This year there was unusually busy noise summer in Finland. We came into conclusion that gathering some sort of larger report in English would be good thing to do. Not every show was possible to cover, but enough to display this unusual situation. When exactly does the summer start? I guess we could define it here that the last weekend of may is perfect. We are just about to enter June, which in Finnish language is Kesäkuu. Literally translates as “summer month”. Violent Shogun from France was touring Finland and playing handful of shows. Tour started at Toinen Kerros, Helsinki. I was told that plenty of people was present and good shows, but none of usual SI reporters were there for more detailed report.
Following reports are credited to MA = Mikko A, MP = Mikko Polus, MT = Mika Tuomikari.
28.5.2025 IHMISEN IKÄVÄ NOISEN LUO Tampere (text by MA)
For me, Tampere is destination I go quite rarely. It is third biggest city of Finland and located only 130km (c. 80 miles) from my hometown, but due exaggerated amount of speed cameras and crappy roads, it takes you couple hours to go there. Most of noise shows have been happening in somewhat small places. Something like Pethouse is great, if you got gig were you want 5-30 people. Most of shows that has been happening in Tampere are always overlapping with something else and it is very rarely I have gotten into noise shows that happen there. For visitors who rarely come to Tampere, this city still has good elements like decent record stores, comic stores, book stores. For foreign people, maybe the old school industrial city atmosphere is interesting as well. Also museums might be worth visit. Tampere art museum just closed its surrelism exhibition, but it often has something slightly unusual going on.
Rare, but not unheard policy at the Finnish gigs is that phones and taking photos was not allowed this night. Place was such an intimate little space that it was really good that there were no phones to disturb the atmosphere. On the other hand, I have to admit that many times I felt urge to capture short clip for documentary purposes. I have always wondered, what is the point on taking countless short videoclips of shows instead of just enjoying to be there. Unless, you are the one that has the role of documenting events, with idea to make the footage worth to see? We all know social media is full of tiny fragments of live shows, but often I ask myself: For what purpose?
This place was diametrical opposition to virtually experienced fragments. Venue was hand built, resembling weird-avantgarde art piece in itself. Filled with re-purposed old junk and electronics. Inside this almost like b-movie spaceship meets factory -esque “sculpture”, 40 or so people was crammed to watch the live noise sets. You would simply watch artists within this physical “alternative reality”, with total absence of screens.
Haudat is normally known for being analogue tape manipulation/reel-to-reel focused project with style that could be described to be somewhere between Altar of Flies & Sewer Election tape noise type of Swedish sound and Satatuhatta label vibe Finn approach. I know both label and mentioned artists have different qualities in their output, but I am sure people get what I mean. However, even if gig flyers said Haudat, what we got was actually something else. Artist announced that this would be harsh noise from a new project that has not yet been named. After short announcement, beginning of the set seemed like it wasn’t really gaining momentum. But after a while, once he got it going, we were already in the swing of traditional harsh noise elements created with a table full of pedals, a mixer, a 4-tracker. Sources were played from 4-track tape, fading sounds from different channels and driving them through distortions and other effects. Feedback loop on the mixer blending sounds into each other. I didn’t know for sure what sound he was aiming for, but I could imagine that it would be good for the overall sound to somehow saturate it together more tightly. Get more punchy and compact sound. Now sounds were not as ripping as one could assume he wanted and there was many elements on different volume in a way that it may not be intended. As there wasn’t any releases yet, nor even name for project and being the first gig, one could easily pass it as decent start even if he didn’t fully succeed. Many times the final touch is not achieved until you finally discover almost alchemical recipe that the formerly ok-ish elements are finally becoming pure gold.
After the break, I was slightly horrified to enter venue a bit too late, so couldn’t make my way to the front when H.Ö.H. started to play. This was debut gig of this mysterious Finnish project. He has been around for long time, but even when Freak Animal Records put out anthology of his early tape works, very few people knew about it. H.Ö.H. noise is based on very old school methods of tape manipulation. No effects, no editing on computer. Physical manipulation of magnetic tape and the playback/recording devices create this charming lo-fi sound. There is nothing quite like it and ultra primitive noise of H.Ö.H. has gradually grown very appreciated around noise underground. H.Ö.H’s first gig was short, but good! A mixer and I think there were 4 Walkmans. A couple of regular ones, one micro cassette and one modified opened device with a longer piece of tape inside that the artist was manually moving. The tapes churned out sounds just like those best HÖH sounds and managed to create a really great atmosphere that was familiar from the physical releases. At some point, a sub-bass hum came on, that surprised me, but soon merged into the work so much that I thought it was part of the plan. I was later told the sound came as a complete surprise and also the end of the set seemed to surprise the artist a bit. Something unknown happened, yet one of the most essential parts of a noise gig in my opinion is to figure out when is right time to stop. H.Ö.H ended in a funny, abrupt way. I suppose that was not the intention, but still great that he would not start trouble shooting and lose momentum but simply see this as a logical end for the set.
Heppakirjat has already build name in Finnish live-noise environment. Artist basically releases only self published tapes you can merely trade from him if he has some copies at the shows. As a noise fan, I appreciate the intimacy and direct contact with creator. This is something that could be even taken further. Taking more noise away from what we automatically associate with “releasing audio”. Taking noise into something totally personal, existing out of “music business”, so to say. In the other hand, many years ago I became a noise distributor for sole reason of having a feeling that there was so much of interesting releases people should hear and I could be doing my share on making that happen. It is crucial still today, that someone keeps physical releases available, so there would be a way to get obscure tapes or even CD’s and LP’s without needing to be in contact with all the individual artists and labels who may or may not have time to reply and send items around the world. Plus that shipping of single items is so expensive that it makes sense to have handful of distributors who carry bigger selection available. So, as a dealer, it feels little annoying that really good tapes of the project are largely unheard, only experienced by couple dozen Finns?
February 2025 Heppakirjat played live in Lahti, city where I am located. Live show appeared as very well thought-out and felt pretty much as if an album would be performed live. He used different sources and Lahti gig felt very serene and carefully considered. This gig, not very far from that, but there was elements where he was a little more hectic. Was looking for new source tapes to be played & manipulated, plus manipulating a vinyl record on a wonderful vintage turntable. He had bag filled with stuff and was digging in with microphone and even did couple screamo vocals happened, that mostly came through acoustically from the stage, as opposed through the gear. Of course, the overall it was very Heppakirjat style of processing of cassette tapes. Like with the H.Ö.H gig, when this set was coming to an end, something unexpected happened and the artist seemed a little surprised and was like “well.. what the hell?!” ..and just decided it was over. This worked very well!
Violent Shogun – for some reason I was expecting more of an electronic synth-driven set, but the main instruments must have been a classic Roland sampler and a 4-tracker. Tracker had some kind of loop cassette – or just source cassette playing with sound on every track and Violent Shogun played it really actively: Picking up source sounds that were going on, fading in and out, adjusting the volume, panning and adjusting EQ knobs of each track with very quick movements. It was never really mere “backing track”, but rather worked as an instrument that was being played live. Curiously Roland sampler’s contribution was more static. Couple of different, usually slightly more detailed and calm sound elements going on in the background, while tape sources of 4-tracker were the active element.
There was a special moment halfway through the set where the Violent Shogun suddenly put up a handmade “protest banner” on the table. Turned out, it wasn’t really a protest, but a notice with message that you should really protect your hearing. Explaining that these are the sounds of a hearing aid. And indeed, after banner was displayed, he faded the PA to zero and all the sound came from a mini-sized box where apparently a hearing aid was making the noise. It might sound strange when describing the atmosphere of the situation were 40 people are listening to.. basically earphones that are quietly hissing noise. Where I was standing, it was a unique performance. With the entire audience being extremely quiet, the sound was still audible. At the same time as you could hear the tinny noise from little ear-pieces, you could -feel- the tense atmosphere of people being completely silent. It’s different when the place is empty, compared to a crowd of people almost holding their breath. I don’t remember that a similar idea has been used (on purpose) many times.
It’s possible that those who were behind the crowd and didn’t see the sign, have wondered what the hell was going on. Even if they didn’t see the intention of this part, everybody kept quit! After a while, VS moved on to making sharp, electric, harsh noise. Not aggressive or very fast paced, but sort of traditional approach with a tin box full of strings, dry peas, a small vibrator and a slightly unpredictable-sounding pedal transforming the sound into a mass of feedback drenched distortion. The sound of that pedal was pretty cool and I tried to see what kind of gadget it was, but it was as if VS had intentionally been hiding trivial features of the technology. No brand, logo or name was visible, perhaps covered with strip of duct tape. Good thing in itself. I typically hate company logos on stage! I am really there to watch artist, not “Korg”, “Roland” or “Electro Harmonix”.
This night I was the driver and couple passagners, so it was a pretty quick departure towards Lahti so that I wouldn’t get tired on the way back. Years ago, almost every time I returned from a gig, I would wake up to bumps on the side of the road thinking “that was close!”. (MA)
29.5. JYVÄSKYLÄ
Violent Shogun and his tour mates continiued to Jyväskylä and everybody was saying it was even better than Tampere.
30.5.2025 Tukikohta, Oulu (text by MP)
The Healing Power Of Harsh Noise
Oulu is a coastal city located on Finland’s “bible belt”. Aside of a strong presence of laestaedians (a type of fairly conservative christians), the city is known for having a quite strong arts/culture scene in both “classier” and more underground spheres, including many free-to-visit art galleries, jazz festival Elojazz that’s now turning 35 years old, an annual comics festival, and a strong band music scene. As a broad simplification, that scene was first known for weirder rock-styled bands, then for some metal bands, and is currently known for hardcore punk. The punk scene’s vibrancy is easy to spot due to the amount of gigs happening here, as well as for the annual two-day punk festival Hässäkkä-Päivät. The festival and most of punk gigs take place at Tukikohta, a former Oulu city park department depot at Välivainio that’s been renovated and repurposed for cultural use. The venue was also where Terveet Kädet’s latest album Kaikki Kaikkia Vastaan was recorded at. Oulu will also be the European Capital of Culture for the year 2026, but it remains to be seen what that means in action.
Oulu doesn’t have that many noise events compared to some other (southern) Finnish cities, but I’d say there are maybe 2-4 noise-focused gigs per year, and that’s not a bad situation – especially compared to not-distant past when there were no noise gigs whatsoever. It is just easy to get greedy, heh. One reason for this lust for live noise is that the general Oulu area is the home for a lot of noise artists and projects, including at least Tyhjä Pää, Aprapat, Stinkfinger, Unclean, Commando 15, Jaakko Vanhala, Primitive Wings, Malaise 57, Giärmäi, Veli-Matti O. Äijälä, The Kolmas, Naara, Fiśnarka… and others I am likely forgetting. It is also the home of renowned labels Satatuhatta and Aural Hypnox, along with some smaller and younger ones such as Sudden Movements that published the latest Tyhjä Pää cassette. Some of these people are also involved in gig organizing or have other related activities, such as running the Noisecast podcast that deals with noise in Finnish, but has also featured English interviews with Pain Appendix and Max Julian Eastman. The gear zine The Vital Organ came from Oulu as well, which is also where I’m writing this.
Onwards to live noise. The aforementioned venue Tukikohta hosted The Healing Power Of Harsh Noise, a gig with five Finnish noise artists and Violent Shogun from France who was on a four-gig Finnish tour. The live venue side of Tukikohta is spread to two separate adjacent spaces. The first is a smaller, darker, windowless square room with quality sound systems so the sound is clear and loud, but not boomy in a dull way. This is the space where all the gigs for this event took place. The adjacent larger room (which is also used as a live venue for larger events) was reserved for lounging about on couches, looking at art on the wall, doing trades and distro deals, chatting with other noiseheads, and resting your ears to some country tunes and ’90s Bee Gees.
The evening was literally booted into motion by Sun Tearing. It is a new solo project or alias of Santeri, who’s known for playing in an array of other noise projects such as Circle Of Shit, Junta, The Aprils and Lusters (with Olli of Edge Of Decay and Vigilantism), along with playing in the HC punk band Oma Koloni for example. He also runs the Rupu Tapes label and distro and does gig organizing in the Jyväskylä area, and unless I’m mistaken, the previous evening’s noise event Kapasitanssit 5 in Jyväskylä was organized by him as well. To my knowledge he hasn’t made any releases under the Sun Tearing name yet, but he’s played a few earlier gigs under the name, none of which I’d seen. The room has a slightly elevated stage, but Santeri performed in front of it on the floor level. His main instrument was a prepared upright piano that was played in a very bodily and performative manner. He did actually play or pluck the piano keys at times, but more often they were hit or booted. A contact mic was used as a vocal microphone and to explore the piano’s entrails. There was a small metal object or bowl of stuff on the piano that was fiddled with to create sudden bursts of rough noise amidst the more experimental and acoustic sounds. The gig seemed to be very much improvised and would suddenly bounce from one idea to another, but the scale of sounds and general surprising weirdness certainly made it more than just a visual performance. A very energizing way to start the evening for sure.
I wasn’t that familiar with Heppakirjat prior to this event, but I’d seen so many compliments of the project’s gigs that I knew to expect good things – and that’s what I got. The gig was based on layering and manipulating loop cassettes in a calm and controlled manner. There was no urgency, so when a particularly tasty sound or a more abstract texture was brought up, there was some time to really enjoy it before the artist moved onwards to the next thing. The gig felt both earthy and spiritual, and the sudden scifi-vibed squeaks or soft screeches made by a curious looking vintage record player were an interesting add too. The project’s name Heppakirjat (“horsey books”) was initially a big obstacle for me to overcome, but I’m glad I did as the project’s tapes have a lot of personality and show that a lot of care has gone into making them – even if they don’t try to hide their human errors. It’s DIY done with intent. Speaking of DIY, the artist self-published three tapes during 2023-2024 that might still be available for trade from him directly. Since then, he’s done great tracks for two different compilations published by mr. Bryskt’s label Älä Löi Tapes. While I do enjoy his harsher works, I think the more subtle and minimalistic 14-minute track Heppakirjat had on the label’s “Fridlyst / Rauhoitettu” compilation tape is particularly noteworthy.
The now-buried noise project Junta started as a solo project of aforementioned Santeri, but it later became a duo of him and Johanna. Nikama is a solo project of Johanna, and that’s all I knew of it before seeing this gig. Or well, I had seen a mention that some Nikama gig had featured really impressive vocals made by her holding a contact mic to her throat while screaming, but this gig was wholly instrumental. Stylistically it was rough pedal noise made with a fairly small setup. I was expecting it to get more diverse based on the later Junta recordings I’ve heard, but then again, once my ears got used to the sound it left very little to actually complain about. Near the gig’s end the artist suddenly dove under the gear table to beat on some metal objects, but as they were un-microphoned, all that was heard of these quite light metal objects alongside the still screeching pedal noise were some quiet thumps and taps. I don’t know if the objects being all acoustic was intentional or accidental, but it certainly worked as a surprising add if nothing else. It might’ve been intentional as the artist showed no sign of surprise or shock by the resulting sound, or the lack of it, heh! It’s promising when a relatively young project like this shows this amount of confidence. It’ll be interesting to hear what the project’s first published recordings will be like.
Tyhjä Pää performed with some tape decks, a large mesh of modular wires, and a drum kick pedal attached to some metal objects and wiring. The gig was such a vivid and active flood of multifaceted harsh rumbling and some calmer interludes that I don’t really know how to describe it with any justice. The metal object noises were at times clear and loud identifiable sounds, but more often they served as a thoroughly mutated and mangled source sound, and speed changes and other tape manipulations were also in an important role alongside the modular synths. There was a lot of gear, but it wasn’t laid out just as a show element to impress people, but to be actually handled and played to an effect. Tyhjä Pää himself said that he had messed up something during the gig, but that’s what artists always say, hah! Whatever it was, I didn’t notice it. The artist clearly handles his gear really well, a point that’s further proven true by his latest tape High Magnetic Intensity that I managed to get in trade from its publisher at this gig. If you thought the artist’s 2023 CD album on Satatuhatta was too clean, you might want to give the project another go through this tape.
While other performers of the evening were Finnish, next up came France’s own Violent Shogun on the fourth and last consecutive day of his Finnish tour (Helsinki – Tampere – Jyväskylä – Oulu). His performance had an excellent dramatic arch. It started with samples of what I’m assuming were a wind instrument and some field recordings that created a calm, almost radio play-like ambience, which slowly evolved into rumbles and crumples of tape manipulation and other controlled harsh noises. The gig’s mid section was like an interlude. First Rémi set up a DIY warning stand on the table with a message about protecting your ears, and then walked around calmly while wielding a pair of hearing aids to create feedback. The hearing aids weren’t mic’d, so although the audience didn’t make extra noise, the feedback was so quiet that the artist walking around in socks disturbed the sound. So, like with Sun Tearing, this gig offered a both sonically and visually interesting performance elements as well. However, the gig soon returned to louder noisiness. The set’s last part was based on a tiny metallic spring box, but that acoustically humble object was driven through such an amount of (I’m assuming) gain that it rattled and rumbled really loudly and violently. The whole gig was based on a fairly sparse setup, but it was used effectively to create somehow modest, yet deep and interesting sounds. Violent Shogun had also made a C60 tape titled Asceticism for the tour, which I luckily managed to get. The tape’s length and it being quite heavily based on calm close-up field recordings of different kinds of natural objects and textures means that I’m still very much in the middle of the process of getting familiar with the tape, but nonetheless I can already recommend checking it out if you can find it. Its organic sounds and sparse style really lives up to its title. The artist has tapes out on a multitude of labels with Violent Shogun as well as his other solo projects Hattifnattar and Cryptofascisme, so even if you miss out on this or some other particular tape, looking into his works should be fairly convenient. All three projects have also had one or more CD published by Satatuhatta.
Aprapat, the project of Satatuhatta’s label head Vilho, performed last. If I were to use just one word for it, I’d pick sovereign. The previous gig I’d seen from him at at the first or second Steel Rääseikkö Around Oulu event was a quite dramatic and narrative in part due to its backing video art, but this gig (like all this evening’s gigs) was played without backing videos. Cassette and reel loops were used as the main sound element. Some of them looped just a single thump or other fragment of sound, but the main chunk of them were loops of metal or glass objects. Over time those sounds grew and accumulated into one growing vortex that didn’t cross over to wall noise-type monotonal crunch, but still certainly offered ample textures. While I don’t know what those sounds actually were, amidst the breaking physical objects there were some that sounded like soft synth notes that just went on without end. The gig’s final third was based on Vilho, wearing safety boots, stomping on broken glass with one foot and scraping a small metal sheet against a larger one with the other. Surprisingly enough that didn’t result in absolutely crude and cutting sounds, but instead they were effected to seem fluid, almost like a liquid. The gig offered sounds from the whole extend of the spectrum, and perhaps that’s the main reason why its minimalist climax was so effective. The only thing played was just an endless loop of some ethereal, soft sound with a vintage feel. That loop was manipulated very little, and instead of tweaking his gear, Vilho spent the final part just staring into different parts of the audience with a stern expression. Very captivating and very well controlled overall, as is to be expected from Aprapat. (MP)
As far as I know, entire June went without any real noise shows, with exception of something small. I was at one show where power electronics act performed along Black Metal acts. It is possible there are others like it, yet don’t recall any full noise nights.
16.7. Mekastus – JOENSUU (text by MA)
Joensuu is North Karelian capital. Less than 80000 inhabitants and about 100km from Russian border. Russian side of border over there is pretty much just desolate forest and no major cities. Joensuu is a fun place to visit. There is also noise history there since the 90’s. Original hometown of Cloama, Strom.ec and later activity surrounding people involved with Edge of Decay, Vigilantism and such. Noise shows happen more than once a year and been organized in various different locations. Usually something more private than a bar.
I arrived couple hours early. Was thinking either to stay for a couple of drinks and be able to drive the car later in the evening… or I would do a full on mayhemic drinking and sleep in the trunk of the car, for example. First I went to the market to get a bag of fresh peas, some small shot bottles of whiskey and while walking through the supermarket, went on ”men’s scents” department and sprayed BOSS tester. It matched the black shirt with couple of the top buttons missing. It seemed like there were women in a summer mood and when approaching a group of women who were having fun at a table on the terrace, they were pointing and winking at me. Haha… There was no trace of disgust, but appreciation towards the nordic lion.
Venue was a bar called La Barre. I went there during soundchecks and found out that the music should be over by 10 pm. This meant it was better idea to stay in driving condition. Just check out the gigs and then take the car ride back to the woods where I was spending this particular week.
Just a little whiskey shots to lift the mood a bit, a couple of beers to refresh myself. There was time to chat with a few people on the roof terrace of La Barre until it was 7 pm and it was time to move to the front of the stage.
LUSTERS started off with a surprisingly rhythmic material. Just saying it because my experience of Lusters is with their almost HNW material. Now there was a pounding pulse coming from synth. Perhaps it didn’t quite make you want to shake your dancing shoes, but it was a musical element nevertheless. Other member was doing pedals and contact mic chewing -routine and growling over the background noise. The set was decent as a whole and the best parts came when pedal noises started to emerge louder in mix. As element of their own, clearly separate from the synth layer. Most of the sound appeared to correlate with finger movements on synth buttons, while pedals were far less audible and despite he was doing a lot, what did really change, was mystery. Finally, when the causal connection between sound and action started to become apparent, it really improved the set! At the end, there was an anticlimactic synth noise wank that you can see in the video clip. It was short enough to not ruin anything, but was such a fun silly ending that may be worth to mention, hah…
All the previous gigs of HEPPAKIRJAT have been so epic that now it was somehow like… a “bar gig”. No video art, no sublime environment, just like a rock band on stage doing sound. Something strange was happening with electricity, which caused a rhythmic electric click sound appear alongside the sound he was intentionally creating. Hissing lo-fi soundscape from the speakers was great, yet there was that unwanted sound which felt almost like a phone searching for a 5G network being too close to sensitive vintage analog gear. This is something that I’ve noticed. Even 4G devices could get amps or tape deck create unwanted sounds, but when there is more powerful 5G network near, I wouldn’t dub tapes or digitize tapes since there would appear sounds caused by the network. It would suck to find out entire digitized tape has a small pulse signal going on that you will notice in quiet moments. Same thing with old amplifiers.
Anyways, it’s hard to know exactly where the problem came from, but it was only obvious in quiet parts and as soon as a slightly louder source came on, there was no problem. Part of the gig was spent on changing the walkman and thinking about a solutions for the problem, but in the end Heppakirjat just announced that was it and ended the set. It was reasonably short set that ended prematurely. Still not bad, as you can see from the video documentation. If the previous gigs had that epic quality, now there was a disjointed and even slightly broken feel and quick changes in sound. The artist was definitely annoyed, but I think the set would have worked properly even with that ”error sound” going on.
NINTENOISE was musically straightforward electronic drone-noise. For me, any kind of computer/game console thing is usually disgusting or irrelevant on some level. 8-bit music especially so. I can’t really relate to how people listen to and even buy records of that kind of stuff, even if there would be irony or hint on nostalgia. That all said, luckily the sound of Nintenoise has only marginally resembling 8-bit Nintendo sound. Mostly just high pressure electronic sound crushed into a drone sound. This worked really well in this situation. The guy also create the background video on the spot. Projecting glitchy screen of pacman he was altering by creating errors in the small game console, bending cables or circuits or.. whatever!
RAUTAKYMI had told that the source tape boxes were accidentally left home and that he had to get by with the equipment he had. Feedback loop’s hiss and rumble mostly. It’s probably quite primitive gear that brings a bit of its own sound that doesn’t close to other Finn noise artists. At best we got into really tasty and tearing broken sounds, sometimes we got into the typical “no input mixer noise” scene’s stuff. Entire set was easily on the positive side and I guess that if a little more external sources had been thrown into the mix, it would have been even better.
HAUDAT continued his recent thing, meaning that none of recent shows has been Haudat. Instead we have got live shows of his new unnamed harsh noise project. If Tampere gig was still slightly clumsy, now gig lives up to level of project that would deserve be named! None of the awkwardness and “let’s try this now” -mentality of the Tampere gig was present. ”Haudat” was creating absolutely world-class noise! That’s what I thought when I listened to the gig and the first guy who commented on the gig just few seconds after it was over, concluded: “now that was world-class noise!“. At least two guys who have heard a lot of noise came to the same conclusion. Artist seemed to know exactly what to do. How to get the good sound, to what extent is the mixer noise used to saturate and damage the sound, without generic mixer sounds dominating too much. Actually playing the sources in addition to just letting it play on itself – so to say. Using the delay pedal with good taste so that the mush of the delay and the bursts pulled through it stood out nicely. Fast and intense, occasionally calming down into the good vibe of a slower pace harsh noise.
The gig was already over at 9 pm and there was a feeling that now I could stay and drink… or just take a ride back into the woods and still have time for a sauna and swim in the lake. I chose the latter one! I like long noise gigs. I also like multiple days of noise. I don’t get tired easily. But I have to admit that a tight 2-hour burst of noise with multiple artists is also a damn good format! It’s hard to judge how people feel about it. Would it mean most guys do not bother to travel for a gig from the other side of Finland if you’re only going to see worth of couple of hours? Then again, not every show needs to be massive international or even national meeting. For local and slightly more novice people, it could be really good if there would be even free gigs where you won’t have overbearing amount of noise to handle.
27.7.2025 MELUA & MÖKÄÄ kouvola (text by MA)
Day before there had been noise show in Jyväskylä. I have not been at Jyväskylä noise gigs for about 20 years. Their gigs are usually very DIY oriented and leaning towards punk scene, often circulating around activities of Circle of Shit who is the guy to ask possibilities to play or plans they may have for the future.
Melua & mökää events (translates roughly as Noise & Racket) happen in Kouvola. City is located in the southeastern interior of Finland. About fifteen year ago city was combined with bunch of surrounding small cities and towns and on paper it appears rather large, yet the actual Kouvola city has merely 30000 inhabitants. It is part of those eastern cities that are becoming almost ghost towns, culturally and economically. Still there appears to be some sort of funding even for alternative culture. Place called Kulttuuritallit is located in old as fuck military base, and this particular building used to be horse stables. Originally it was squatted somewhere mid 00’s but later city started to give not only permission to use it, but also small funding. Place is not suitable for any other season than summer. Mostly punk and related, often animal rights organization selling vegan food at location. Place is messy and pretty much destroyed beyond repair, but with roof, walls and electricity, it works fine for underground shows. Noise included! Melua & Mökää exists basically thanks to guys known from Ahola & Silander. They have been putting out shows here for decade. Maybe due strongly leaning into local DIY culture with attitude of “just doing our thing”, I don’t think it was so recognized within Finn noise as shows that got reviewed and documented more frequently!
This time set was going to be just Finnish bands, but there happened to be visitors traveling in Finland who got added into bill in the last minute. Luckily to the beginning, since these would have been pretty sucky headliners. Haha.
Danish project I believe is called Jcakie delivered a really bad noise gig. You don’t see much of those these days! If you like the genre of “funny devices make funny sounds” and ”lets be goofy weirdos”, it might work for you. Towards the end of the set, equipment started to generate quite usable sounds, but when there is no idea, then there is.. well, no ideas! It was curious to see most of the audience leave the venue, so this is not just matter of my taste but overall impression of crowd.
Bootycall was vastly better. Finnish female artists who has lived in Denmark for long time. Expression itself was a kind of ultra typical harsh noise, that consists of a small pedal arsenal, contact microphone and furiously twisting knobs. With a relatively limited sound arsenal, we got a bit of lazer-noise and shakerbox distortion. However, during the 5-minute set, she was climbing on the table and spastic movements in latex mini skirt nun outfit was a plus.. so the traditional harsh noise was fine with little extra stage action.
Näsiä was the first one of the original gig line-up. Näsiä being one of those artists who get ”rural noise” tag attached on it. Hand made, physical sources, simple electronics, nature related themes and so on. Musically he could be somewhere K.Mizutani, Hands To, etc type of direction. Contact mic’ed metals, yes, but better was when he used dry pine cones. Delicately crunching dry flower petals with massive amplification at the end of the set was perhaps the best moment?
Tahma + Rautakymi are both new Finnish noise acts. Both have had only couple of tapes, compilation tracks and live gigs. Rautakymi debut CD is coming out soon. Their set was different than what they do as solo acts. This is a good thing. Of course 1+1=2 collaborations can work just fine, but I think there is always possibility for something else. Guys are pouring drinks down their throat throughout the entire show and both of their equipment were already familiar from solo shows, yet the combination was more of a “traditional” and hectic harsh noise duo set than what they do as solo. The only thing that bothered me was a certain midrange feedback howl that was being treated with kind of cut-up method.. and cutting that type of feedback usually is not working out as it tends to take power away from the rest of the noise. Not a huge problem. I myself have struggled in similar situations where some unwanted sound are present and couldn’t really find a way to get rid of it. Later on solution may be obvious, but while set is going on, it may be total mystery.
Ahola & Silander were really great again! I am pretty sure this project has not gotten recognition abroad that they could deserve. Perhaps they are most of all live act, and also not anything very uniform nor tied to specific ”scene” so to say. You don’t really associate them with any specific label, even if tape on Satatuhatta probably got widest circulation? Their strength is indeed in DIY ethos of doing gigs and their highly versatile output. I would say there is a style there, but they are not fixed into subgenres or specific approach. This time the beginning was quite a long ”warm-up”. The set was rather massive synth-noise assault. The electric, even rhythmic, yet relatively characterless set was built according to a formula familiar from A&S events: The men have a massive arsenal of equipment, sitting facing each other. Sideways to the audience. They take turns on doing noise and whenever one is more active, the other has the patience to listen what is going on, sip a little wine from a goblet and then the roles change again. At no point does it feel like a pointless jam or aimless auto-generated synth wankery. Most likely because the guys have the patience to listen and react to the existing sound and develop it with actual thought where to go with their set. It is not overly calculated. Sometimes a sound gets out of hand or pops out vaguely and is quickly faded down, but this fits as part of a live performance where you really play in the moment and you can’t always have a 100% smooth edits or fades.
UMPIO has already notable international presence. His live gigs have been mostly in Finland. For many Finns, it has been possible to catch him play fairly frequently. Therefore I could say it was quite close to other recent Umpio gigs. Artist is digging through his scrap metal bin in a distracted manner, but little by little he starts to focus on and be more precise. Very accurate mixer noise manipulations, quick bursts of harsh noises from pedals and so on. It probably takes 15 minutes before the gates are properly opened. I could imagine that as the last artist it’s kind of a tricky situation: After many noise sets, can you still play in a way that the audience notices all the subtle nuances, etc.? I would personally like to see UMPIO gig where the warm-up part is shorter and he would blast that crazy full throttle noise for longer time. It works nicely like it is, though. Perhaps also doing routinely harsh blast set could be underwhelming or that this full on blast is now reserved for Impakt? Umpio is sovereign in its expression. (MA)
26.7.2025 BHM Fest @ Iitti (text by MA)
Next day from Kouvola gig, this one was located nearby, yet in even smaller village. Iitti has population of six thousand inhabitants and location may sound odd, unless you are familiar with Brown Hill Mafia. They do cover wider range of sounds and music, but during last years emphasis has been with experimental and noisy material. Key players of event and BHM collective are living in farms in this area and have been gaining worldwide recognition with small scale releases that revolve around idea of ”rural noise” or ”rural industrial”. Special Interests has been covering this idea for many years and couple years ago was published essay that can be found from here:
Nuori Veri published his manifesto in Special Interests magazine issue 17 (2025) that can be found from only from this paper magazine. To keep up with what is happening with Brownhill Mafia and to join their mailinglist, visit: https://brownhillmafia.fi
The milieu was perfect for the festival. Hot Finnish summer day, in the countryside, surrounded by fields. Even if lakes are present in this area, perhaps it was good that venue was not located by the lake. Weather was so warm and sweaty, you could have ended up swimming so often that you wouldn’t have time to chat with all the noiseheads that had gathered here! The concert hall itself was cool, which was really surprising. Large old wooden house with good acoustic in the hall. Proper stage with neat old school theatre props, making stage look like playing in front of forest. We arrived there maybe an hour before the start of the show and had time to meet and talk with people and start drinking beer before The Day of the Antler was announced to be on stage.
It was good I didn’t delay going in, because this time the artist’s show was maybe 5 minutes long! If someone had stayed in the yard after the announcement to smoke a cigar or something, the show could have easily been missed. Despite having seen a couple of The Day of the Antler shows before, I didn’t really have any expectations about it. Nevertheless, I have to say that the five-minute harsh noise set with the big metaljunk was surprising. I personally like to see artists doing a varied sets under the same monicker. It is not wise to be trapped into repeating only expected routines. In addition to being something unexpected, this particular approach worked really well with the sound system!
In the wooden hall, the PA, which visually appeared quite small, had moderate high-end speakers plus a subwoofer, and the set gave way more than you expected. A really thick sound mass that created a pretty ideal situation: I didn’t need earplugs, but the volume and above all the spectrum of sound was good. Enough volume from the lowest bass to the brightest treble with hi-fidelity sound as opposed to gutter level guitar gear amplification. Plus, sitting on a bench in the ballroom, I could really listen to it for pleasure. If the same set was performed with a guitar amps in the corner of a restaurant and the crowd would be chatting at the bar counter, it probably wouldn’t work at all. Now it was really fucking great in all its simplicity!
Jazzhand didn’t really utilize the hi-fi essence of the PA, but rather a raw lo-fi atmosphere colored by cassette hiss. Actually you could say that this also utilizes the PA, but primarily the atmosphere of the space. Jazzhand is really something to listen to while sitting on a bench. It is not moshpit noise! The set progressed at a slow pace, contained a ritualistic, or rather even ceremonial dimension. This is not some ”robes and incense” type stuff. What I am talking about is that the artit has his own objects and the actions done with them. I think this is great, because especially when going to the metal music side of culture, the nature of the ”ceremony” has often changed more into an aesthetic performance. Something done with widely accepted props and aesthetics, that resembles what one thinks ceremony should look like. It is quite different from something truly meaningful to the performer is happening. In that sense, Jazzhand managed to bring the essential feature of Brownhill’s work to the stage without theatrical imitations. A truly great gig!
Samuli Näsi‘s gig at Lahti earlier in 2025 at the Viima & Villasukkia was absolutely great. When I first saw Samuli Näsi at a gig in a local bar, it was display of what I dislike at such places. It was merely out of not wanting organizers or venue get in trouble that kept me from assaulting couple guys in the bar. Even though I’m a laid-back guy, when someone is chatting loud as fuck at the best gigs you are witnessing, I have had no problem to physically solve situations. Dragging someone out with firm grip of their throat. It’s is actually last last weekend when I ended up in such situation when dude being too annoying at a gig.
First gig of Samuli Näsi was partially of ruined by bar atmosphere, but second gig at the Viimaa ja villasukkia was great. As one can expect, almost hand picked, invited and truly interested guys who made it to BHM festival were there to see artists. The BHM rural idyll was still notch better. For this type of acoustic guitar music, you couldn’t almost imagine anything better. ”Primitive” open tuning, composed, yet semi-improvised playing was skilled and maintaining all the good rough edges of physicality of guitar. Perhaps if you were listening to a completely acoustic performance next to the player it could get even more intimate? The proximity of the PA and microphone is certainly helpful and beneficial in larger space, but maybe some day there will be even smaller private events. Maintaining the raw, physical acoustic guitar sound, stripped from any extra technology is probably at its purest without electricity. Amazing gig. The audience gave such a standing applause and screams at the end that it was clearly one of the most appreciated sets of the fest!
Ahola & Silander played different style of noise than the day before in Kouvola. I don’t know if you can really call the set ”aggressive” or ”hostile”, but maybe correct word would be: energetic? Screaming vocals, electronics and walking around the space with a contact mic shaker connected to very long cord that enabled moving around. The set remained quite linear and planned, even though the men moved around the stage and floor, and many seemingly spontaneous elements were there. Random elements were clearly there -but the idea that carries the set was clearly thought out in advance. It’s funny how two men on stage are somehow way more than.. one. You immediately get the “band” atmosphere as opposed to ”noise maker”.
Metsäkirkko filled the stage with reel-to-reel tape recorders and various other miked devices or objects. There was a longer text one of the guys was narrating and a ghostly elements of nature mysticism and the ”rural industrial” was always present. Finally, the band carried a box of percussive instruments and objects in front of the audience. Command was to grab something from the box and follow into the yard. One of the members banged the larger drum and the entire audience followed the drummer, with random racket generated from all the percussive instruments. Maybe 50 meters walk across the yard to the borders of the field where other member grabbed an axe and started to smash the piano to pieces. At some point, he switched to sledge hammmer. Acoustic drum rhythm, vague clanking and rattling and the throbbing echoing sounds of the disintegrating piano mechanism/strings. The soundscape would have been good even without the visual aspect. A really good gig overall.
The hall was given a new look before the Kartio gig. Instead of the stage, artist was on the floor playing his equipment. One extra amplifier was placed in the middle of the hall in addition to the PA. Almost a surround sound atmosphere, where he could control extra sound elements separately blasted from different direction than front speakers. Benches and tables were arranged in a slightly circular manner around all this. Although the set consisted of seemingly one monolithic sound mass, there were sections and development during the set. Kartio is a spin off from Umpio, where emphasis is more on modulars, amps, ”insect electronics”, busy sound textures, but not harsh junk smashing. Indeed, we got electronics buzzing like insects and processed noisy textures manipulated by artist who was sitting in front of a table full of gear. I think this beats even the Umpio gig the day before, even though it wasn’t that harsh. Plus, even if he has played a lot, I think it was the first time I saw Kartio live.
Same for Abysse Des Âmes! Even if I know the members and have heard some sessions before they made official releases, I have never seen them play live. On-stage live movie soundtracks they have played in Lahti a couple of times, have happened when I’ve been somewhere out of town. I do like playing live to certain extent, but as guy who likes to go see live music of many types, it sometimes gets annoying when there is so much overlap and even local gigs are being missed.
I don’t know how much of this kind of approach there is in general. Be it in Finland or elsewhere. That a three-man band with such an experimental and strange approach to sound works like a so-called real band. Meaning that they practice and play together actively, for many years, perfecting their skills. This all happening without being obsessed about making releases and/or playing gigs, but simply playing at the rehearsal space, experimenting and learning to react and play in sync with each other. In a practice room, with loud PA. That is clearly beneficial, because when A.D.A. played the gig, it really is about playing and not merely adjusting playback or trying out things. Dynamics were lively and the guys were clearly used to listening to each other and following some sort of composition. Although, it must be reminded that this is not “music” in the traditional sense, rather somewhat shapeless experimental sound, it is nevertheless a composed work.
As an outsider, it can be difficult to understand how much difference it would be if the gig were pure improvisation, compared to the fact that the band practically has some kind of ”notation” for the composition that keep them on track of what each person should be doing in each part of the set. Perhaps the sense of purpose combined with the handmade sound, and the fact that the members have become master of craft creates a significantly better result than the more typical collaboration style in form of… “let’s start jamming“. This set progressed with slower pace than the recorded material. Even though there was short intermission that suddenly appeared in the middle of the set due electricity cutting off, they would play rest of the set as soon as power was on again!
Video footage from the BHM event is here!
Gray Ritual 3 – Helsinki 30.7.2025 (text by MA)
After weekend full of noise activities, it was only couple of days before yet another show. Unusual situation of having wednesday noise gig between two noise weekends. I was sure that I was not going to make it to Oulu for thursday, but Helsinki is pretty easy to reach for me. Lahti is located about 100km from Helsinki and you can get about 1 hour train ride that goes every hour until late at night. I have grown tired of taking car ride to capital city center, because parking and traffic is such a pain in the ass. Instead, if weather is good, you can take bike to train and when arriving to Helsinki, it will be pretty fast to move around compared to walking. There was scorching heat, and we went to meet some noise guys during day. All clothing was soaked in sweat already on the way. I just told man to pour me whisky shot and went to shower to not die in heat stroke. Despite having plan to visit several different places, leaving to city center took time and in the end just visited one book store and rest of the time was spent on outdoor beer drinking and noise discussions.
Gig took place in underground dance club of some sort. Location is not told in public, although nothing shady is happening there. I guess this is one of the routines nowadays! In this report, perhaps half of the shows did not announce address or location of the show to anyone else but those who bought the tickets in advance. In some cases, it may be simply wanting to keep events for people who are really interested. Some have this policy due very limited space, so it is merely a way to make sure everybody who travels to see the show, fits in. It is only very very rarely when there is something somehow shady in the line-up that organizer want to keep things low profile so that the current age crybabies won’t be causing any nuisance to venues. This is known to happen, but is fairly marginal behavior.
This venue had proven to be potentially good, but with some flaws. There were fairly strict volume restrictions that was not ideal. It is dim lighted and hot basement club, with no bar, quite small stage and when 50 people are in, it is possible there are some limitations of seeing artist playing. I recall there was roughly 50 people here and no problems to see to the stage when you were in early enough and didn’t get stuck somewhere in the back. Now also volume limitations were gone, so bands sounded very good!
Malaise 57 played straight forward harsh drone noise. Often the static and distorted sound waved lightly. Different elements were also recognizable: lower bassy oscillation and sharper synth swirls with almost psychedelic tones appeared there too. I liked it despite being very simple and traditional.
In the Lusters set, Edge of Decay equipment was not as dominant as at the Joensuu gig. Now the sounds were more balanced and therefore good stuff again. Sometimes the electronics got a little more playful. EoD held onto a couple knobs for most of the gig and actively twisted them like kneading dough or something. Circle of Shit probably had walkman with that music rewind sound and fooling around with bunch of pedals.
Inhóspito was in a way quite traditional harsh noise set. There were a lot of pedals on the table and a metal object and a shaker box in his hand. He was tinkering with equipment at a fairly fast pace and sometimes focused on smashing scrap metal or breaking into feedback assaults. I like it for what it is, but I also do think there is some of this uniformity what constitutes as harsh noise gear and harsh noise playing that is counterproductive for noise culture. One can be genre conscious to extent, but adding personal angle to noise you make could be good. Should one abandon metal junk and contact microphones and pedals? Well, I’m not, so I am not expecting others either, hah… but artists who are as good as Inhospito is, could have next step to take: How to make it more personal?
It’s funny how almost the same set up description could be said about the Moozzhead gig: There are a bunch of pedals on the table and a shaker box in the palm of his hand. Artist fiddling with the equipment at a relatively fast pace. Yet, the end result is very different! Both in terms of style and sound. While Moozzhead will probably not shy away if you “accuse” him for celebrating the 90’s Japanese harsh noise, he doesn’t really sound like any of the Japanese classic names nor his style of playing has many of these elements you typically see in “pedal noise”.
He has the high fidelity sound, crispy but crunchy sound with the colorful and playful vibe. Not the crunch of the American 90’s, not the tech heavy edit cuts of later noise. More just traditional noise in way that can be made by manually playing efx pedals and not being afraid to mix in colorful neat electronics. This gig of Moozzhead was even surprisingly treble and surprisingly stripped down! If you check the video online, you can see there are long sections where he relies on just one sound element and sometimes there’s only painful squeal of noise – which is a POSITIVE thing in this regard. Of course, the volume could have been a little higher because it seemed to be a bit lower than the others, but again, the sounds themselves are very good and not hidden in too safe bass rumble or too fast modulations.
Tantric Death also played a relatively simple set. The broken source sound was screeching and the artist who had cut off his shaggy hair was churning out less pedal heavy noise. I associated TD into kind of traditional pedal generated harsh noise that some of his releases have, but this was more on the verge of processing lo-fi broken noise. Quite short set and good to have different type of thing between the pure harsh noise bombardment.
Hingst was then quite rightly headliner. The energetic duo created the storm of harsh noise to the point that a funny noise moshpit was formed by drunken men. Casually bumping into each other and spinning around in the sweaty venue. Even though Hingst was such a direct attack harsh moshpit noise, it was not aimless or uncontrolled. You could see them communicating with body movement and also following what they did with their hands, you could clearly hear how the overall sound is effected and how all sorts of things are happening. I like this type of visually clear causality in noise, which is totally opposite from playing laptop. Regardless do you get great sound out of it, missing the visual aspect of playing is turnoff. Hingst has quite an electric finishing touch to the overall sound, in a good way! I know some people have been complaining about too hard high’s on direct-to-PA noise shows, but I have no complaints with bands who are meant to be that way. Listen any Hingst material, and there isn’t vintage amp touch, but pure razor sharp line-in audio.
During that day, it was quite a heatstroke feeling. When we were moving around in the heat on bikes and there was not a single dry spot left on our clothes. Towards the end of the evening we started sweating endlessly and the beers we were constantly being consumed. Certain Belgian gentleman was bringing more beer from near by store between every artist, so with having my own beer cans, I usually ended having two open cans at once and drinking twice as much as planned. I was just talking to a few friends earlier in the day that there was no point in getting too drunk at gigs. To the point where you don’t even remember going or seeing it. Luckily the beer was timed quite well and the gig itself was well observed, but coming to Lahti? Hmm.. maybe someone else bought a train ticket and I did get home without crashing anywhere, but my memories are quite hazy after leaving the venue. A half-drunk pint of beer was found next day in the bike’s bottle holder. Some of the guys had several hours drive to Oulu next day. Despite I was interested in artists there was, I didn’t have regrets for having one day off before weekends noise marathon! (MA)
STEEL RÄÄSEIKKÖ AROUND OULU IV (text by MT, photos Jaakko Marras)
31.7.2025 Mallassauna
This time around Steel Rääseikkö served as pre-party gig for Harsh Ways Fest III. Gigs took place at a cozy bar in Oulu, called Mallassauna. It was hot, intesively hot. Tempatures rose up to +30 celcius, which is for us nordic men an unbearable situation. Neverthless Rääseikkö troopers stormed on and everything was in place at the venue when artists began to roll in for sound checks etc. There was a sound guy present who worked for the bar, this always rises some concerns whether the ideas of artists and sound guy ever meet. Does he understand what is expected of him? We all have certainly heard or had some horror stories with these guys, but this time all suspicions were proved wrong. Sound was loud and intense, everyone was satisfied with their soundchecks.
Five noise makers were on the bill for this sweaty undertaking. Commando 15, Stinkfinger, Max Julian Eastman, Moozzhead and HINGST. Once the doors opened, surprisingly lot of people made their way in. Considering this is a thursday night and relatively early starting time. I was very pleased to see some new crowd at Oulu noise gigs.
Commando 15 started first, as organizer of the event usually does. I’ve seen few C15 gigs, and it just keeps getting better and better all time time. Masterful control of the feedback and very creative use of pedals to bring the best out of them and sometimes use in an unconventional way. Set was intense and focused, atmospheric and harsh at the same time. No bullshit, no gimmicks, just powerful industrial noise. It was over maybe a bit too soon, but I think he was saving up for Harsh Ways Fest.
I myself played as Stinkfinger next. Very chaotic and hectic 7-8mins, wild pedal action with junk metals as source. Some hockey team worship and rock ‘n noise style playing. Was quite satisfied with the sound and how freaking loud it was. Heard someone comment “like a mix of Richard Ramirez and japanoise”. Not a bad one.
American made Max Julian Eastman was next, didn’t have a chance to see him last time he was here, so now fixing that. Eastman sat down, had very minimal gear and did quite surprising brutal vocals in between the mixing of sound from tape sources. Very unique sounding set, solid and didn’t break the arch at any time.
Now speaking of gear, Moozzhead had plenty. But he also utilizes each piece, actively working through the gear as he plays. Blissful and joyful noise ála Moozzhead. I am starting to consider him as the modern harsh noise master. Sets evolve and never seem boring, background videos are done with utmost care and thought. This time we had a mix of Space Odyssey 2001 and Nicki Minaj-style larger than life asses. Very pleasing in many ways. It was getting very sweaty, the heat just did not let go of it’s grip and gig space was reaching infernal tempatures. After each gig the place promptly cleared out and everyone wanted to get fresh air and drinks. Breaks between sets were just enough for some refreshment until the noise onslaught began again.
Last but not least was the Swedish boys of HINGST. I have some of their CD’s and tapes, but haven’t seen them live before. Set took it’s time to launch and then never took foot off the gas. It was crazy intense, guys fighting over the table, feedback screeching like hell and diving into blissfull harshness of noise. Short, sweaty and fucking great. Overall the night was a great success, 30-40 attendance, excellent sound, what else you could hope for? This served as nice appetizer before heading into the noise buffet of Harsh Ways Fest. Evening continued to Oulu’s best beer place and many conversations, some coheret and some not so coherent for few hours before heading back home to catch some sleep for next days early call for train to Turku. Next week we got a rather amusing message from the venue how other customers were annoyed, wine bar owner next door irritated and PA supposedly blown… I guess we are not welcome next time! Keeping noise dangerous in 2025. (MT)
After these shows, next day started Harsh Ways Fest and you can find separate report of it here:
Summer of noise did not end here. Putrefier and Evil Moisture did gigs in Finland. Bunch of other shows happened during august and more is coming during september. September in Finnish is syyskuu, literally meaning “autumn month” so perhaps this is the closure for noise summer 2025!
I recommend to keep eye on Special Interests forum gig announcements and there is also social media options. There is also topic dedicated to noise gigs happening in Finland.
As usual, if interested in tapes, cd’s, vinyl, most of Finnish noise in physical form can be bought from nhfastore.net