Kiila - Silmät Sulkaset

2004; 8 tracks

Kiila is a Finnish folk/experimental group made up of about 6 people, give or take a few. This album is truly stunning, the first freak folk album I really loved upon the first listen. The opening minutes bring be back to the first time I listened to Supreme Dicks' album The Emotional Plague, a relatively tame, yet dissonant, cacophany of twangs and odd sounds. The similarites end here, however. Silmät Sulkaset soon builds into an atmosphere of impressionistic beauty and psychedelia, touching on many different elements of music and styles.

The ensemble combines electric guitar, hand percussion, bass, violin and wooden flutes, voice, melodica, accordion and electric keyboards with a traditional Finnish instrument, the kantele (a lap-held, strummed harp with the piercing metallic twang of mandolin). This album was breathtaking from start to finish, a journey I want to make again soon.

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Hooray for Earth - Momo EP

2010; 6 tracks

This EP is like a cross between Animal Collective and Why? and I have come to really appreciate it.

"... This six-song EP from the Boston/New York four-piece Hooray for Earth further smudges the meaningless lines between rock and electronic. Gritty distortion and the filtering of the beautiful through a wall of fuzz has always been the primary attack in the perpetually burgeoning band’s diverse arsenal, but this bundle of washed-out synth euphoria largely writes Hooray for Earth’s bygone guitar shredding out of the picture. Instead the bright noise comes in heavily affected group vocal harmonies and cresting waves of keyboard rapture. Opener “Surrounded by Your Friends" crystalizes the ethos at work here; it’s like a 1960s folk band tripping through space and time. If it hasn’t already been licensed for a half dozen commercial spots yet, don’t be surprised to hear it in some hip car company’s pitch, like tomorrow. “Comfortable, Comparable" works the climactic 1980s teen film montage uplift that bands like Yeasayer have popularized of late, while “Get Home" deals a grimmer, dark-wave austerity. The band, which has just embarked on a high-profile national tour, has been threatening to break out for years. This should do the trick."

P.S. Rolling Nectarine is the greatest song of 2010.

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