PLANETAARISET ILMANPAINEVYÖHYKKEET

The debut album of TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA, translated into Planetary Atmospheric Pressure Zones (a very representative title for the music), is a pleasant surprise. This relatively unknown band from Finland has produced a solid outcome, mixing a number of different elements in their music. Although this is my only experience with the band, I have the feeling that their latter albums must be even more interesting than this one... The debut shows high potential, good musicianship and a mixture of characteristics that you hardly find in recent albums.

The term ''psychedelic, space rock'' does not fully describe the situation in this album. The (indeed progressive) sound clearly borrows elements of electronic and folk music while the atmosphere created by the spacey keyboards and the intelligent use of the violin will definitely catch your attention. At many points throughout the album, the influence from bands like OZRIC TENTACLES is evident but this does not deteriorate the efforts to produce a respectable record. The overall length of the album is relatively short (might be considered as an EP...) but does not affect the quality by all means.

The trilogy of Sopimaton Jalkine is clearly the highlight, blending successfully a melodic acoustic guitar opening, a powerful violin/folk-oriented middle part and an electronic space/chill-out ending that concludes in the best possible way. The few drawbacks of this record refer to some repetitive musical arrangements and parts of unclear structure. Overall, this is a highly promising debut from a band that deserves attention, particularly from the fans of folk/space/psychedelic rock.

From the Northern parts of the cold Finnish lands and the city of Rauma comes this group, set up in 2002 around two multi-instrumentalists, Esko Grundström and Ville Eriksson.The initial line-up featured also Jani Puistovaara on guitars, Juha Eriksson on bass and Hermanni Vuorisalo on drums.A short self-released EP saw the light in 2003, followed the next year by another private work by the group, their full-length debut ''Planetaariset ilmanpainevyöhykkeet'' (Planetary Atmospheric Pressure Zones).

The album is very short for the recent standards, just under 32 minutes long, but about 1/3 of it is taken by the long and most interesting piece of the album, ''Sopimaton jalkine''.This is very professional and irritating progressive music, where the Finnish group visits the dark ground of KING CRIMSON guitar textures and place them next to Trip Hop mannerisms, Anatolian violin solos and spacey, instrumental textures, led by floating synthesizers and nervous Electronics, maybe a bit like OZRIC TENTACLES.''Valamo'' is closer to Ambient Music with hypnotic synthesizers, just before some archaic flutes pop up around the outro, while ''Matalapaine'' shows again the OZRIC TENTACLES-side of Taipuva Luotisuora.Sharp guitar riffs meet powerful and spacey violin themes and dominant Electronic loops.''Koillispasaati'' recalls the Belgians QUANTUM FANTAY.A deep bass groove is supported by distorted guitars and cosmic synthesizers to offer the listener a nice and pounding Space Rock, while ''Korento'' comes in a very folky mood with accordions and flutes surrounded by acid, Electronic soundscapes.

This album has its moments.While a more consistent mix of Electronic/Space Rock and Folk would have really made ''Planetaariset ilmanpainevyöhykkeet'' an impressive release, as it is, the album contains plenty of atmospheric arrangements, that constantly alternate between smoother and more bombastic parts.Recommended.