Dancing about architecture

Survived vacation

Well, I’m back at work, after a (short) 2-week vacation. It’s nice and peaceful here, as opposed to the hectic (but very fun) vacation schedule. And the office has air conditioning, which is a win these days.

We spent the first weekend in Joensuu, at Isosaarirock. Very nice rock festival, and nice trip overall. The hotel was an “eco-hotel”, which proved to be bad on Friday when we arrived: “eco” meant no air conditioning and poor ventilation, resulting in a room temperature easily in the 30s (C). We finally managed to sleep without dying of overheating by (also) leaving the room door open to the corridor. The temps dropped a bit the next days so it wasn’t so bad, but… that place really wasn’t built to handle heat waves. Nice enough otherwise.

The festival itself was good. Nice selection of bands and a wide cross-section of genres. We listened to everything from big band jazz to heavy metal and (Finnish!) rap. I primarily went there to see Imogen Heap (she was good), but many other gigs were also very much worth seeing and listening to. My feet were killing me near the end; 12 hours or so of standing / bounding about in soleless shoes (Feelmax) starts to get to you. We got a bit of a sunburn, but nothing too bad… and the beach there was awesome. You could wade in the water or go for a swim, while seeing and hearing the band on stage at the same time.

Imogen Heap seemed happy about the very positive reception she got (she hasn’t been here before), so I’m hoping she’ll do a “proper” tour with a Finnish concert at some point. It would be great to see her in a more focused environment.

The following week our house started filling up with guests. A lot of EVE players were coming to Finland for Ropecon, and we housed some at our place. Actually, we still do, I think the last of them leaves tomorrow. We also got well-known VTES “celebrity” player over (I’ve met him before at ECs), who got crash space on the floor on a mattress since our guest bedroom and sofa were already occupied my others. Fun guys all, and it’s fun to have the house full of people. Well, now and then it is, anyway ;)

Last weekend was Ropecon, of course. I ran the big VTES tournament on Friday, and it went very well. Excellent turnout with 93 players, and we also had a record number of foreign players attending. The win went to Otso Saariluoma, with the final round ending around 3am. It was a good final round too, with lots of stuff happening all the time. I’ll write up a full tournament report during the next week or so, with details on all that.

On Saturday I played in the VTES draft (fun, but only got 1 VP total), then caught some random program events and finally stumbled home to sleep for an all-too-short while. Sunday back to the con area to listen to Guy Windsor’s traditional “Realities of Steel” thing, and then an 8-hour info desk shift. So the con went well, though this year most of it went towards VTES for me.

…and now it’s (slowly) back to normal routine. That’s not a bad thing, as such. The kittehs will miss having a million people around the house, though, they’ve grown used to always having a human around who has time to pet them. […]

Joanna Newsom at Kulttuuritalo

Joanna Newsom and her band were fucking amazing last night at Kulttuuritalo.

That’s all.

For the poor sad people who missed it, here are a couple of clips (“The Book of Right-On” plus the encore “Peach, Plum, Pear”).

[…]

Jane Siberry in Finland (and elsewhere)

I’ve been a fan on Jane Siberry for the longest time. Ever since I bought her compilation album “Summer in the Yukon” way, way back, her music has been a semi-constant presence in my life. She’s (very) quirky, and some albums of hers work better for me than others – my personal favorites are “The Walking”, “Bound by the Beauty” and “When I Was a Boy”. I encountered her music at a fairly turbulent and emotional time in my life, and songs like “The Life is the Red Wagon” will always hold special meaning.

As a person, she’s… eccentric, at least judging by the evidence. After trying to run her own record label for a while, she got fed up with it and in 2006 sold her house and gave away almost all of her worldly possessions. She also changed her name to “Issa” and released an album under that name.

Now, she has changed back to “Jane Siberry” and has been on a worldwide ”Salon Tour” since January. Instead of a “normal” high-profile tour, she has decided to go globe-hopping with just her guitar and her dog. She plays where her fans arrange for her to play (often in someone’s living room), and asks that her hosts give her a room for the night and some food. The ticket costs cover her travel expenses. The Globe&Mail has a nice article about one of her living room concerts in London.

…and best of all, she’s on her way to Finland, in fact she may already be here. She’s playing a gig in Helsinki tomorrow (Tuesday). When I heard about that I’d already gotten tickets to see Rufus Wainwright at Kulttuuritalo. I was considering selling those, but then another date opened up in Riihimäki. It’s in someone’s living room, and me & Janka will be their short-time guests on Wednesday.

If you like her music, check out the tour page for contact info on the Finnish dates. They don’t seem to be sold out yet, so… if you have an eclectic taste in music and free time on Tuesday or Wednesday, get in touch with the organizers and go check out what may be a fairly unique little show.

And about that music: a bit over a week ago, Jane announced that all her albums are now available as free downloads. That’s… wow. I already had most of them, but now I have all of them.

If you’re new to her music, “When I Was a Boy” is probably her most accessible work. “The Walking” and “Bound by the Beauty” are also highly recommended. […]

Arcade Fire coming to Helsinki!

This is getting weird, in a most excellent way. Just a week ago I was commenting on IRC about the excellent lineup of summer concerts coming up, and that if Arcade Fire and The National were to come over here, things would be pretty much perfect.

Well, this morning one of the first things I noticed was an into email saying Arcade Fire are coming to Helsinki, in June. They are playing a gig in Senaatintori, of all places. All I can say at this point is… wow. And that at this rate, it’s only a matter of time before The National announce a Helsinki concert, too. :)

Arcade Fire has been the band I’ve most wanted to see live for ages now. With luck I’ll finally be able to.

Someone up there likes me. Unless it’s a cruel joke, and I’ll be unable to get tickets. In that case violence may ensue. […]

New Pornographers coming to Finland, yay!

We have arrived
too late to play
the bleeding heart show

This is shaping up to be an excellent summer for music. I already have tickets to see Rufus Wainwright, Joanna Newsom, Imogen Heap and Roxy Music, and today I heard that Martha Wainwright is also coming to Helsinki in August. Yay! Best of all, today I also heard that The New Pornographers, one of my current favorites, are coming to Finland for the first time in September. Tickets go on sale on Thursday. I’m so there.

It’s funny; just a week or so ago I was listening to advance tracks from their new album and wondering if I’ll ever get a chance to see these guys live. And now I (probably) will. If I’m really lucky Neko Case will be along for this tour, but no info about that yet. In any case… yay! […]

Do No Evil & musical collaboration

A couple of interesting blog posts today.

First off, Tim Bray (the man behind this small thing called XML, in case you didn’t know), is now at Google. As such this is interesting, but his blog post about it is an especially fun read. He makes no bones about his hate for the Apple iPhone/iPad closed ecosystem:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

I hate it.

I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.

Amen.

I don’t own any Apple products right now, but I’m far from hating them. In fact, I have a definite love/hate relationship with the company. Like Tim, I really like their open(ish) products: Macbooks, OS X, etc. If and when I buy a “big” laptop (as opposed to my current nifty-but-limited netbook) it’ll quite probably be a Mac. Apple is really good at polishing products, and after years and years of fighting with various Linux desktops, you know… the idea of a desktop environment with a lot of polish and emphasis on the user experience is a nice idea. I like Apple computers and the OS seems decent enough (hey, it’s a Unix variant).

…but the new Apple focus on the ultra-closed iPhone/iPad ecosystem is horrible, for lots and lots of reasons. In this mode, Apple makes Microsoft seem like the Spirit of All Things Open; Apple is ridiculously control-freakish. While this has resulted in a lot of polish in the past, now it’s (imho) clearly going into areas I do not like. The idea of needing to (semi-illegally) hack my own device in order to get reasonable use out of it (“jailbreak”) isn’t a sane one to me.

So Android has been looking more and more interesting to me, as a platform. Will be interesting to see what develops, and above all: Apple needs something to give them competition and keep them in line. A future where Apple is the major player is not a future I want: they are well on the way to becoming the very same Big Brother their old 1980’s ads fought against. I suspect they’d be a lot worse than Microsoft ever was, given a monopoly position. “Think different”, my ass. “Think like Steve Jobs, or else…” more like it.

Things might become very interesting during the next few years, in this arena. Apple and Google are more and more set on a collision course.

The other interesting read this morning was a blog post by the great David Byrne about musical collaboration. While I’m purely in the “listener, not creator” box when it comes to music, I love music and find it fascinating to read “behind the scenes” stuff like this. Professionals discussing how they work is always interesting, and David’s discussions on how collaboration works for him, along with snapshots of his workspace(es), is especially nifty stuff.

I found this bit especially interesting:

The unwritten game rules in these remote collaborations seem to be to leave the other person’s stuff alone as much as you can. Work with what you’re given; don’t try to imagine it as something other than what it is.

This presents some musical challenges, of course, but the benefits generally outweigh them. The fact that half the musical decision-making has already been done bypasses a lot of waffling and worrying. I didn’t have to think about what to do and what direction to take musically — the train had already left the station and my job was to see where it wanted to go. This restriction on one’s freedom — that some creative decisions have already been made — turns out to be a great blessing. Complete creative freedom is as much a curse as a boon.

I’ve also found (in some quite different contexts) that some limits can greatly enhance creativity and productivity. It’s a weird thing, but… complete design freedom all too often result in “analysis paralysis”, too many good possible design choices start to overshadow the whole point of what you’re doing. Setting some constraints (internal or external) can smooth things, sometimes significantly. Well, it’s worked for me at least, YMMV and all that.

…and David Byrne collaborating with St. Vincent? Very nice. Looking forward to see what (if anything) results from that. […]

Another one bites the dust

Well, the best record store in Helsinki, Tunnelin Levy, is closing its doors after being a fixture for music fans for 40 years. In other words, pretty much as long as I have been alive.

It’s not surprising as such – digital music and other forms of media are steadily eating away at “regular” CD sales, and it’s hard for a small store to compete. Tunnelin Levy has tried, for years… they’ve always had pretty reasonable prices, an excellent selection which also contained a ton of eclectic stuff, and usually very knowledgable staff. You could go there and ask about some pretty obscure bands, and even if they didn’t stock them the guy behind the counter usually would know what you were talking about.

…but all that doesn’t help when the bottom line is continually in the red.

I can see that trend in my own music shopping. Even though Tunnelin Levy has pretty much always been my “go to” place for CDs, during recent years I haven’t bought all that many physical CDs. I get most of my music via eMusic nowadays, and the CDs that I do buy end up getting ripped to high-quality AAC immediately. I don’t listen to CDs, as such, at all. Physical “containers” for music, be they CDs or records, are slowly on their way out. The future for music is digital – it’s hard to fight against that, even if you wanted to.

But damn, it’s sad to see Tunnelin Levy go. It was a great little music store, and I’ve bought a ton of music from them over the years – including some stuff you would never find in a “normal” chain music store: the Camper Van Beethoven “Cigarettes and Carrot Juice” box set, lots of non-standard alternate editions of CDs, stuff like that.

“Thank you for the music”, as ABBA would say. […]

2009 in music

Since I keep track of the music I buy anyway (for various reasons), here’s a list of what I bought in 2009. Most is from eMusic, but some are still old-fashioned CDs.

Make of it what you will.

• ABC: Traffic
• Aimee Mann: The Forgotten Arm
• Ani DiFranco: Fellow Workers, Educated Guess, Little Plastic Castle, Not a Pretty Girl, So Much Shouting So Much Laughter
• Beirut: The Flying Club Cup, The Gulag Orkestar
• Big Blue Ball: Big Blue Ball
• Billy Joel: Piano Man
• Bon Iver: For Emma Forever Ago, Blood Bank
• Cranes: Cranes
• Eric Prydz: Proper Education
• Gary Numan: Dance, The Pleasure Principle (Expanded Edition)
• Girlyman: Little Star
• Happy Rhodes: Rhodes II
• Heaven 17: Live At Last, Naked As Advertised
• Hem: Eveningland
• Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
• Jethro Tull: J-Tull Dot Com, Jethro Tull Christmas Album
• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros: Global A Go-Go, Streetcore
• John Foxx: Metamatic, The Garden, The Golden Section
• John Mellencamp: Life Death Love and Freedom
• KMFDM: Symbols, Blitz
• Katatonia: Night is the New Day
• Kenji Williams Terra-Illusion EP
• Lisa Loeb: Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Hello Lisa
• Meat Loaf: Bat out of Hell, Dead Ringer
• Miljoonasade: Lelukaupan häät
• Múm: Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is Ok, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know
• Neko Case: Blacklisted, Furnace Room Lullaby, Middle Cyclone
• Nitin Sawhney: London Undersound
• O.M.D.: OMD Live - Architecture And Morality
• Paradise Lost: In Requiem, The Anatomy of Melancholy, One Second, Draconian Times, Shades of God, Icon
• Patty Griffin: Children Running Through
• Placebo: Battle for the Sun
• R.E.M: Accelerate
• Rapoon: Church Road, Dark Rivers, Melancholic Songs of the Desert, Darker By Light, Cidar, Time Frost, Rapoon vs Kinder Atom
• Rökkurró: Það kólnar í kvöld…
• SPC-ECO: 3-D
• Seabear: The Ghost that Carried Us Away
• Sia: Some People Have Real Problems
• Sin Fang Bous: Clangour
• Sufjan Stevens: The Avalanche
• The Clash: London Calling, Combat Rock
• The Gaslight Anthem: The ‘59 Sound
• The Prodigy: Fat of the Land, Invaders Must Die
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show Original Soundtrack
• The Waterboys: Universal Hall
• The White Stripes: Elephant
• Thom Yorke: FeelingPulledApartByHorses, The Eraser
• Underworld: A Hundred Days Off
• compilations: Dark Was the Night, Songs For Tibet

[…]

...and back

Back in drizzly Finland. Actually, back almost a week ago.

Trip went well, and even though it was a very “active vacation” it left me feeling relaxed and I feel I’ve been away for a long time (even though it’s only been a month). We visited Iceland, then flew over to California & Burning Man. Janka provides some trip recap in her blog, so I won’t repeat (much) of that here. I took a ton of photos – nearly 2000 – but then again more than half of those were 3-picture HDR composites, and then after the obvious failures are weeded out… well, the number of “reasonable” shots left is a lot smaller. Still, took lots of pics. The batch from Iceland is now available (slideshow), I’ll add the rest later once I get them processed.

Since I don’t have pics available yet I also won’t talk about the U.S. or Burning Man here, leaving that for later.

So, Iceland. I found the country quite amazing. Sure, it was expensive, and sure, it’s small and insular – but somehow, that insularity wasn’t as annoying as it can sometimes be in Finland. Maybe it’s just the fact that I was only on a short visit and didn’t see the reality of things, or maybe it’s also other things: I found the Icelandic elitist megalomania quite refreshing (compared to the Finnish traditional cultural inferiority complex), and the fiercely independent ethos of the people was also very appealing. Sure, Finland is supposed to also have some degree of that, but I think that died out at some point in history and was replaced by a general “it’s not my fault, I’m a victim of society!” outlook. Having said that, there do seem to be a lot of common points between Finland and Iceland: tiny, insular societies that speak an incomprehensible language, endless long dark winter months, a love of (lots of) alcohol, lots of beautiful unpolluted nature.

…but as always, it’s the differences that charm you. I’m a sucker for harsh landscapes, and the Icelandic volcanic wasteland was just too cool for words at times; especially so during our hike of the Laugavegur 55km mountain trail. Some of the scenery up there was just breathtaking. Culturally, I mentioned the elitism… I guess it’s because according to the Icelanders, the Vikings did pretty much everything first, better and with more style than anyone else – and naturally enough, Icelanders are direct descendants of said Vikings. Somehow, all the rape and pillage involved gets a lot less press over there… In any case, while the place felt very insular, it didn’t feel annoyingly so; in fact, it felt quite charming to me. Oh, I’m sure the “everyone knows everyone else” thing gets old fast if you live there, but that’s just how it goes.

The music scene in Iceland is amazing, and the same applies to the arts scene in general… for some reason, it seems that arts are very much respected there culturally and pretty much half the population dabbles into some artistic pursuit. You could explain it away with “well, they have to do something during those long winter months”… but then again, why do Finns use those same months to plan suicide (or axe murder) and drown their depression with Koskenkorva?

Yes, I kid. Finns get artistic too, and I’m sure Iceland has its share of suicides, alcohol and depression. But still, you have to admire the amazing artistic scene in Iceland, especially when you compare to the population count (about the size of your average larger metropolis). To me, the music was (and is) especially impressive.

About that music… I have to mention the record store 12 Tónar. At the time we visited I wasn’t aware that it’s also a record label, and “home” of many known Icelandic musicians. We just saw an advertisement about “lots of Icelandic music!” while strolling around and decided to drop in. Glad we did. Since I didn’t know much about current local bands, I walked up to the guy behind the counter and asked for some recommendations, saying I was familiar with Björk & Sigur Rós and had a fairly eclectic taste in music. Now, that sort of approach generally tends to work in many non-chain stores, but here I got especially nice treatment. The guy gathered a pile of 8-9 CDs and said “start with those”, then sat me down at one of the many eclectic CD-players scattered around. He also brought me a cup of (free) espresso. That’s what I call service. In general, the place was what a good record store should be like (but all too seldom is): knowledgeable & friendly staff, comfy surroundings, and freedom to listen to a lot of stuf in peace. I ended up buying two records: “Það kólnar í kvöld…” by Rökkurró (excellent alt-folk-pop sung in Icelandic) and “Clangour” by Sin Fang Bous (weird but fun music, sung in English). Janka picked up an album of Viking poetry set to an ambient music soundtrack.

So… yes, I liked Iceland a lot. The food was great (though expensive), the atmosphere was nice, and the scenery awesome. I also really liked the language, it’s actually the first Scandinavian language I have any larger interest in learning – which is inconvenient, since it’s also arguably the most generally useless of said languages. Whatever, it’s quite pretty (in a weird fashion), and while it reads a small bit like Swedish etc, the pronounciation is almost totally alien.

I probably want to visit again, sometime down the road. Armed with a large travel budget, since the place was very expensive – and I say this as someone from Helsinki, one of the more expensive cities in the world.

After 1.5 weeks in Iceland, we hopped aboard a plane again and headed off towards the land of the free(ish) and home of the paranoid. More about that later. […]