UKKOSSALAMA

Here we have a space rock classic from a band which is under way in nearly every nook and corner music-wise. 'Ukkossalama' features four seemingly free formed jams with a cosmic as well as jazzy appeal, that said one could also say stylistically close to Daevid Allen projects and some wellknown krautrock bands. Still very unique and a bit unusual when speaking of Ektroverde terms, all the other productions I know are stylistically very wide-ranging, based on a more avantgarde approach. But this is pure jamming.

Thirteen musicians are involved here more or less, mainly deriving from the huge Circle (Ektro) society and also featuring Mika Rintala (Verde). The album sounds like recorded on the fly, don't know if any overdubs were made. All the instruments, especially the saxophones, are swirling around somehow, animated by ... well, I'm not able to spot ... who serves the structure? Who defines the direction, where to float? Some aspects on the shorter expeditions Kapituli and Paholaispiirtäjä remind me of Hungarian band Korai Öröm playing live - the vocals, the jazzy groove. Both songs are faded out by the way.

The drawn-out Kaski is provided with more hypnotically floating krautrock essence, build up around a repetitive motif, as for that coming with references close to the Yeti jamming Amon Düül 2. Salama follows with emphasized vocals by Mika Rättö - no, shouting recitative meets it better, there's some aggressive vibe definitely, in order to start the engines of course. Furthermore this track is focussed on soaring spacey guitars respectively synths, lively bass and drums - a gripping cosmic odyssey par excellence.

Did they fail the return to mother earth or not? They leave the question unanswered. One word - inspired! An album which pleases me much. I like the approach to let the songs evolve without boundings, their abilities to interact, the joy of playing, the excellent musicianship. Nearly perfect (though - strictly speaking - currently I'm not able to formulate what completely perfect really means to me). 'Ukkossalama' is a highly recommended affair bult around kraut, jazz and space ingredients - 4.5 stars.