Brand new split 7” from zonked Finnish folk spirit Merja Kokkonen of Avarus/Kemialliset Ystävät et al and fellow subterranean basement wowzers, TV-Resistori, covering each other’s songs. Very personal/handmade feel, zoned atmosphere, great use of the format.

Region-free DVD that bundles a host of evocative film shorts made by Sami, Fonal label boss and Es member, across the last decade. Features music by Es and a bunch of extra promo music videos for Fonal friends like Tv-Resistori, Islaja, Office Building, Es and Circle. “His experimental short films are most notably characterised by a certain suspension. For instance, Sänpäkkilä portrays repetitive jumps, trudging through snow or waking up repeatedly. This suspension is also present in the soundtracks to his works. The resulting entity is hypnotic, trance-inducing.”

New LP by this Finnish electro-pop unit on Fonal who had a previous split 7” with Islaja. Printed inner sleeves. “TV-Resistori's debut album came out in 2004. With their childlike melodies and cheezy synthesizer tunes names like Stereolab, Raymond Scott, Karkkiautomaatti and Mouse On Mars might pop up. If Fonal ever has a hit single it might very well come from Tv-Resistori. Yrjö's and Päivi's male/female vocal duets have become more and more the center of the songs. Now with the apt record engineering skills of the drummer Aleksi they have truly found their own sound Tv-resistori will release their follow up “Serkut rakastaa paremmin” (translates as Cousins Love Better).”

Re-issue of the second Es album from Sami Sanpakkila with one bonus track. Mesmerising early experiments with multiple turntables, winding broken/evocatively wonked phrases into hypnotic psychoactive architectures ala Terry Riley/William Basinski et al.

New album from this Finnish punk/rock/folk group on the Fonal label.

New album from Fonal head Sami’s very personal minimalist drone project. His last few sides have been epic investigations of the mind-stilling potential of achingly teased repeat-tones, and Kesamaan Lapset feels a little more concise in comparison, not to say less deliberately monochrome, with shorter pieces that explode into multiple colours using bold keyboard patterns and gushing electronics. At the heart of the music tho, there is that almost religious sense of stillness, of a single sonic event extrapolated in multiple directions. There is great use of repeating piano and hovering drone, which at points is reminiscent of Richard Youngs but when it all collapses into comet tails of lucid toytown synth it could only be Finnish.

Long-time since we heard from one of the secret jewels of the Fonal family, Niko Matti-Atti’s Kiila. Kiila manage to channel so much of what was great about classic 1st generation acid folk and communal psych without ever sounding particularly reverent, balancing delicate, spidery arrangements with moments of supreme heaviness and Velvets-style drone. The vocals here are great, massed voices hovering over a weave of strings. Indeed, the violin playing kinda colours most of the album, with a bold, raggedy style that brings to mind The Dirty Three. When they kick in – and the studio sound really adds to the ‘weight’ of the group – they have a proto-monolithic style that’s almost comparable to the Silence-era greats but it’s the moments of low-level space whispering form and weird webs of electro-acoustic confusion, super intimate in their construction and understated in their appeal - that will keep you coming back. Kiila were kind of the secret stars of Subcurrent’s Finnish night back in the day and it’s great to hear from them again.

Latest album from Merja aka Islaja with a classic bats Euro-chanteuse sleeve ala Brigitte Fontaine and more of an experimental electro-pop feel that internalises her recent experiments with Blevin Blechdom and Samara Lubelski. “Islaja has left the forests and moss-covered paths behind. Through an underground tunnel, she wandered off towards the city and found you again. She came in through the door as you were taking out the rubbish. Or through the window you opened on a summer’s night. Do you feel as though you’re not alone, even if there’s no one else in the house? Look around you and you’ll see – Islaja, petrified into a ceramic head on your window sill, on your television set.” – Fonal.

Great new album from Jan Anderzen’s Chemical Friends, three years in the making, with a freeform freakout style that could almost be The Familiar Ugly on The Red Krayola’s Parable Of Arable Land. There’s also a newfound ‘song’ quality to many of the tracks, with snatches of melody and hints of vocal arcs that float like Popol Vuh choirs above the flashing electronics, hand-drums and toytown tropicalia. Aspects of Astral Social Club and Monopoly Child Star Searchers combine in weird childlike hymns that could almost pass for a Japanese Ya Ho Wha soundtracking a Hawaiian beach monster movie. Nostalgic, funny, uniquely compelling, with guest appearances from a bunch of key underground players including C. Spencer Yeh, Neil Campbell, Hitoshi Kojo, Pekko Kappi and Niko-Matti Ahti.

Great new album from Jan Anderzen’s Chemical Friends, three years in the making, with a freeform freakout style that could almost be The Familiar Ugly on The Red Krayola’s Parable Of Arable Land. There’s also a newfound ‘song’ quality to many of the tracks, with snatches of melody and hints of vocal arcs that float like Popol Vuh choirs above the flashing electronics, hand-drums and toytown tropicalia. Aspects of Astral Social Club and Monopoly Child Star Searchers combine in weird childlike hymns that could almost pass for a Japanese Ya Ho Wha soundtracking a Hawaiian beach monster movie. Nostalgic, funny, uniquely compelling, with guest appearances from a bunch of key underground players including C. Spencer Yeh, Neil Campbell, Hitoshi Kojo, Pekko Kappi and Niko-Matti Ahti.