Cassette noise

by Jukka Lindfors

Finland’s first alternative cassette imprint Valtavat Ihmesilmälasit Records modernized the 60's notion of “tape music” with about 20 titles that it released in 1980–82. They were definitely lo-fi with a lot of noise and boasted artwork that had been photocopied on a machine probably made in Uzbekistan. Normally 10 to 20 copies were made of each tape; occasionally even as many as 40 (excerpts on the Pilottilasit – Samples from Helsinki Underground 1981–1987 compilation, N&B Research Digest, 2000). Behind the numerous pseudonyms hid a group called Swissair, six schoolmates who had, already at 15 or 16, become bored with punk and rock music in general and focused on PiL, The Residents, Cabaret Voltaire and Peitsamo’s Puinen levy instead.

Director-to-be Mika Taanila used to make dadaist recordings for Valtavat under the name  Musiikkivyöry. One of the classics of Mietoherne, formed by Pietari Koskinen and Anton Nikkilä, was the bucolic II (1981), a thumping piece about sodomy. Many tapes from that era sound as if people have just decided to press the rec button and see what will happen. On Urban Hell trio’s tape two separate sessions were accidentally overdubbed. The Uusittu Pak project recorded children playing games and toy instruments. There was also a plan for selling chunks of concrete by mail order. Swissair’s own suggestive buzz or drone was mainly produced with distorted guitars. The group’s first and only synth was a Soviet-manufactured Faemi that cost 200 Finnish marks and sounded like a toy instrument. Swissair participated in a Youth Arts Happening folk music competition for 12-16 year olds but after they had played a rhythm machine, a bass and four distorted, out of tune guitars for 12 minutes, steering clear of anything that could have been regarded as “songs”, the power was cut off as they had exceeded the time allotted to them.

Harri Tuominen’s first synth experiment was the Kuvio Ski (Figure Ski) cassette (Valtavat, 1981) recorded on two tape machines that had noise levels of epic proportions. The slightly more mature Tuominen had become interested in electronic music in the early 70's and had also played in a new wave band called Vessel Umpio who released an EP called Seppo on viilee (Seppo is Chilly) on the Johanna label in 1981. Kuvio Ski proves how easy it was even for an amateur to get sounds out of a synthesizer: in addition to guitar and collage sounds, there are many lovely and peaceful atmospheric sequences based on overlong notes. At one point, Tuominen even considered making a living out of all that humming but the sales of 30-40 copies per cassette somewhat limited the feasibility of the plan. A self-financed cassette Orient Henna (1985) packed in a shampoo carton features an opening collage called Lippukunta (The Brigade) that starts with a rhythm machine and noise from Soviet radiowaves. The b-side of the split cassette was produced by Helsinki-based Ferricjohnsson (Pietari Koskinen with guest Mika Taanila) and sounded deceptively like very danceable but angular funk.

(This text is part of the Jukka Lindfors' article "Arctic History - Early Avant-Gardening in Northeastern Europe before the Onset of Global Warming" written for the catalogue and website of Avanto Festival 2001. A shortened English translation of the entire article is here.)

(Jyrki Siukonen, Rytmi 7/1985)

(Mathieu Duval, myrecordcollection.org, 2006, Canada)