Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Sperm - Shh! CD (album) cover

SHH!

Sperm

 

Progressive Electronic

3.90 | 12 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Eetu Pellonpaa
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Firstly released through unclear "O Records", this most coherent output from the Finnish capital based underground freaks has been reissued later on CD-R by Pekka Airaksinen's "Dharmakustannus" and also on vinyl by De Stijl label. The first side of the LP begins with "Heinäsirkat I" (Locusts I). This over sixteen minutes long ambient journey space starts with echo-delayed oscillations of a guitar and distant analogue electronic humming. These two sonic entities quietly entwine, and resemble a darker version from Galactic Explorer's or Tangerine Dream's "Zeit" aural landscapes. Later the darker humming evolves as more high pitched feedback, altering the start's serene sequence as more disturbing abstract musical stagnation, which later gains rhythm from volume pulsing. I would believe this song mostly documents Mr. Airaksinen testing his electronic audio generators and possibly doing a second track layer with a guitar over it. On "Korvapoliklinikka Hesperia" it is possible that Nikke Nikamo holds the awesomely roaring low-pitched guitar, at least he has been credited as a composer for this track. It is also possible that the played instruments are also here done by Airaksinen, and the members of the collective participated to the creation process of these tracks with some other mysterious manners. However, the appearing celestial carpet of sound from this reverbed instrument unites with unearthly brilliance of electronic devices and excerpts from official-sounding radiobroadcast, which I believe are from traffic guidance systems of either taxis or emergency patrols, the final phrase stopping to location "Korvapoliklinikka" (an ear dispensary). The B-side spins forward with "Jazz Jazz", freely flowing saxophone solos casting shadows over electronic acoustic walls of tones, staying on very minimalist groovy level. The composition has been credited for Ilkka "Emu" Lehtinen, who later committed to prosperous record dealing and music business, and Antero Helander, who I believe played the saxophone. Mr.E. Kuitunen is also credited from the composition. The final long track "Dodekafoninen talvisota", who also has Nikke Nikamo credited as a composer, stands for twenty minutes lasting aural collage of percussions, noises and ambient humming. All this concludes as an album certainly worth of recommending for collectors of vintage avant-gardist psychedelic electronics, delivered from the iconic Finnish underground pioneers.
Eetu Pellonpaa | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this SPERM review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.