Yes, StrangeFlow has taken his trusty aeroplane, the BASSADELIC 1, for another voyage, this time landing in Europe…

This article will attempt to cover a portion of a dance music that many over here in the West may not be quite as familiar with (though I’m sure some of you have).. The thing is, there are many different varieties and forms of music, both electronic and otherwise, that are doing just fine without London or Los Angeles, and in the interest of learning about new music, and possibly gaining inspiration, I thought it would be a great thing to educate myself on some of these interesting genres.

Suomisaundi

Originally from Finland, suomisaundi translates to, “Finnish sound” in Finnish. It first appeared in the mid 90s, and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to the overly-strict rhythms of goa trance. Though it was originally a Finish form of dance music, it can be found in Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Norway, and areas around the Eastern European side of the globe.

It’s trance music that doesn’t take itself quite as seriously as some forms of bass/dance music, and I think that’s probably a good thing. It’s experimental, trippy, and has been described as downright anarchistic. As I said earlier, I will try to touch ground on this form of music, but by no means should article be viewed as being quite s thoroughly comprehensive as I’d like; afterall, this is just ONE article, and I’m talking about a whole genre of music! So, please bear this in mind.

While you scan this article, here’s a nice little mix to get things rolling…

Alright, so to start with, I found a nice list of some suomisaundi artists, and they’re posted below.. ( I found this list at http://forum.isratrance.com/suomisaundi-albums/ )

Calamar Audio
Crazy Ducks
Flying Scorpions
Eraser vs Yöjalka
G.A.D
Huopatossu Mononen
I.L.O.
Kirna
Lemon Slide
Luomuhappo
Mandalavandalz
Masatronics
Mullet Mohawk
NBR
Omituisten Otusten Kerho
Pavel Svimba
Pelinpala
Pentti Slayer
Poly 61
Salakavala
Shiwa 2000
Squaremeat
Summamutikka
Tea Chairs
Texas Faggott
Torakka
Vihtahousu
Ukkonoa

As well, some notable labels are 6-Dimension Soundz, Exogenic Records and Freakdance Records (the latter two being Finnish, and 6-Dimension Soundz hailing from Japan). Another label is Hippie Killer Productions, who put on a show earlier this year, and the flyer is below. It gives you a small taste of some of the visual aesthetics of the style:

One notable artist/pioneer of the genre, named Texas Faggott, created Thixx’.n’.Dixx, which was a website that contained mp3 downloads from all (or nearly all) of the suomisaundi musicians at the time of it’s debut.

I couldn’t find the site mentioned, but I heard some tunes by Texas Faggott. One of them, posted just below, is called, ‘Psychedelic Virgins.’

His music is some of the more popular in Finnish psytrance, and you can find his music on Beatport.com (just to name one site).

Another label, Antiscarp Records, just recently released a compilation, entitled, “Bread & Circus,” (a reference from hundreds of years ago, when leaders who were attempting to distract their subjects would allow for ‘bread and circuses,’ or, good food (bread was considered good back then) and entertainment, to keep their people from rising up and changing things). Anyway, the compilation features artists from all over, and I’ve posted a few of the tracks below..

Another interesting artist is PeLinPaLa.

Below is one of his tunes, called, ‘Funk Da Mental Superstar Mamafucka.’ You can hear some real funk in it, as well as a complete lack of concern for staying to the strict template of the epic build-up style known TOO well to artists of trance, techno, house, even dubstep, (and, unfortunately, some of the bigger glitch hop tunes these days)… I almost want to start calling this “FUN TRANCE,” because it really makes Goa trance DJs seem like a bunch of fascists! Ha.

Alright, now it’s time for some Squaremeat. This one’s real fun! It’s ‘Pure Cofein (Francoises_FUTUREmix).’

I enjoy this style because, although I have enjoyed trance music in the past, and I’ve been to Goa a couple times and seen how trance music IS LITERALLY EVERYWHERE (which is very fun) I did grow somewhat tired of the monotonous and overly-structured and predictable nature of a lot of it. It’s no secret that psychedlic trance serves as a great soundtrack to taking psychedlic drugs (not saying it HAS to, but it HAS and still DOES, often) but it makes sense that a music designed by or for LSD/MDMA/DMT/Psilocybin experiences would go a little off-course and explore itself, musicially, whilst at the same time provide the listener something enjoyable and fun to dance to.

Not to push the point too much harder, but really, overly-repetitive trance (as compared to some of this stuff) takes on the inverse path that suomisaundi does, artistically; that is to say that a constant and entrancing rhythm that builds or drops can be great for inducing a psychedelic pulse (and helping to keep the brain waves in the beta frequency?) but this Finnish stuff sounds like music by people who have actually explored some of these altered mindsets – and come back with a new sound – a sound that isn’t as predictable or irritating – but rather, a sound full of energy, life, humor, and excitement!

…& cheers to that, I say!

So, to end this voyage, I leave you with a clip of a rave that took place in a Russian Forest, with Killahbass on the decks, from 2007…

If you liked this article and want to see StrangeFlow travel to other exotic locations, leave a comment about what other interesting forms of music you’d like to see blogged!

-Will

BTW, I realize the photo at the top of the page might make it appear as though StrangeFlow landed in Africa. I know that Finland, Russia, New Zealand, Norway, and every other country I mentioned are not exactly African countries.. Actually, StrangeFlow was able to parachute halfway across the globe, which is pretty good, considering he was dropped above Africa, eh?