Mojo - The Music Magazine

MOJO IS IN TAMPERE for Lost In Music, the annual three-day multi-venue festival of all that's current on the Finnish scene. Finland's third-biggest city, Tampere is the largest inland conurbation in all the Nordic countries. Guide books dub it the "Manchester of Finland", which makes some sense as its centre is defined by industry: massive brick factory buildings, chimney stacks and warehouses flank the river that bisects the city. There's even a cardboard factory. That is, a factory that makes cardboard.

Unlike Manchester though, Tampere doesn't resonate musically. For Finland as a whole, Sibelius defines their heritage but it's metal that rules. Of the 80 acts playing Lost In Music, 30 are metal in all its forms. Even so, Finland also boasts a rich seam of electronic and experimental music, from Jimi Tenor to Pan Sonic. Whatever the slant metalwards, Lost In Music maps out the territory between these poles.

Trying to get a handle on what might characterise Finland's music, MOJO is happy to bump into Michael Monroe, the astoundingly youthful former Hanoi Rocks front man. "Heavy metal or a gothic kind of melancholy sound seems to be quite popular. Maybe because Finnish people tend to be a bit melancholy. However, I don't think you can hear a lot of Finnish characteristics in my music," he laughs. "I hope not, anyway! Singing rock'n'roll in English works better abroad though. Still, there are many Finnish bands singing in Finnish that are happy to be touring only in Finland for the rest of their lives."

Melancholy certainly preoccupies Joensuu 1685, a three-piece from the city of Joensuu that are playing a club called Klubi. Literal-mindedness might be another national trait. Their fusion of Spacemen 3, the motorik rhythms of Neu! and the antique keyboards of Suicide is trance-inducing. Apart from a 12-minute reinvention of Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire, their songs are either about sickness or religion. Singer Mikko spends half the set hunched on the floor coaxing squalls from his guitar.

Equally intense at ex-warehouse Pakkahuone are Murmansk, a four-piece with a female singer. Sweet yet strident vocals are underpinned by a pumped-up overhaul of the distorted attack of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. The passionate force of Murmansk and Joensuu 1685 suggests that Finns have no problem with the visceral, even when not tackling metal.

Much of the rest of Lost In Music isn't quite so draining. At Klubi, Downstairs are a Mars Volta/Jesus & Mary Chain hybrid that haven't reached the levels of intensity their chosen path requires. Cosmobile are playing an ex-factory called Telakka. A three-piece, they probably want to be The Young Knives, but instead sound (and with their pork-pie hats and sideburns look) like a ska band trying on a few indie styles.

At the same venue, Plain Ride are hotly tipped as "the Finnish Smog". Frontman Janne Westerlund used to be in stellar drone band Circle and, blimey, he really is Bill Callahan - there's the plaid shirt, the leaning to one side and the closed eyes. Musically, Plain Ride's pastoral take on The Feelies/third Velvets album lacks focus. It's a bit floppy.

Even more tied to an existing template are Cats On Fire, a Smiths knock-off of gigantic cheek. Playing the small, columned ballroom Yo-talo (stock in trade: "POP GROOVE LIVE DANCE"), their songs and vocals are weak, while their Morrissey is more Jilted John. Reckless Love are equally fascinated by the '80s - the '80s of hair metal, Poison and Mötley Crüe. At the amazing outer space-themed club Sputnik, they are the anti-Cats On Fire: entertaining, fun and all about melody.

In contrast to the wannabes and bodysnatchers, two outfits are fully-formed thrillers. Regina is a three-piece at Yo-talo, fronted by Regina herself. She sings, the guy to her right hits percussion and the chap on the left mucks about with a keyboard and laptop. Uniquely, her electro dance pop is delivered in Finnish. A jazzy, less tribal cousin to Lykke Li, she easily wins the audience over. Regina might surprise Michael Monroe by singing in Finnish abroad. She's that good.

Equally striking is Manna, looking at Klubi like a cross between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Patti Smith. Blending PJ Harvey's stomp with CSS's dance moves is audacious, and it's clear she's ready to cross borders. Her extraordinary bassist Maria (pictured, above) nailed a constant pulse that gripped the audience.

With the Finnish population of around 5.3 million - a couple of million less than Greater London - it's astonishing there's so much great stuff at Lost In Music. Although it's mostly metalheads like Him, The Rasmus and - God help us - Lordi that reach beyond Finland, there's no reason why any number of the more individual bands at Lost In Music couldn't do so too. There's space for so much more.

By Kieron Tyler

Picture of Reckless Love by Minna Pehkonen
Picture of Manna (above) by Matt Jordan