Asio Otus -
Taivaallisia Tulia (SicSic)
I was given this tape yesterday by a friend, whose project this is, and I got to say I was pleasantly surprised. This is total freak out UFO music. Two guys utilising all kind of acoustic and cheap and old electronic instruments, various objects, toys, field recordings etc. with the result being a weird combination of drones, rhythms, melodies, crackles, pops and ambiences. Very hypnotic at parts, and kind of goofy, humorous and weird all the time. It is very hard to compare this to any other band or to describe the sound itself, as a lot of different ideas are emplyed. Sometimes it reminds me of Zoviet France even, at other times I guess one could compare this to some of that 'freak folk' stuff coming from Finland, Kemialliset Ystävät, etc. Maybe even some NWW? Anyhow, the thing is that these guys are not influenced by that stuff really - they just somehow ended up in a little bit similar sort of terrains. They just decided to go without restrictions and this is the result. No overdubbing or excessive post-production & layering involved, it's mostly just real time playing with a nice, organic, hands-on feeling to it.
There is an amusing concept running through all of this. In the '70s there were made a lot of these UFO sighting at this rural Pudasjärvi area in Finland. Many of them were witnessed and reported by this local man, a taxi entrepreneur by profession. He wrote some books about it and so on... So all of the tracks are related to those incidents. But it doesn't stop there, when making this tape these guys actually travelled to the area, they seeked out the man, met him, interviewed him etc. The tape starts with an excerpt from this interview, the guy is talking about this weird shit. They also did their research in the library, at the archives, examining a lot of old microfilms etc. reading about the matter, UFO reports etc! I'd say this is a little like an anthropological case study or something, hehe. I'd say it works pretty well, as it's all the time humorous but with a straight and serious face. No irony involved. The title of the tape stands for
Heavenly Fires.There is an interview with them at Foxy Digitalis, if interested. The name of the group means a long eared owl, although it also has a double meaning in Finnish language. That explains the absurd owl masks they wear...
I guess this is definitely not for everyone, more like something one either loves or hates. I really enjoy this.
http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=31895http://www.discogs.com/Asio-Otus-Taivaallisia-Tulia/release/3442436
