PROGRESSIVE MUSIC FROM FINLAND PRESENTS : ------------------------------ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT------------------------------- BIOGRAPHY : Alamaailman Vasarat ("the Underworld Hammers") are an unusual phenomenon not only in their home country Finland, but in the globe in general - 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 prejudices allowed, except that major keys are banned. With this sort of recipe you will surely come up with something extraordinary. "Ethnicbrasspunk", "kosher-kebabjazz"... some attempts to categorize Alamaailman Vasarat's style. Many people have admitted that one must hear music of Alamaailman Vasarat to understand what it really is about. One time you can sense flavours of ethnic music from different corners of the world combined with punky or metallic elements created by heavy cello and brutal drumming. Another moment they may surprisingly dash into a wild distorted polka or to a melancholy waltz a la salvation army. This may sound confusing, but don't be afraid, it's all carefully thought about - and judging from the enthusiastic feedback given by audience in the live gigs, by those having purchased demo CD's and those having seen the hilarious video "Kebab tai henki!", it works like hell. On stage Alamaailman Vasarat have proved that instruments like pump-organ and cello really can rock. The audience that have been attending the gigs, are by no means narrow-minded ethno music listeners, nor prog purists or jazz elitists, as one might expect judging from the instrumentation of the group, but quite every-day music consumers fascinated about the ultimate energy and briskness of this unusual combo. lt escalated to the extreme in the Provinssirock 2000 festival, where the group had to give up a reasonable deal of the space on the stage to the divers, which you normally only see at metal gigs. Alamaailman Vasarat was founded in 1997 by two members of Höyry-kone - the highly regarded avant-garde progressive rock group - drummer Teemu Hänninen and bass player Jarno Sarkula. The pragmatic reason for starting a new band next to another existing, was that Sarkula had impulsively bought a soprano saxophone, which he could not yet play, and both were fascinated about the idea to do music with an acoustic approach for a change. Later on the line-up was compieted with the pump organist Miikka Huttunen, the cellist Marko Manninen (one more Höyry- kone member) and the trombonist Erno Haukkala. The first year Alamaailman Vasarat matured the line-up by composing, arranging and rehearsing new songs, also constantly recording demos at their own studio. Alamaailman Vasarat made a soundtrack to a short film in late 1998, started doing live shows in the spring 1999 with a debut at the legendary rock club Tavastia in Helsinki, and later that spring filmed the video Kebab tai Henki!, which was included in the program of the Tampere Film Festival 2000 and received fierce applause from the audience. During 2000 Alamaailman Vasarat have done a reasonable number of live shows at clubs and festivals in Finland and recorded their debut album. A short visit was done to USA in October 2000. Plans also include more videos, more performances in Finland and a production with major city theatre in Finland which has expressed their interest in using Alamaailman Vasarat music in one of their coming productions during 2001. Vasaraasia CD has been rated on the World Music Charts Europe Top 20 (http://www.wmce.de), where it was on the 11th position on in January, and 7th in February. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCOGRAPHY : Lakseuma records Alamamaailman Vasarat : vasaraasia (2000) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS QUOTES : "Provinssirock 2000 - Alomaailman Vasarat Stole the Show" Headline on Jakobstads Tidning newspaper "That cellist must have come straight from hell", said someone in the audience." From a gig review by Ville Seppänen "But about moshing to weird stuff. This summer I saw a Finnish (underground) bond Alamaailman Vasarat live and it was the craziest show ever. They play "kebabjazz prog rock" ... instrumental with cellos, trumpets etc.. Well, people were stage diving like crazy, even girl in "yuppie" clothes. Some 3-4 people crowd surfing at the same time. And this was non-stop, even during the very quiet and mellow songs. I don't think I've ever been more afraid at a gig. Hehe. (And I've seen bands like Meshuggah in the first row) " Discussion in the internet "Vasaraasio 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. The range of influences is very wide, and if we limit it to genres, we could talk mainly of RIO, but also of eastern ethnic music (Turkish, Arabic, Hindu), advanced progressive rock, jazz, movies, hard rock, punk and even easy listening. An explosive mixture that frees up a spectt7cular and extremely dynamic sound." Jaume Pujoi, Progressions webzine - http://www.galeon.com/progvisions "Finland's finest? Purveying a hybrid mixture of jazz, big band, Psychedelia and ska (what?), "Vasaraasia" is laden with impressively articulate orchestral jazz-rock homs, pump organ, piano and what sounds like the occasional heavy metal guitar but is actually (as 1 am informed) cello through a pile of distortion pedals. The vibe is thoughtful and lively, organic and hands- on, humorous and muscular : only skilled players need to apply for vacant positions. 'Lakeus'(track3) brings a cello dominated change of pace with a doomy Northern Wastes soundtrack, while 'Kebob Toi Henki!'(track 6) begins with ominous acoustic snuffling in the ambient undergrowth before lurching into a breakneck tune of real dexterity and ensemble playing. Track 8 (Tankkaustunti) is, as the name might imply, heavy metal done with jazz timbres, perhaps with a little Grand Wazooera Zappa hiding in there somewhere. Contemporary, timeless and Finnish - that'11 do nicely!' Martin Gordon, World Music Charts Europe, http://www.wmce.de Alamaailman Vasarat - Vasaraasia (2000) (LR 00 1) New and wild quintet: sax, shehnai, trombone, didgeridoo, cello, pump organ, grand piano, drums, percussion. Radical style similar to Norwegian bond Farmers Market. Heaps o'fun but intense and challenging at the same time. Recommended! Digelius Music, Helsinki, Finland, www.digelius.com ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT : Vasaraasia (Finland) An offshoot of Höyry-Kone, A.V.4 out of the 5 players here [on trombone, soprano sax, cello, pump organ/grand piano & drums are in H-K. But the sound is extremely different, sort of an odd combination of hyper-charged klezmerpolka with a slightly sinister air ala Univers Zero's 1313. Fantastic playing & good tunes make this a winner. Cuneiform Records, http://cuneiformrecords.com/newstuff.html Alamaailman Vasarat : VASARAASIA " Finland's finest? Purveying a hybrid mixture of jazz, big band, Psychedelia and ska (what?), '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. The vibe is thoughtful and lively, organic and hands-on, humorous and muscular: only skilled players need to apply for vacant positions. 'Lakeus' (track 3) brings a cello-dominated change of pace with a doomy Northern Wastes soundtrack, while 'Kebab Tai Henki!' (track 6) begins with ominous acoustic snuffling in the ambient undergrowth before lurching into a breakneck tune of real dexterity and ensemble playing. Track 8 (Tankkaustunti) is, as the name might imply, heavy metal done with jazz timbres, perhaps with a little Grand Wazoo-era Zappa hiding in there somewhere. Contemporary, timeless and Finnish - that'll do nicely!" From www.worldmusicnight.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- contact : Laskeurna Records C/o Jarno Sarkula Merimiehenkatu 1 9 A 14 00150 Helsinki FINLAND Tel. +358-40-5115262 E-mail Alamaailman@Vasarat.com Internet : www.vasarat.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go back to the Finish progressive music review page by pasting the next URL : http://progressive.homestead.com/FINLAND_GROUPS.html or by pushing the return button if you were there before.