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.