Being The Jayhawks one of my favourite bands ever, I can only praise the work of Helsinki band Treehouse. Two vocalists, sweet harmonies, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, pedal steel and occasional banjo are the band’s main ingredients to create a warm country-flavoured pop. This is just right with me. The band is readying their debut album for a release later this year. Listen to one of their songs below and then go to their website for some more music and videos.
The electro-pop duo TV Off is a really funny band to follow. They often come up with attractive designs, cool promo photos, videos, tweets, blog posts and any other crazy way to use the internet. They are also regular DJs at clubs around Helsinki and, of course, they released new music and remixes very often. Their latest offering is the free EP What They Say, which will be the bridge between their fantastic debut full length, Music Machine, and the follow up that will be released in a few months. Below you can listen to the gloomy track XXXXX , but go to the band’s soundcloud for more upbeat and danceable tunes.
After hearing only two songs, I am pretty convinced that Greymouth is going to be one of my favourites bands in 2012. Back in January I chose their first song ever published for the Music Alliance Pact post and now I cannot help posting their second song. The combination of the acoustic folk sounds of the band and Elisa Husu’s fantastic voice create some intense music that it is perfect for those indie folk moments. I can’t wait to hear some more.
During these freezing days of temperatures below -20 °C, I seek for the warm chick-with-piano music of Anni Mattila. This young singer and songwriter has an academic background, so expect a jazzy mood for piano-driven soulful songs with a pop twist. But overall, expect an extraordinary voice to command the music. Get yourself a warm cup of tea and enjoy the video below.
After releasing an impressive album a couple of years back, Finnish American artist Vuk (aka Emily Cheeger) has a new project with Junnu Alajuuman to create music somewhere between doom and electro pop. They called themselves SLKJ, which is short for Suomi-Leijona ja Kuollut Jänis (something like the Finnish lion and the dead bunny). The tracks available so far sound a little more playful than previous Vuk’s music, but they still keep those characteristic and intriguing layers of sound with Emily’s fantastic voice all over it.