Circle (the Finnish band): S/D

Upcoming Circle Sunrise on No Quarter kind of fucking kills. Everything they do (including the 'NWOFHM' stuff) is on here, and it all jams. "Paholaisratsastaja" = !!

That's a re-release of the 2001 record, right?

Oddly enough I'm listening to some of the Doktor Kettu stuff this afternoon. Nice, though it all kinda blends together.

yeah reissue!

actually there is a new record coming out on No Quarter too, but I can't get to play on my PC

hey, you know what's pretty fucking good? prospekt. wish there were more vocals and more violin, though. probably my favorite of the circle rock albums atm.

panic on the other hand...

Prospekt is my favorite, too. It's the only one I've got on double lp.
Love this youtube clip of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FWftvvaVok

a timely revive - been meaning to check these guys out for a while, but their discography keeps growing and i have no idea where to start. seems like there's a huge, huge variety of material covered in their dozens of releases.

so, what's a good circle full-length to start on? preferably one that's relatively easy to find from the good mail-order places.

Circle :: what album is their best

thanks

As of 2007 my favorite Circle album is Miljard. It's ambient music, so not typical for them, but very nice.

I've been playing Miljard as my bedtime music for the last couple of weeks, in rotation with Villalobos's Fizheuer Zieheuer and Iasos's Inter-Dimensional Music.

Been a fickle fan of this band for a few years, since the Static/Resonance issue of Prospekt back in 04 or so, though I'd been reading about 'em and wanting to hear stuff since the early 90s late Forced Exposure era. Love Prospekt and Sunrise to death, love the full-on cosmic Valhalla epics from their NWOFHM era. Empire's a good live record, though a bit too forest folk oriented. Fucking LOVE the early dirty grind of Meronia & Zopalki. But I'm not familiar with much else, and my exposure to Circle's sensitive side hasn't enouraged heavier petting.

Anyway, am adjusting to the relatively restrained Krautrock horrorshow of Katapult and considering picking up the Sunburned Circle LP. Anyone heard that, got any reports? Any recommendations for other material along the lines of Prospekt and Sunrise? With Mika wailing in full effect, ideally.

I've got that lp. It's pretty good. Tulikoira is a particular favourite of mine.

Most Sunburned Hand stuff I've heard is skittery and unwashed, like it was made by people with lice, like NNCK on a bad day. So I'm leery. But I could see as how the bands might draw each other in interesting directions - Circle to loosen up a bit, SH to straighten up and fly right.

I finally got hold of Tulikoira, particularly spurred on by watching it race to victory in the poll, and it's the business. Great rocking rhythmic genius. I can't believe I took so long to get round to this piece of the Circle puzzle. Along with Panic, which I'm also liking a lot, it's reinvigorated my Circle obsession after being disappointed with Arkades, Tower and Katapult. I'm definitely going to go back to those ones now though, as I didn't listen to them more than once or twice since I didn't like them too much and was craving more of a Pharaoh Overlord-type hit at the time.

Oh man, that final minute or so of Tulikoira is fantastic. Maybe this counts as a musical spoiler , so look away now if you haven't heard the album, but... when it all kicks back in for the final wee bit of rawk at the end after fooling you (or at least me) with the preceding extended quiet pseudo-ending, it's just perfect. NWOFHM indeed.

I've heard Raunio. And Sunrise I have Sunrise and Katapult (a new one on No Quarter). All of the above are great. I really like that latest a great deal.

I saw them last night and they slayed pretty hard. They have a mid-set interlude where they do Greco-Roman wrestling on the floor

I really like Circle feat. Verde. A lot mellower than their usual output. Slightly more akin to Chick Corea's 'Return to Forever' or even some of Vladislav Delay's output.

Any recommendations for other material along the lines of Prospekt and Sunrise? With Mika wailing in full effect, ideally.
Check out the live album Raunio. Heavy wailing vocals. Includes a really great version of the first song on Prospekt, "Dedofiktion."
The atmosphere is really heavy throughout. There are opera vocal breaks throughout the set, between the rockers. It was the first Circle album I heard, I need to listen to it again.

I don't suppose anyone's managed to see the Saturnus Reality documentary that is mentioned on the Circle website?

It supposedly premiered at the recent Avanto festival in Helsinki and sounds very interesting...

Saturnus Reality (2007) is the Finnegan’s Wake of Finnish rock documentaries, and a fabulous cul-de-sac in a stream of consciousness. The film’s subject is Circle, the prolific Finnish experimentalists hailing from Pori, but it is a self-ironic vicious circle of a film that focuses on the curious world of the band and its musicians, shot on a home video camera. Jussi Lehtisalo, Mika Rättö, Janne Westerlund, Tomi Leppänen and Tuomas Laurila appear in the film as if they were acting out themselves.

The film is nominally centred on the recording sessions of Miljard, one of the latest albums by this extremely productive band, whose output includes 28 albums in 16 years. Starting out as a traditional rock documentary, the film soon runs loose on various sidetracks: to the depths of a forest, onto a frozen lake, into the darkness of night. The band’s primeval music becomes the soundtrack for magic rites performed in nature. The musicians meet the mysterious Oracle of the Reed Sea, a strange meteorite has landed in a snowy landscape, and so forth. What matters in Circle’s fantastic world is totality of vision, while details are treated somewhat generously. The new genre the band has coined, NWOFHM (The New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal), may just as well mean fragile atonal piano improvisation or catatonic one-note walls of sound. Inspired by the ritualistic films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger, the film moves to the beat of double and triple exposures, the atmosphere balancing in the timeless opening between childish horseplay and reckless pathos. Enthusiastic live commentary can be heard beside the camera by the director/cinematographer, Pori’s multi-talented craftsman of the psychedelic, Esko Lönnberg. His earlier works include the splendid concert film with Doktor Kettu (also from Pori), shot through a distorting lens.

- Mika Taanila

Saturnus Reality
(Finland, 2007, 60 min, Finnish dialogue, English subtitles)
World premiere at Avanto Festival, Helsinki

I just received Alotus today, following a successful eBay purchase last week, and it's another winner on first listen. Nice and repetitive, no outright craziness, more in a relatively subdued rocking vein, with some really nice grooves and bass playing going on in particular.

My belief in the cult of Circle is strengthened yet more.

Wow. I just discovered this band over the weekend. I picked up Katapult and the "Vaahto" 7" and I'm really happy I have this thread to dig through to find out where to go next. As corny as it may sound, this is one of those thrilling new discoveries that reminds me why I love music so goddamn much.

I just won a copy of "Pori" (the Feldspar version) on ye olde eBay - new Circle excitement!

On the actual new release front there's a new full length CD album on Ektro called Hollywood (extended Earthworm EP style action) and a 2LP vinyl only live album on Fourth Dimension called Triumph (ala Arkades).

NWOFHM continues!

ahhh yeah, i was hoping for some more duff stuff. i hope ektro re-re-releases the fucknig jesters of destiny cd, it's pretty great.

fucknig. well.

There's plenty of Duff stuff on the new one, well worth it for Earthworm fans.

Just got word last night from Fourth Dimension that the Triumph vinyl should hopefully be out next week after long delays.

"hollywood" has already appeared on slsk. it's pretty good, maybe less thoroughly "metal" than the ep (if you leave off the two tracks from the ep, which they should've done) but still a good time.

camera obscura
U2
magenta skycode
radiohead
the LK
orange juice

camera obscura
U2

magenta skycode

whut

the kellerbot is malfunctioning

wasn't this a "circle the finnish band" thread? obviously the only correct choice was magenta skycode.

oh how droll

Nice.

"Pori" is soooooo good. This is another one to truly rekindle my love. "Hollywood" is good, but it's not got me excited on the few listens since it turned up. "Pori" however is effing wonderful right from the first spin - track 2 is an utter belter. I'm half-way through and am setting up the album repeat button right now.

'hollywood' is growing on me. it's hair metal noir at times

is that out? has it made it to the US yet? i can't find a fawning aquarius records review on their site...

i got it as a gift, not sure how it was acquired. website claims '09 u.s. availability

http://www.circlefinland.com/index.php?discography=hollywood

if you liked the "earthworm" e.p., you might want this one too. the title is fitting. it's straight up cock rock at times, at others all southwest, a la steve von till solo

You can still get it from Ektro directly it seems. When it first came out in October-ish they claimed it would have a limited pre-order period before the full release, but it still appears to be listed there: http://ektrorecords.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=928

each listen is better. "connection" could be a judas priest song. "hard to realize" sounds like a latter-day ween spaghetti western epic, complete with gene ween vocal inflections. these guys (if not ween) might be the most versatile band right now. "mercy and tuesday" and "mad man" develop into serious hypnojams

is that out? has it made it to the US yet? i can't find a fawning aquarius records review on their site...

[/snigger]

it'll get there; they'll love the shit out of this one. between 'hollywood' and the new animal collective i already have two '09 favorites, and it's just jan. 2, signs that this might the year i won't be able to keep up anymore

Circle news:

New 2LP live record Triumph finally out now on Fourth Dimension.

Also, Doktor Kettu CD album on Ektro (droney Circle/Jussi side-project).

I also hear that the 'Saturnus Reality' Circle documentary film will be released on DVD in March-ish on No Quarter!

Fun times!

Finally got my latest package from Aquarius with Arkades, Forest, and Panic. Looking forward to digging in over the course of the day. Anyone know of other stores to order from? I've just about burned through all the albums Aquarius has available right now.

eMusic has some of their stuff too if you don't mind getting by on digital downloads

yeah, aquarius is probably the best u.s. distro for circle stuff, seeing as how they love everything they've ever done, etc.

anyone seen the new dvd?