Kemialliset Ystävät

s/t

Fonal





When it comes to outer limits collective music, few names come to mind when addressing those who truly push the envelope when it comes to musical sound aesthetic. Sunburned Hand Of The Man and No Neck Blues Band might be a couple that one can think of stateside, but outside of the good ‘ol USA, there’s more than likely a bumper crop of such artists that will rarely get recognized for their tripped-out, discordant output, one of which would undoubtedly be Finland’s Kemialliset Ystävät. I’d be willing to bet that since this side of the pond rarely focuses on things going on in Scandinavia, that only true purveyors of the avant garde and acid-folk circles have ever heard of this outfit, but their sound should definitely reach further than the blotter paper and headphones of these select few people. On their self-titled fourth LP, this ever-changing collective of musicians explore, well, whatever it is they explore, with reckless abandon for anything traditional as far as song structure goes. “He Tulivat Taivaan Ääristä” starts the record on a briefly pulsating synth note, quickly joined in by what sounds like vintage typing samples before the track adopts some flute-like tones, feedback and various other erratic sounds—creating much more of a sound collage than an actual “song” per se; and the rest of the record follows suit, for a bizarre and strange audio voyage into a mess of deep psychedelia. “Tulinen Kiihdytys” accentuates this as the freakiest of folk meets the freakiest of electronics for some serious sound-pandemonium, only to fade into a somewhat monotonous cacophony of plucked strings, electronic spasms and what sounds like some pretty primal growls. Things stick pretty close to this murky nature, with the exception of “Soluskye,” which can only be described as the most spacey offering here, going heavy on oscillations and blips for just under two minutes, long enough for listeners to get a grip before heading into the most musical offering, “Superhimmeli,” which will be the most accessible track for new listeners. It draws a miniscule parallel to what AMT might sound like collaborating with the multi-instrumentalism of say, Tarentel, but to even put such a comparison out there probably won’t do the track much justice. And it’s this ideal that finds Kemialliset Ystävät in their element, one that is truly hard to decipher, and about as difficult to take in. In my best lack of being able to explain this, this offering might be too rich and deep for some of the more experienced purveyors of head-music, not to mention, outright baffling to someone who is not familiar to such a musical culture. Despite all of this, the record closes on somewhat of an organic note with what must be some field recordings manipulated into a vicious texture that begs to be explored, but even in such a context, “Älyvaahtoa” still overflows with various sound elements to it’s breaking point. The closing track, “Himmeli Kutsuu Minua” differs greatly, and with good measure, as chanting permeates through a very, very far-eastern melody (!) that could rightly-so be from a desert planet far away from here. Think if you will, what the cantina band from Tatooine might sound like on some of the craziest pharmaceutical-grade mind drugs, and we might be getting close… or just further away from describing this. This record might take a few solid months of listening before anything sets in. Heavy, real heavy.

Fonal
Kemialliset Ystävät