinct from the film while defining and instantly associating the scenes with the music. It is interesting to hear Nick Cave doing instrumental music. He and Warren Ellis seem to dwell in the same deep waters, for the general atmosphere reminds me of Cave’s work with Bad Seeds. Brooding, melancholic and hopeless at times. This is strong music in it’s minimalistic and raw style. Wonderful example of less is more concept working in practice.

Pat Metheny is one of my most important influences in the realm of modern jazz-guitar. I really don’t know any other player that plays quite like him. No matter what material I hear from him, I usually become mesmerized by his exceptional harmonical and melodical sense and ability to improvise.

Pat has had a long career, but the album The Way Up can be seen as certain kind of milestone. In my opinion this album transcends Metheny’s playing to another level. Rhythmically and structurally it is something that is surprisingly easy to receive and listen to, but at the same time you realize that there are some intricate and extreme things happening behind the curtains. I recommend listening to the album as a whole entity, for it isn’t actually a collection of distinct tunes, but a one big scene.

It is also worth mentioning that like always, Pat has once again managed to gather exceptional group of musicians. I especially wish to mention the drummer Antonio Sanchez. His ability to combine complex syncopations with style and solidity doesn’t cease to amaze me. Lyle Mays is also excellent like always.

If you haven’t heard Metheny, I recommend taking a shot! If you have, you don’t want to miss this

Seriously recommended - 5/5