Se ainoo lääke on

Finland chose its Eurovision entry this weekend and, to be honest, I don't think much of it. I think that's why I've gone through a mini-Finnish music spree, though admittedly my Finnish music collection is vastly smaller than, say, my Swedish music collection. Though there we some real revelations for me last year from the Finnish music scene (Jenni Vartianen's "Ihmesten Edessä," which if I was giving out awards for achievement in music in 2007 would have easily snagged one for its still intoxicating beauty and aura of mystery melded with an unforgettable piano part and some of the best mature pop songwriting of the year; Ninja, though that was a year after her album came out), no one was able to take away the title of my Finnish singer of choice--in terms of the music created--from Antti Tuisku. His 2006 dance album New York is incredible, an album that works on the dual level of capturing the sound of nights of clubbing and being a showcase for sophisticated international-quality songs (the commercial side of dance, yes, but I wouldn't even call it pop-dance). "Levoton" is still my go-to song for testing new headphones (that intro gets me every time) and "Sekaisin" is still an incredibly catchy dance song, but those songs and the other singles are only the tip of the often fun, often dramatic, always exciting iceberg. He's come a long way from his days as a third place Idol finisher, and this album proved it--or should have at least proved to Finland that, at least in terms of making music, he's an artist worth paying real attention to (suffice to say, it didn't; if you're looking to seem cool, his name isn't one to start mentioning, to say the least).

I've sung New York's praises so often, though, that I thought I'd post an earlier song from Antti today, one from his first album. It's got a very different sound from what he's doing now (this song is more the giggly, young-sounding, arguably chintzy side of pop), though, so if you've missed my earlier posts on him, definitely give some of his more recent (though still years old) singles like "Sekaisin" a listen.

Yritä Ymmärtää--Antti's second single and, given that it comes from all the way back in 2004, it's probably no surprise that it finds him sounding sort of...boyish. That fits with the music of the song, though (even if not the lyrics; apparently the title means "Try To Understand," but that's all I know), which has an almost bouncy playful feel to it. The key to "Yritä Ymmärtää"'s appeal, though, and the reason it moves beyond a singsongy youth-oriented appeal (or deserves to), is the strings. Really, I can't overstate what a smart idea it was to include them; not only do too few "boy pop" songs (or, heck, pop songs in general) make use of them, these ones are particularly great, pretty, catchy, and lifting, and truly make what could have been an otherwise forgettable song one that'll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, even if only because you're trying to figure out what that string part reminds you of or how they can be sampled and incorporated to a new song immediately.

The lead single for his greatest hits, "Ei Aikaa," pointed to an interesting combination of his older pop sound with the dance sound he used on New York; I'll be very interested to see what he does next.

To buy Antti Tuisku's debut album, Ensimmäinen, go here (digital). I'd say New York is the album of his to get, though.

Next up: maybe a British singer.

Ja kello käy

I'm also still obsessed with Antti Tuisku's latest single. "Ei Aikaa" is so darn cute (in sound, not necessarily lyrics)! And parts of the video for it are truly lovely to watch from a sort of cinematographic perspective (seriously, I want to live "there," when "there" is only a bunch of random locations, most of which are probably computer generated or enhanced and are lit by an icy blue light. And feature sand, usually falling)...



...but other parts feel awkward. I really, really wish someone would just take Antti aside and talk to him. Maybe Jonah?

Matkataan tulevaisuuteen

So: the "legend" that is Antti Tuisku, the boy who finished third on the first season of Finnish Idol and has a fan base large enough to send his latest two albums, released on the same day, to #1 and #2 on the chart--why you should care about him, despite the fact that he tends to evoke Jesse McCartney-esque reactions (or maybe it would be better to say...Anthony Callea-esque reactions) in people (not that he sounds anything like them), in 5 easy steps

1.) He released one of last year's best albums. No one outside of Finland noticed, but that doesn't make the fact that he beat Danny to the "Idol goes dance and releases fantastic album" punch any less true (though Antti's album is a little more...house, maybe? More dance? Less pop-dance than Danny's).

2.) He cites Madonna as his idol (and, on New York, you could finally hear that).

3.) He was once bottled off stage.

4.) He recently released a song called "Hyppää Kyytiin" which, if Wikipedia can be believed, is the "YleX Kesäkumi ('Summer Condom') Campaign Song," part of "an annual Finnish health education education campaign aimed at prevention of young people's sex diseases." Would Justin Timberlake release a song to try to stop the spread of STDs? No, he would not--if anything, he's helping spread them.

5.) He cares about the environment.

No, really! Or so they tell me. He makes fact-finding trips to Malawi

(notice the glasses--you can tell he's being serious)

and released a calendar for the WWF (ex-World Wildlife Fund)


Although that picture makes me think more of Swamp Thing than animals that are victims of oil spills, but it's the thought that counts, right? Right?

So, with all that in mind, let's look at the "Sekaisin" video, just to remind ourselves of his dance anthem from last year first.



I'll never understand why he's seen as such a swoon-worthy popstar by so many people, but his music is definitely something worth getting excited about--at least or especially when, as others have put it, he goes "dance diva."

I managed to hear all of latest single "Ei Aikaa," but, since it's been a while since I've written about him and I'd bet a lot of people haven't heard of him before, I'm going to post another song that I think is a better introduction. I do really love "Ei Aikaa," though, although, as I said yesterday, I don't think it'll expand his fan base at all (which I think New York did, to some extent)--it really is like his cutesy older sound mixed with a little dance or electronic influence. Supposedly, you can watch the video for it here, though it won't play for me. I think it's the lead single for his upcoming greatest hits (titled Greatest Hits Vol. I, which is a bit like McFly calling theirs Best Hits...So Far, no?), due out October 31.

Tulevaisuus--as far as I know, this was never a single, though it's easily of the quality that it could have been. Taken from New York, the dance music album that he released the same day as the pop-oriented Rovaniemi, "Tulevaisuus" isn't quite as swooshy as lead single "Sekaisin" nor does it have an intro quite as fantastic as "Levoton"'s, but it's just as hard-hitting as either of those songs. Like those songs, though, it's got a pretty great punch the air/hands-in-the-air sort of feeling to it. I had trouble describing the difference between Antti and Danny's version of dance (hmmm...maybe it has to do with differences in how the vocal melody is done?), but it's pretty easy to hear (not that one version is better than the other--just different).

Finnish music drives me crazy because I can never figure out where to buy it--and I don't just mean digital music stores; I've yet to find a Finnish CD store that ships to the U.S., so I don't know anywhere where you can buy a physical copy of Antti Tuisku's album New York besides hoping for one to pop up on eBay. You can get a digital copy here, though.

Next up: maybe an American group. But probably I'll just stick with Finnish Idols and write about Anna Abreu again.

Yritä ymmärtää

Ooo, Antti Tuisku has a new single out! It's called "Ei Aikaa" and you can listen to a clip of it on his MySpace. I wasn't sure about it at first, but by the end of the clip, it was sounding pretty good--it sounds like he's mixing his pre-New York/Rovaniemi sound with the New York sound (so basically, that sort of cutesy pop with a little more dance and electronic stuff thrown in), which isn't exactly what I was expecting or hoping for, but, now that I think about it, could be a very good thing, even if it won't help expand his fan base at all. I'm very interested to hear the whole thing.

(Cue mini-Antti Tuisku mania, me desperately searching for the song, rants about how there's never anywhere to buy Finnish music, and a probable post on him tomorrow.)

Kylmää jää jälkeesi

From what I've heard, Antti Tuisku, the third place-finishing Finnish Idol contestant whose popularity has surpassed that of those who beat him, has both a large number of people who adore him (apparently many of whom are young and female, though I'm not quite sure why) and a large number of people who absolutely can't stand him. Let's ignore that for a moment, though, because, though I'm still digesting it, his album New York (released at the same time as his pop album Rovaniemi; New York took the top spot on the album chart that week while Rovaniemi took the second) is shaping up to be a very good dance album, even if the vocal melodies on some songs could be hookier and I might go crazy trying to figure out where some of the samples are from (I have no actual proof that the album uses samples, but it somtimes feels like it does...or maybe the producers and writers just came up with some really good hooks that feel like they should have existed in the past).

Levoton--I am in love with the first minute of this song. Full-on, flat-out love. "Levoton" starts out with distant wooshing wind (accompanied by some clicks and building percussion) that gradually gets louder--but what is it bringing with it? Suddenly, the main drumbeat comes in, and oh my gosh, could it be any more '80's?! It's amazing (though simple)--is it a sample? It's got to be. This is going to be my test for speaker systems in the future--if I don't feel an instense desire to start playing air percussion at this point, the speakers aren't quality. It's still pretty minimal, though...but then the beat drops, a simple, glistening, repeated set of electronic notes. Then a little bit more accompaniment, the moving part of the beat, comes in...listen to it with really good headphones, or preferably on speakers; it's a must, or you'll think I'm crazy, and it's totally worth it--one of the most delicious sections of music I've heard this year. I think speakers--not car speakers--are the way to go. The main shame: the vocal melody, when it comes in, adds nothing to it; if anything, it gets in the way. I'm glad there's singing in the song, but could someone take the music and come up with something else to sing over it? "Sekaisin," which I posted earlier, is still the better overall song. In fact, there are other songs better than this on the album, but at the moment, I just can't stop listening to that first minute of "Levoton."

(Note: after forcing myself to listen to the rest of the song several times, it is a grower and does start to work better as a whole, but I can't help feeling that an intro that amazing deserves a masterpiece of a song).

Apparently, "Tunturibiisi" is going to radio next (after "Sekaisin" and "Levoton") which I don't understand; if they had to choose a song that started with "T" and had lots of vowels in it, I think "Tulevaisuus" would have been a better choice.

I still have no idea where you can go to buy Antti Tuisku's album New York, unless you can navigate through Finnish and this site ships everywhere (which I don't know whether or not it does). If anyone knows, please let me know--there are some other Finnish CDs I'd like to buy!

Lots of blogs I love are starting back up again after a bit of a gap (some more recently than others, but I thought I'd mention them all together): the incredibly detailed and surprising PopEatsPop; the eclectic, educational, and always fun Electroqueer; and the taste-expanding, Russia and nearby countries-focused Russkipop. Also, Enthusiastic but Mediocre has started its year-end countdown of the 100 best singles.

Next up: I'll probably return to Antti at some point in the future, but for now, maybe a French singer.

Musiikki vie mut taivaisiin

After a couple of days in Sweden looking at some artists with Melodifestivalen connections, we're off to Finland and an artist who has gotten a little bit of Eurovision buzz (though he's said he doesn't want to compete in it yet): Antti Tuisku. Like many of the artists I've written about, he, too, rose to fame through a Pop Idol show--he took third in the first season of Finland's Idols. However, he's since become probably the most popular out of any of Finland's Idol contestants, releasing four "real" albums and a Christmas album. In fact, two of those albums were released simultaneously this October and took up the #1 and #2 slots in Finland's album charts. The #1-reaching album, New York, was dance-oriented, while the #2 album, Rovaniemi, was more pop. The album covers look pretty neat next to each other--New York, with a blue theme, has Antti facing towards the left with a close-cropped haircut and Rovaniemi, with a red theme, has Antti facing towards the right and with spikey popstar hair (you can get the general idea by looking at his official site). Overall, I think the one dance album, one pop album--at the same time!--idea is a great concept (even if it would be difficult for most people to do) and I love that he was (apparently) successful with it.

Sekaisin--as you might guess from the title, Antti's songs aren't in English, and although that might make it slightly more difficult for the English speaker to appreciate an entire album of his, it doesn't really hurt the single songs. "Sekaisin" was the lead single from the New York album, so it is definitely danceable and full of electronic-based music. It seems like his voice might be a little overpowered by the music at first, but stick with the song at least until the first chorus, where it gets really fun and almost catchy (but not really hooky--it does really feel designed more for dancing to than sitting around appreciating its merits).

This is where I'd normally tell you where you can go to buy the album, but I actually have no idea where you can get it--if anyone knows of any Finnish music stores (keeping in mind that I live in the US--I don't think CD On ships to the US, does it?), either to buy digital music or actual CDs, please let me know, because there's some music coming out of Finland that I'd like to hear, including Antti's. In lieu of that, I'll just say you can buy his second album, Antti Tuisku, here (digital).

Next up: possibly the songs I keep saying I'll write about, or an American singer who makes me think of California.