From the barren streets of middle-America come Shaved Women. Reigning as the supreme harbingers of chaos in Saint Louis, Missouri, this nihilistic quartet has risen to the top through an effective mix of brutal noise rock and self-destructive hardcore punk. Informed by the caustic nature of small city-towns, the band focuses its feedback-drenched dirge into a cross-section of existential anxiety and landlocked depression. With the ability to simultaneously smolder and combust, Shaved Women seamlessly blend the warring guitar riffs of Black Flag, the rabid mania of The Jesus Lizard, and Drunks With Guns’ reckless abandon.
Singer Ben Salyers’ animalistic vocal approach barrels in the red with self-loathing rage over guitarist Chris Eck’s grinding walls of feedback. Referencing the buzz-saw warp of Black Flag’s Greg Ginn, Eck weaves through a maze of discordant riffs while maintaining total control of the band’s uncompromising progression. Anchored by the dialed-in rhythm section of bassist John Birkner and drummer Tom Valli, the band easily transitions from erratic breakneck speeds to a headstomping trench crawl with metronomic vitality. The band’s unmatched tenacity results in a bevy of AmRep-style breakdowns hinged on unforgettable mid-tempo hooks and complete brainwave annihilation.
Lyrically, Salyers lends to the downer nature of the band as he wades through a sea of mediocrity and complacency with songs like “Choices” and “Every Day Life”. On “Circles,” Salyers barks, “It starts again! It starts again!” as he asserts the pain of mundane existence and the depravity of routine life. Too lazy for suicide. Too apathetic to change.
Straying away from the typical “blown-out” sounds of their contemporaries, Shaved Women’s self-titled record offers a balanced focus on the band’s defiant sound and innovative songwriting. Wielding a domineering death rattle, Shaved Women’s volatile brand of corrosive hardcore continues to bridge the gap between acid punks and hardcore weirdos. Fear. Anxiety. Depression. Isolation has never been so real.
Ektro Records proudly presents the pioneer of Finnish electronic and
experimental music - Mr. Erkki Kurenniemi. The tracks released here -
produced during 1963-1975 - include Kurenniemi's focal works and
previously unreleased raw material composed as solo works - as well as
works in collaboration with Kari Hakala, Jukka Ruohomäki, Otto Donner
and Eino Ruutsalo.
Kurenniemi's impulsive attitude towards his art - including electronic
music, films, media art, instrument design - is perfectly captured in
his composition rules presented as a guide line
of the release:
#1 The work has to be completed in a single day
#2 Consecutive sounds must be chosen so that they are totally
inconsistent or surprising and have no rational relationship with each
other
#3 ..?
Carefully chosen masterpieces are newly digitized from the original
master tapes with highest possible sample rate and resolution (192
kHz, 24 bit) to preserve a pristine listening experience. Kurenniemi's
works are now heard first time as genuine as possible for no
artificial restoration applied in the remastering process.
Pieces compiled on this double LP and wrapped in the astonishing
gatefold cover will be out only on vinyl.
The devoted and ecstatic Pori-based legend Kuusumun Profeetta will return to the battlefield by storming with their whole rich-flavoured palette, to be admired by the fans of imaginative music.
The band will release their latest adventures in the form of the upcoming album Huutoja hiljaisesta huoneesta (Screams from a Silent Room). Prepare yourself for ground-shaking power and heart-melting sensitivity.
Kuusumun Profeetta proudly presents the song Kellonsoittaja (Bell-ringer) from the upcoming album.
Antaumuksellinen ja hurmoksellinen porilaislegenda Kuusumun Profeetta palaa sotatantereelle vyöryttäen koko rikassävyisen palettinsa mielikuvituksellisen musiikin ystävien ihmeteltäväksi.
Yhtye julkaisee uusimmat seikkailunsa tuota pikaa Huutoja hiljaisesta huoneesta -albumin muodossa. Luvassa on tannerta vavahduttavaa voimaa ja sydämen sulattavaa herkkyyttä.
Kuusumun Profeetta ylpeänä esittää Kellonsoittaja-kappaleen tulevalta levyltä.
Éva Polgár and Sándor Vály
250412 | 20:17
Éva Polgár and Sándor Vály Mondrian Variations
The second part of Sándor Vály's and Éva Polgár's experimental and audiovisual art project is a synestetic processing based on Piet Mondrian's paintings. In the processing Modrian's paintings (composition, colour, space) have been transposed to sound-time codes, and orchestrated for a piano and a sampler. The score and music formed from the paintings in this way is a direct translation of the work, and allows the recipient to enjoy Modrian's paintings as music.
The CD includes the following Piet Modrian's paintings, amongs others: Composition with Grid 8, Broadway Boogie Woogie, Pier and Ocean, New York City I. The CD package contains also a 40 page documentation booklet, which introduces the method used to create the Mondrian Variations.
Sándor Vály (born 1968) is a painter who was born in Hungary but now lives in Finland. Vály's art is characterised by conceptual and philosophical dimension, which he uses to operate in the field of modern art. His work in the field of arts is not limited to painting, but expands to music, cinema, performance art and literature, and creates holistic works of art. Vály's works form extensive entities. His musical background originates in 80's Hungary, where he grew up with punk, experimental and industrial music.
His greatest musical influences are, amongst others, Skinny puppy, Einstrürzende Neubauten, Laibach, Steve Reich, John Cage, Philip Glass, F. Schubert, J.S.Bach.
Éva Polgár (born 1983) is an Hungarian pianist who lives in the USA. She graduated from Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest in 2007, and from Sibelius Academy in 2008, where she studied under Hamsa Al-Wad's supervision. She tours actively, giving concerts in Europe and USA. Polgár's extensive repertoire ranges from baroque to modern music. Mondrian Variations is the first work where she has also participated in composing the piece.
Unholy cries are heard in the night as Stench of Decay fills the air with sinister rumblings! Beginning in 2004 with fast and aggressive death metal, the band soon evolved into the combination of crushing heaviness and dark melodies that it is known for today. This compilation gathers together the first three releases of the band, from their rare s/t first demo to the later modern classics Where Death and Decay Reign and Visions beyond Death. Recommended for fans of Finnish death metal and Circle!
Stench of Decay - s/t CD out soon!
Tuskan huudot kaikuvat Stench of Decayn täyttäessä ilman pahaenteisellä jyrinällään! Vuonna 2004 perustettu nopeaa ja aggressiivista Morbid Angelin tyylistä death metallia soittanut yhtye siirtyi myöhemmillä julkaisuillaan enemmän kohti Bolt Throwerin kaltaista raskaampaa ja synkempää äänimaisemaa. Tämä kokoelmalevy kattaa yhtyeen kolme ensimmäistä julkaisua sisältäen harvinaisen ensimmäisen demon sekä modernit klassikot Where Death and Decay Reign ja Visions Beyond Death. Suositellaan suomalaisen death metallin ja Circlen ystäville!
After a period of deep hibernation, Rättö and Lehtisalo are struggling to reclaim the pop markets with their new twisted album. With mathematically calculated hit song formulas having conveniently gone missing, the result is popular music from the other side of the fence, where death is alive and gold is dirt.
Re-released and remastered, the legendary second album from 1996 captures Circle roaming the deep waters of monotonic ritual and manic psychedelia. The album marked the end of an era culminating their epic occult rock and roll. Zopalki offers a penetrating glimpse into a time forever lost, but whose presence can still be perceived.
The charismatic lead vocalist and frontman of the legendary NWOFHM supergroup Steel Mammoth releases his first ever solo album. On a couple of their most recent albums the Steel Mammoth mothership has been sailing down a mercilessly blackened metal punk river. Hard, fast, aggressive and packing a simple crusty punch. While Garfield Steel remains a fierce fan of the razor sharp punk metal stylings, he has also been working on a bunch of songs that require a more experimental soundscape.
Darkness Freedom is part classic NWOFHM and part futuristic synthesizer exploration. Hard rocking guitars intertwine with smoothly pulsating drum machines and eerie effects, creating a haunting new synthesis of heavy rock and electronic sound manipulation. It rocks hard as hell yet sounds sweet like heaven. It is an adventurous inner space journey into the mind of an artistic genius. Darkness Freedom is the Newest Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal.
The album is released as a co-operation between Karkia Mistika Records, Ektro's Super Metsä and Tosi Raju.
OUT NOW
Slussenanalys - Liemannen
060312 | 17:00
A new song by Slussenanalys, to break the silence following their debut album Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos.
Jussi Lehtisalo - Interludes for Prepared Beast LP
070212 | 22:02
Musician. Artist. Philosopher. Obsessive. Enthusiast. Innovator. Bullshitter. Joker. Gentleman. Beast. These are only a few of the paradoxical faces of the underground cottage industry known as Jussi Lehtisalo.
In 1991, this proud native of Pori, Finland, swaggered into the public eye via a self-released 7-inch by a hypnotic little project called Circle. Since then he's served as the group's sole constant, shepherding ever-changing personnel and filtering deliberately repetitive riffs through dozens of rock and non-rock idioms. Add in a bevy of insanely varied, albeit somehow congruent satellite bands—Ektroverde, Eturivi, Kirvasto, Pharaoh Overlord, Lusiferiinin Armosta, Slussenanalys, Split Cranium, and scores more—and his cottage industry becomes an empire. Pile on the independent record labels he operates—Ektro, Full Contact, Super Metsä, and Ruton—and that empire expands into a cosmos.
Despite his ceaseless activity, Lehtisalo's first proper solo LP, the subdued, introspective Rotta, didn't appear until 2010. Shying away from ego and excess, the album evokes a dimly lit stroll down snowdrift-clotted city streets where an unabated wind carries the familiar but vaguely sinister chatter of eccentrics, drunks, animals, and ghosts.
The schizophrenic follow-up, Interludes for Prepared Beast, takes yet another abrupt left turn. With a title that references (and perhaps parodies) John Cage's piano molestations, Lehtisalo's latest effort scans like a transcription of his own central nervous system. Each side of vinyl comprises an unpredictable 17-minute suite that fidgets and sprawls in a neon procession of stabbing fuzz guitars and clacking, rattlesnake percussion. Noise, prog, metal, punk, ambient, and electronic fragments stutter, shift, and melt beneath an abstract sun. During key moments, a benevolent ogre chants random absurdities before glassine synths and psychedelic sound effects drag him out to sea. Aggression yields to serenity, restlessness cedes to calm, and destruction gives birth to bliss. Hallelujah.
Of course, it's impossible to tell if this organic blurring of styles, moods, and emotions arose from revelatory thoughts and painstaking labor, or if Lehtisalo merely got lucky one evening while devouring pizza and guzzling beer in the studio. But that, my friend, is simply the nature of the beast.
Interludes for Prepared Beast LP released in cooperation with Svart Records. Cassette version released by Sige Records.
COMING SOON
Circle - Serpent
190112 | 22:35
This titillating live spectacle of Circle was multitracked at the reputed rock venue The Croft, Bristol, during their United Kingdom tour in fall 2011. Here Circle gives us a one hour rumble of old and new songs, a brisk illustration of the adult-oriented avantgarde music that they have lately been involved in. Also this is a tasty introduction for their next studio album Manner which will be released by the American label Hydra Head Records on the 21st of April, Record Store Day.
Lunar Jetman excavates Pharaoh Overlord's monolithic lineup of the previous decade’s live recordings. With the avant-wizard Hans Joachim Irmler (Faust) onboard, the crossfire of turbulent frequencies jolts the Lord's vacuum-sealed riffcraft on an incalculable orbit, where the restraint and bleakness vaguely resemblant of blues evolves into cathartic bursts of thrashing improvisations and moments of serenity. There is nothing ornamental in the menacing austerity of this album.
1. Rodent (10:43)
2. Palmyra Cali (13:29)
3. Cardinal (4:09)
4. Black Horse (16:37)
5. Cave of Hair (29:25)
Out soon on CD! Preorder now!
2LP version out soon on Sige Records
Slussenanalys - Himlen mot helvete
040112 | 23:32
Music video for Himlen mot helvete. The track appears on Slussenanalys' debut LP Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos.
Slussenanalys concerts
5.1. Monttu, Pori, Finland (w/ Seksihullut)
7.1. Lepakkomies, Helsinki, Finland (w/ Plain Ride, Octopus Syng)
28.1. Fluxee-klubi, TEHDAS Teatteri, Turku, Finland
Death Trip - Pain is Pain
051211 | 23:07
Death Trip is as uncompromising as it is hypnotic - an intense concentration of distorted guitars in the spirit of The Stooges, The Birthday Party and Spacemen 3. Branded one of the most frightening bands in Finland through the infernal screaming of Läjä Äijälä (Terveet Kädet, Billy Boys, The Sultans...), Death Trip is known to have been an influence on the Finnish underground, being one of the factors that contributed to the formation Circle, for example.
Pain is Pain - The Complete Death Trip 1988-1994 collects the band's three 7" singles (originally released on the legendary Finnish indie label Bad Vugum), previously unreleased live material and rare demos on one CD.
OUT NOW! Released in cooperation with Karkia Mistika records.
Two Circle albums, Taantumus (2001) and Tower (2007) will soon see the light of day as vinyl re-releases.
Taantumus double LP out soon on Full Contact / Svart Records. Limited to 500 black vinyls and 200 transparent brown vinyls which can only be obtained from Ektro or Svart directly.
Tower out soon on Full Contact. Black vinyl, limited to 500 copies.
Prospekt and Soundcheck, two previously out of print Circle albums, have been re-released on CD by Brazilian independent record label Essence Music. The albums come in gatefold mini-LP sleeves.
Both CDs can now be pre-ordered from Ektro's webstore.
Keuhkot - Laskeutumisalusastia
091111 | 15:27
The sixth struggle album of Kake Puhuu. The combat noise and insect world music downpreaching book. Rawer than its precursors, this album strips it down to marrow and squeezes juice out of it.
Keuhkot batters mindless attributes of humanity from insects' point of view by means of reverse pop music. The aim is towards backwoods motorism, meritocamping, real men, moose hunt madness and established global upstarts. The most bearded feminist of Finland, Keuhkot, kicks the real man's groin.
Keuhkot makes its own ethnic fusion gadding from rhythmic highways to distorted sidepaths in a refreshed guitar oriented soundscape. You may call it freaky but according to Kake, pop music (including metal, of course) is a freaky industrialized illness that needs a vaccination – which is Keuhkot.
CD OUT SOON
Kake Puhuun 6. taistelualbumi. Hyönteisetnon ja combat-noisen popin suohonlaulukirja. Aiempaa raaempi ja pelkistetympi kokonaisuus riisuu luuytimeen asti - ja tekee siitä täysmehua.
:: Circle: Tulikoira (edition 2009) CD EUR 7.90
:: Pharaoh Overlord: #4 CD EUR 7.90
:: Pharaoh Overlord: Siluurikaudella CD EUR 7.90
:: Plain Ride: Oh the flow CD EUR 7.90
:: Plain Ride: Strange Trial CD EUR 7.90
:: Rättö ja Lehtisalo: UU mama CD EUR 7.90
:: Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo: Hiekkarantaa CD EUR 7.90
:: Steel Mammoth: Atomic Mountain CD EUR 7.90
:: Faust: Kleine Welt (live) CD EUR 7.90
:: Janne Tuomi: Approaching CD EUR 7.90
:: Kuusumun Profeetta: Jatkuvasti maailmaa pelastamaan... CD EUR 7.90
:: Kuusumun Profeetta: Lyhtykuja CD EUR 7.90
:: Mika Rättö: Polkupyörällä vuokkopenkereelle CD EUR 6.90
:: Lusiferiinin Armosta: Nuolee CD EUR 6.90
:: Musiikkivyöry: Tulemme sokeiksi CD EUR 6.90
:: Laivue: s/t CD EUR 6.90
:: Quest for Blood with Yukihiro Isso: Quest for Blood CD EUR 6.90
:: Andromelos: S/T CD EUR 6.90
:: Jorma Tapio & Terje Isungset: Aihki CD EUR 6.90
:: Doktor Kettu: Soft Delirium CD EUR 6.90
:: Steel Mammoth: The Kingdom Of The Golden Hammer CD EUR 6.90
:: Krypt Axeripper: Mechanical Witch CDEP EUR 3.90
:: Steel Mammoth: Nuclear Barbarians CDEP EUR 3.90
Steel Mammoth and Slussenanalys
121011 | 17:41
The new LPs by Slussenanalys and Steel Mammoth are now available!
Steel Mammoth - Nuclear Rebirth
111011 | 18:38
The unstoppable NWOFHM-strikeforce Steel Mammoth rode their loud war machine down a surprisingly dark punkmetal path with their latest album, Radiation Funeral. Their new masterpiece, Nuclear Rebirth, continues this dark journey into the punkmetal nightmare. Insanely cranky vocals, machine gun drums, berserk bass violence and bloodthirsty guitars screaming bloody murder. The possessed barbarian warriors are reborn for war, speeding into the void faster than ever. Twelve songs of classic high octane NWOFHM!
A1. Nightmare Ad Nauseam
A2. Sleep Possession
A3. Hate Medicine Lucifer
A4. Torture Labyrinth
A5. Warrior Of Nothing
A6. Spirit Armageddon
B1. Looking At The Winner
B2. The Dark Behind The Dark
B3. Ghost Blood Dominion
B4. Nuclear Rebirth
B5. Beast Demon Serpent Animal
B6. Undead Facts, Now
The most Swedish noise rock of today comes, surprisingly, from Finland.
Ektro Records (known in Sweden as the home of the best rock band in the world) and Svart records aim to penetrate the markets of Finland’s neighboring country in an aggressive manner with a product that is too surprising to submit to the tools of commercial analysis.
The vivid images of decadence portrayed in Slussenanalys’ lyrics are rich in biblical symbolism and existential pondering, set to a musical score that equals the uneven hobbling of a hobo with a police bullet lodged in his leg. Vocalist-lyricist Esko Lönnberg paints a bleak, yet poetic picture of a Stockholm with no light and no future, while the band conjures a rocking wall of noise that leans towards the Chicago of the 80’s. It is a picture of a city where an immigrant child with a broken home is predestined to spend his days either on the street or behind bars, his nights filled with the sounds of breaking storefronts and the barking of police dogs, closer and closer.
The future seems dark for all involved in the stories of Aquila Helvetos Asfaltos, but despite the low expectations for a better future, the combination of the stories and the music manages to find nobility among human wreckage and hope in the shadows of the gray cubes of an urban maze of alcoholics and addicts. Slussenanalys aims to reverse the seemingly unending downward spiral, to rise above the smog and to let us bask in the light of pure inspiration.
LP OUT SOON ON EKTRO'S FULL CONTACT VINYL IMPRINT
"flyger från Katarina
över Järntorget jag svävar
på vingar fan så starka
svävar genom luften som en örn
[…]
så läckert!!
ni där nere se på mig – hoho
se hur bra jag mår – ha ha"
Esko Lönnberg: vocals, Tuomas Laurila: drums, Mika Raekivi: guitar, Jussi Lehtisalo: guitar, Eetu Henttonen: bass
Crom: Earth Queen/Eyes of Fire 7”
020911 | 20:28
Originally released in 1985, this Pori-based well kept secret of Finnish heavy metal is now available on Full Contact. Sought by collectors and discovered only by few, Crom delivers a unique piece of heavy metal with high quality tunes and catchy melodies. Ektro Records is proud to give this hidden classic the publicity it would have deserved back in 1985.
Limited to 500 copies. Coming soon on the Full Contact imprint of Ektro Records.
COMING SOON
Circle featuring Verde - Giardino MC
110811 | 23:29
A vintage 2007 documentation of an afternoon rendez-vous in Tampere between Circle members Lehtisalo & Rättö and electronics wizard Verde. These aural snapshots take us on an eerie botanic trip. Mood music of the future in an imaginary garden. Limited, numbered edition of 200.
PRE-ORDER NOW!!! ONLY ONE COPY PER CUSTOMER! COMING SOON ON RUTON MUSIC!
Erkki Kurenniemi - DRY ’73-9-8 MC
110811 | 23:28
”In the 1980's the composer is already at least able to discuss with his studio if the instruments are not even able to read his thoughts directly.” – Erkki Kurenniemi (1971)
DRY ’73-9-8 is an unedited reprint of one of Kurenniemi’s 90-odd volumes of private cassette diaries. This specific late-night tape contains nothing but the first ever recorded experiment of Kurenniemi’s futuristic musical instrument Dimi-T (T=thinking, a.k.a. Electroencephalophone a.k.a. α/θ cyborg) at his home. The machine transformed the alpha-waves of a sleeping musicians’ brains into real time sounds. An early phantasmal noise gem, with a limited, numbered edition of 100.
PRE-ORDER NOW!!! ONLY ONE COPY PER CUSTOMER! COMING SOON ON RUTON MUSIC!
"You should be making music primarily because you love it. Most everything else is a bonus. If you have fans at all, great. If you can play around your home town, or maybe throughout your country, fantastic. Recording your music should please you first and foremost -- how else could you expect anyone else to get into it? If you do start to become really successful, your troubles will truly begin."
