tulasi

tulasi ~ exotic cocktail party (ikuisuus, 2012)

"exotic cocktail party; appetizer salad. moving magnetic tape. ether weaving sound tapestries. belly-dancers who disappear at the blink of an eye. bulgur with a snake of paradise wriggling in it. the rhythm of movement and breathing. 19th century orientalism in the 21st century Finland. an eye emerging from a beautiful hand. on top of the buffet enjoyed a day standing, but very extracted coffee." 

"perfectly described as Kutomo and Kulkija make music with Alice in Wonderland. rhythm carries everything slimey and bazaars gets on fire. sometimes pure madness, sometimes calm as sleeping corn field. not the duality, diversity. this flower pot carries every seed in new Noah's ark."

music & sounds by Tulasi: Ikävalko & Koho
recorded at Metsälä and Kallio, Helsinki, Finland in 2011-2012.
same tracks on both sides.

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shep and me

shep and me ~ spring creeper (cabin floor esoterica 2011)

"Minnesota's Matthew Himes, of the fantastic Lighten Up Sounds label, has carried Shep & Me through a revolving door of sounds, places, people and time. The sounds found here span five states, six other folks lending a hand, and seven years of recording, but you would never guess it with how well this flows as a whole. Like an old car radio, things crackle and split across the dial from crooked hayloft sing-alongs to smoky low-fidelity transistor radio drones. You never quite know what you're hearing in between - the hum of a midnight motor, a voice crooning from another room, or a dirty '45 spinning just a little too slow. A perfect blend of straight-forward songs and far-out mixups of sound. In an edition of 50 tapes in cardstock sleeves with an insert." cabin floor esoterica

cabin floor esoterica se está convirtiendo poco a poco en mi sello favorito. escogen cuidadosamente cada disco que editan (keijo, serfs, sacred basil, breathing flowers,...), grabaciones mágicas y atemporales con un sonido muy reconocible y a la vez inclasificable (polvorientos, minimales, lo-fi, folkies, ingrávidos, evocadores, cinematográficos........) que para mí son los más especiales y de los que, creo, nunca me cansaré. como carretes caducados o cintas de cassette desgastadas que conectan de alguna forma con the caretaker y me recuerdan todo lo que me gustó keijo o rambling boys la primera vez que los escuché. para ganarme ya del todo, la entrañabilísima 'i can't help myself', con silbidos y un eco lejano a village of spaces acompañados por la guitarra de johnny cash

fotos: jordan sullivan

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keijo

keijo ~ along the stream (cabin floor esoterica 2011)

"Finnish legend Keijo Virtanen (the voice behind the Rambling Boys, The Free Players, etc.) returns to Cabin Floor with nearly an hour of fried blues. He rolls effortlessly from the sparse disjointed riffing and freakouts of '15 Days' into the solid locked coasting-blues groove of songs like 'With White Woman' and the almost Valentine-like dream of the instrumental title-track. Every song is developed and full. Beautiful howling harmonica wails, dancing clear guitars and the snapping drums keep things exactly where he wants them to be. Edition of 50 tapes in cardstock sleeves with two inserts, one featuring a photo from Keijo." cabin floor esoterica

foto: connor novotny

otro mejor disco de mi vaquero finlandés favorito. six months on exile, folk minimalista y melancólico susurrado ante un micrófono imaginario qu no parece de este mundo

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rambling boys

rambling boys ~ ain't got no home (cabin floor esoterica 2010)

"Keijo Virtanen, Jukka Nousiainen, Lauri Puttonen and Sami Virtanen join together to put a spin on the dust bowl ballads of Woody Guthrie. After two incredible lathe cuts, Rambling Boys finally throw down a full album of what were once simple road songs, now pulled apart at their roots and tossed into the basement to be jammed into something completely new and unstoppable. Heady rolling guitar licks, fuzzy harmonica wails and snapping drums drift in and out of each other, locking in perfectly only to split back into the mumbling open." cabin floor esoterica

ain't got no home, de los ilustrísimos rambling boys, ¡por fin! 

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keijo & jarmo

keijo & jarmo ~ talkin bout death past gone (ikuisuus 2010)

"We were not tired, but we were cold. We sat on a campfire and started to sing. There was someone at our home who had forgotten us. There was nothing left for us. Some black man sat by us. Or was it a woman? It opened its mouth and did not have any teeth. The song was cold, the song was warm. We were not afraid anymore." ikuisuus

"Finnish artists Keijo & Jarmo sing the most stripped down suicidal traditional blues and folk on Talkin Bout Death Past Gone. I really wonder what inspired this harmonica induced primitive Americana folk in Tampere." undomondo

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keijo

keijo ~ first time (full of nothing 2010)

"The Finnish free folk elder statesman Keijo Virtanen is back with another album in his vast discography. However, this work is titled "First Time". The album follows his recent output of his own very open approach to blues. But no W. Guthrie covers here, only Keijo's own pieces, with help from friends on two tracks. This is where free folk meets blues in the most beautiful and stunning way. Cardboard sleeve with photocopied collage pieces, hand-stamped cdrs. 100 copies." full of nothing

foto: vamitos

at night, at night, at night....

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keijo

keijo ~ songs of luck (ikuisuus 2009)

"Keijo's songs draw from country-blues sources, as is often the case with his releases, there's a couple of Woody Guthrie interpretations included here. Harmonicas whine and woe, but also keep up the rhythm of keepin' on. In these songs, people get up early and travel in a land "that used to be your land."..." ikuisuus

quiero viajar por carreteras desiertas con songs of luck de fondo, y rambling around en repeat

foto: laura lynn petrick

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keijo

keijo ~ maailma hetkina (luovaja 2009)

"Maailma syntyy ('The World is Born') derives from the Finnish cosmogonic myth. The way of singing here is Keijo's adaption of the tradition he had learnt in the mid 1990s in Jyväskylä from Ville Elonheimo (who, by turn, had learnt it from his grandmother). For many years Keijo and Ville performed material influenced by ancient poems, such as this tale of creation.

Yön hetkinä ('At The Moments of Night') is named after the moments when the fragments of it were born, at night one is open and able to hear, when it is possible to hear other ways and other things than the day. The soundscape of the piece is like the night, you swell and churn, and sometimes something solid may come up." luovaja

foto: marija strajnic

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keijo

keijo ~ songs of luck (ikuisuus 2009)

"Keijo's songs draw from country-blues sources, as is often the case with his releases, there's a couple of Woody Guthrie interpretations included here. Harmonicas whine and woe, but also keep up the rhythm of keepin' on. In these songs, people get up early and travel in a land "that used to be your land." It's a place where luck comes and goes, just like the people that you meet. The girl knows how to hit you like rolling thunder, the workers are left unpaid (the boss ain't), the ones with no work are standing in the welfare line, your "true love" throws you a suitcase and shows you the door, there's working in the country and in the cities, an anonymous wanderer carries the blues wherever he goes...but it's bigger than just being down: you don't see me worrying, 'cos I've got nothing left to lose. That's why we all share the blues." ikuisuus

todas sus canciones podrían dar vida a un western mágico...don't remember me, don't remember me when i'm gone. y tanto que sí, larga a vida a keijo virtanen!

foto: kaitlin van baarle

she's like a lightning

rambling on my mind

touch of sunshine

careless life

a paw in my face

01. juniper ~ caracoles
02. coming home part I ~ big blood
03. red apples ~ kurt vile
04. up in the building ~ mi and l'au
05. canyon loop ~ the ten thousand things
06. aloop ~ beggin' your pardon miss joan
07. castles ~ amen dunes
08. some strange rain ~ cotton jones
09. rain on ~ woods
10. philly arbiter-almost known ~ willie lane
11. exit twilight ~ ilyas ahmed
12. hard travellin' ~ rambling boys
13. distant man ~ red river dialect
14. biggest lie of all (kath bloom cover) ~ the dodos

15. look down fair moon ~ arborea

16. coming home part II ~ big blood

17. higher than the end ~ twi the humble feather

18. hello lou ~ these trails

19. gone the bells ~ cotton jones

20. a safe place ~ animal hospital

21. down from above ~ vetiver

22. leaf ~ a wooden door

23. little kirby blues ~ arbore

foto: ugnė straigytė

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keijo

keijo - hetki (267 lattajjaa 2009)

damaged folk blues from Keijo, released 31.1.2009 mmm!

foto: sophie curtis

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rambling boys

rambling boys - pastures of plenty (7'' 2008)

"Original Rambling Boys were Keijo, Jii & Jaakko (2005). Story goes on with open lineup. Lately it has been: Keijo, Jukka, Sami, Lauri, Leila, and Jii. Out now: Rambling Boys: Pastures of plenty (Rambling Boys/W. Guthrie) / Uusi (Rambling Boys) 7" lathe cut. 50 copies. 5 eur + postage. blues, folk, psicodelia."

Jukka Nousiainen, Sami Virtanen y Keijo Virtanen son tres de los responsables de esta maravilla que combina el espíritu de jam y psicodelia de Davenport con la magia de Woody Guthrie y Paivänsäde; algo así como un grupo soñado. Buy you a car, Hard travellin' y Up the birch whisk mountain se convierten en un bucle adictivo en el que todo es perfecto: la voz aguardentosa de Keijo, las percusiones destartaladas, el blues rural, los campos de trigo, el Delta del Mississippi, los bosques de Finlandia...todo a partes iguales y en perfecta armonía

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