[music] Christmas Hula Lounge on Friday!

Alright, kiddies! Just a reminder, tickets might still be availbale for tomorrow's Christmas Hula Lounge spectacle at Tavastia! Something special's supposed to be on offer, but who cares about that crap when two of the schmartest, most intensely rawking, progressive-yet-enjoyable indie rock bands are headlining. Look forward to more tempo-shifting than you can fit into the whole fusion jazz section at Digelius music!

If you haven't seen Rubik live you should. As for Underwater Sleeping Society, I've last seen them years ago when their first album came out. The new release out this fall is pretty enchanting stuff, very soluble and tricky, so I expect an evening of disjointed fingers and blood on the frets. And, cohorts in the prog-pop group Kastor perfect the sweet & cerebral holy trinity.

Oh, and Jaakko & Jay are also playing. And some stuff from the Desert Island Sessions project, apparently.

[music] Office workout

The perfect antidote to a snively spell that hits you in the middle of a dark, damp but fun-filled weekend is a dose of Australian home remedy: Cut///Copy, anyone? Even if I'm facing pneumonia for my sins against proper clothing and resting when ill, I gotta dance, dance, dance on that Sunday night!

Well, it was a fine show the Windows-inspired Ozzies put up (or is that MacOS?), but not without annoyances. Despite the eventual boogie-rama towards the end of the set it was a more subdued affair than the boys' last time in town at Flow Festival, when they played for thousands of music lovers all wound up just waiting for the slightets instigation to burst into a pogoing frenzy to finish off the three-day festival. For some reason a sold-out club were not up for the jack-in-a-box routine.

Like a wet rag in your face the rock-police squad stood stonewalling the fun crowd somewhere around the mixing booth, but a jam-packed Tavastia can't be wrong: when the call came the club jumped. To be honest, the cooler indie crowd was no doubt feeling slightly queasy as they crossed their arms and looked around at the wallowing mass of moving bodies, but I'm sure they got something out of the gig too. Though I don't know what exactly. After a slow start and a few pleas from frontman Dan Whitford the crowd eagerly obliged, and for the last few numbers (almost) the whole Tavastia was jumping with arms flailing about -- a rare occurrence in the Mecca of Finnish rock circles, where a black T-shirt is eternally the vogue.

As can be expected from a band named after the most common edit features, Cut///Copy can sometimes slip into delightfully nerdy territory on stage. Sure, mostly all they do is wave around and pull up samples (except for drummer Mitchell Scott, apparently), but when graphic-designer-by-day Whitford does his best Scooter impression with two raised index fingers it's hard to just look on with an air of cool superiority. Yet, let's face it, despite such goofyness Cut///Copy are obviously trendy, and I dare say even one of the most cunning bands out there as far as their sound is concerned: mixing the dancefloor wallop of 90s Madchester techno and some anthemic appeal of 80s new wave is pretty genious. Of course, their lyrics are just rubbish, but who cares.

My biggest gripe with the evening is that it was over all too soon! Especially after the stuffy first half I was not ready for Hearts on Fire when it came. Dammit, boys, make more songs will ya!

[music] Daddy, what was indie?

The above question was asked about a week and a half ago in the form of a club evening by the same name. Three bands from way back -- favourites from my youth -- were booked to play at the ridiculously overpriced and generally crappy Kuudes Linja (which can not be disparaged enough by me) on what turned out to be the wettest Wednesday ever. The results of that evening were mixed: a general nostalgia for times when indie was still fun, teary-eyed appreciation of some kick-ass bands playing killer tunes, and a righteus fury at the sad contemporary state of indie pop, which led to redfaced rants of how Joy division is overrated crap and only got better when that sad bastard Ian Curits offed himself, etc.

A handful of people had gathered, and as I stood there in my soggy sneakers the rather desolate atmosphere was bringing me down as much as the music was lifting me up. Luckily the audience made up in quality what it lacked in quantity. After hearing the last 20 minutes of a smashing set by Vaasa power-popsters Sugarrush, I was blown away by the rousing applause they got. They are still one of my favourite bands, and I can only hope their dayjobs are well-paid but boring enough for them to keep wasting time playing in a rock'n'roll band -- even if they no longer play just to desperately attrack chicks (which I'm sure such a handsome bunch does quite successfully). I just wish they had played last: they're born showstoppers. After Sugarrush Ben's Diapers' country rock made me wonder when exactly did country go out of fashion? Just a few years ago it was all Americana everywhere, with the Jayhawks, Wilco, Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams, and the likes soaking indie-kids' underwear left and right. All of the sudden nobody cares about the dusty roadside bars and prairie fires. Go figure. Anyway, I declare Ben's Diapers' (who clearly have no interest in mainstream success, based on the moniker they have chosen) song Road Songs an instant classic in the niche of Finnish-guitar-driven-alt.country-pop. Finally it was Mummypower who closed the show with a set that revealed a previously undiscovered, striking resemblance to Smashing Pumpkins! (By way of The Posies, of course.)

All in all, some powerful spirits were channelled throughout the evening -- The Posies, The Pixies, Paul Westerberg, Evan Dando -- luminaries of Power Pop, whom the world of indie seems to have all but forgotten. Finnish indie pop as a genre, I guess, has been slipping into hibernation since the turn of the millennium. The bands I used to listen to and love when I first moved into Helsinki are almost gone -- they've gotten married, they're raising kids, working dayjobs, etc. There's a charming sense of passing in that. And the bands that have come up to fill those voids naurally build on new ideas and recycle different sounds. But at the same time I can't help but feel a new kind of self-conscious coolness about most of the new bands on the scene -- an artistry that's ill-fitting to the philosophy of indie pop I have come to embrace. Of course, Finland is another story from the US-UK axis which gave birth to most of these sounds, and the indie pop scene here in the 90s was always more syncretic than its agloamerican paragons. The dissolving of Finland's wave of guitar-pop was not as inevitable the fate of those highly developed counter-cool movements. But times have indeed changed here as well, and with a quick tally of the contemporary hot shit on the scene, the loss of innocence is achingly tangible. It's all somehow more professional, more ambitious, more serious than I remember. Indie pop has ceased to exist, and only the grim reality of "indie" in the American sense of music that's hip and fashionable among a certain strata of educated youth, or in the British sense of music that's made with guitars and not computers, prevails.

I'm not out to badmouth anyone or claim that Finnish bands nowadays lack in the DIY department. I'm just saying that the empowering potential that indie pop has held for geeks has ebbed (and I mean true geeks, the uncool kids, not the "geeks" who dig indie music, because they're really not uncool at all, are they).

To shape that rather esoteric conclusion into the form of an answer to that titular question: what was indie?

Just a bunch of kids having fun.

[music] Fun with marsupials

I am sorry for Australia. Really, it's a country, nay, a continent impossible to take seriously. They talk funny, they surf all day (I guess), their Prime Minister (or somesuch) makes an ass of himself by speaking really awful Chinese on YouTube, and they have a ridiculous variety of marsupials -- the funniest animals ever.

Judging by photographs a wombat is a rather cuddly-looking fellow, a fun-loving jovial type that understands the value of having it easy. Which is why The Wombats have chosen the perfect name for their band.

As I found myself facing a no-go situation on Pop-O-Matic club's after-summer comeback and a boring Spanish film at home, I opted to spend the Saturday night going to Tavastia by myself, to check out the band I last saw thee years ago in Shanghai. Back then The Wombats were a strapping lot, keen young popsters from Liverpool playing for a rock-starved crowd in one of Shanghai's premier live music venues (Shuffle, which sadly later ceased to exist). I fell in love with the trio then and there, and ended up supporting their fledgling finances by buying every cd they had with them, and a nice pin which to this day adorns my bag!

Now, three years later they were in Finland. The crowd relative to the venue wasn't that much thicker, but much more familiar with the band and clearly as excited to be there. I guess there's an anglophile generation coming of age. The audience was roughly split between young girls and expats, with the odd pop nerd here and there. I found myself pogoing away in the middle of a throng of crazy 18-plus-year-old girls and (fewer) boys. This was a very nice, enthusiastic audience, much more fun to dance with than the boring gits who crowd most smarter indie gigs. And what fun was had!

The Wombats' pop/rock is just perfect. Built on driving beats and infectious melodies, they take no chances in pleasing people -- yet it still doesn't feel like trying too hard. Instead, they effortlessly take the easiest way out in every respect, and I mean that in the most positive possible sense. As I find myself increasingly bored by whiny indie "intellectuals", endless post-punk doom and gloom, the incessant buzzing and clicking of fashionable electronica and song structures to rival a Russian novel, the pure simple beauty of a good power chord-driven pop song sounds more and more compelling. The Wombats cut straight to the chase, but make the chase ever so exciting. Their lyrics are accessible for even the box-of-rocks teenyboppers, but still contain clever irony to force a smile on the most snobbish of lips. A Wombats show is just pure fun and games.

Music for the sole purpose of turning that frown upside down.

[TV] Skins is the best thing on right now and here's why

Last winter I was hear on several occasions frothing over how The Wire is the Best Damn Cop Show Ever. While I still stand by that maxim, this summer has brought to attention another show which has turned out nearly as spellbinding: British youth drama Skins, hereby known as The Best Damn Teen Show Ever.

Of course, this is an unfair comparison to the cancelled-too-early classic Freaks and Geeks. I'm sure it would've gone much further and been even better if it had been allowed to continue, but let's face it. Quality like that stands a slim chance in American TV. Skins presents a much wilder, much more egregious and ultimately more contemporary view of the troubled existence of modern day teenagers. While the problems faced are timeless and typical, the surface of the series sticks it firmly to the post-MTV universe.

Skins has loads going for it. A fantastic cast of young unkowns (except for Nicholas Hoult, who has matured significantly since About a Boy), brilliant cinematography and for the most part sharp writing add up to make every episode an absorbing self-contained mini-drama. And the banter, comedy of humiliations and sheer crunked up mayhem bring in unparalleled entertainment value.

And, there's the music. The show often excels in flaunting the best new music out there and in revining oldies of current interest. Although it is somewhat alarming to find out that Bristol kids apparently mostly go ape to dubstep or crap trance, most of the music fits the show's future perfect tense perfectly. Asobi Seksu, Feist, Cat Power, Animal Collective, Battles, and many more have appeared on the soundtrack. Crystal Castles even made an appearance. I think some years ago The O.C. was going for the kind of indie-conscious musical line to get the hipsters and cool kids interested in its syrupy beach-and-parlor drama, but failed miserably to impress the snobs. Of course, Skins is still a mainstream TV show and ultimately behind in the trend curve, but good for popularising some lesser-known upstarts. And on a more aesthetic level, the modern regurtations of eternal pop elements resonates perfectly with the themes of youth: so fresh, yet at the bottom of it so familiar.

Plus it's just really good fun to watch the kids stumble and party their way through adolescence.

[TV] Why are there no good talk shows on Finnish TV?

I just saw the first episode of Radio Helsinki DJ (and all-round Media Person) Maria Veitola's new talk show Maria! Scarcely had the opening credits rolled out when I was reaching for the snooze button. It's a fact, the only good talk shows on Finnish TV are imported ones. Thank god for Conan, or we wouldn't have any good gab on. Why do our homegrown efforts suck so much, then?

A) Boring hosts. Maria Veitola is just another in a long line of wannabes, who consider themselves quick at repartee, funny and flash enough to entertain by their mere presence. In truth they are stiff and artless. Watching Veitola interview someone and try to be funny while doing it is like watching a Finnish karaoke singer sober.

B) Boring guests. There are apparently no interesting people in Finland. (Slight correction, none of the Finnish "celebrities" are interesting.) Oooh, fashion designer Paola Suhonen wants to go to Hollywood and make "romantic movies and road movies." And hockey playing Ruuttu brothers sometimes sit in an ant hill. Fascinating. You'd think they would actually think about some of the stuff they'll talk about beforehand, maybe come up with some amusing anecdotes to share with the viewers or something. Instead, the hosts often want to ask something "meaningful" -- like "How do you feel about that?"

Which is a related problem to

C) The shows are neither entertaining nor informative. Too often the programmes have ambitions beyond mere comedy value, which leads them to clutch at anything remotely related to current affairs, "hot topics" like climate change or boob jobs included. Why is it, that saying something useless about something everyone is talking about is more important to these people than saying something of substance about a thing that might not be receiving the most publicity. Being one or the other, funny or clever, is ok! Being both would be fantastic! But the Finnish way is to try too hard and fail at both.

So, in summary, the shows are boring, unfunny, and content-wise just impoverished.

I think it's no surprise there have been less and less of these shows in recent years. People don't really want to watch something that half-assed, I hope. The olden days of Hyvät, Pahat ja Rumat or [gasping with reverence] The Frank Pappa Show are definitely in the past. I just hope Maria! eiter picks up the slack or ends up where it belongs: in the tape vaults.

But wait, the future holds a promise! Thank the Gods of Televised Entertainment there's an election coming up. I can barely wait for the political debates and current affairs talk shows to start on the public YLE channels after a looooong summer hiatus. I mean, why do we have this massive public broadcasting system for? C'mon, roll out the talking heads!

Wow

It only took me three days to write that post, and I managed to keep it surprisingly short! Good for me! (That's what you get for editing other people's texts all day long.)