SUPERMARKET

Krautrock from Finland eh? Want to hear something else that's rather strange? This is a concept album about shopping in a supermarket. Or as the band puts it... "A soundtrack for the supermarket nations". Haha, okay i'll bite. This is my first taste of this band and I was left with a lot of positive impressions. The music reminded me at times of LA DUSSELDORF, HARMONIA and NEU! and at other times we get a lot of electronic beats mixed in with some heavy atmospheric sections. A pretty cool album overall.

"En-Trance" makes me laugh because how many of you have walked into a supermarket with all of those bright lights while being arm in arm with Buddha, yeah me too. And the title suggests that to me as we begin our shopping experience. What an opening sound as we get these powerful, dark and pulsating electronic waves as other spacey sounds join in. From the sounds of this i'm guessing we are very paranoid and stoned as we enter our destination. "Shopping Trance" has these pulsating electronic sounds with drums and bass as spacey sounds explode over top throughout. A change after 6 1/2 minutes as the beats stop briefly but then it kicks back in quickly. A strange trumpet experience is next before 7 1/2 minutes then it winds down to the end. "AEIOUYAO" sounds like a normal song almost including male vocals in the background. This one reminds me of the German bands I mentioned in the intro. Female vocals before 2 minutes and it's very uplifting before 3 minutes.

"Jonotus/Queue" has atmosphere to it that is so powerful I feel like I need to hang on to something tight. Like a thousand mellotron choirs flooding the soundscape. And it stays this way throughout! Clearly we are having one of those freaky moments in the supermarket. "Prisma" has this deep atmosphere to it that pulses as a relaxed beat joins in and this swirling sound. "Smiling Cashier" means we are near the end of our shopping experience. Deep drum and bass sounds with background synths to start and this strange sound like a dog barking but it's processed and in slow motion. What was that? It's back again after 2 1/2 minutes. Hey maybe it's the cashier talking to us and this is what we are hearing 'cause we are ripped. Spacey synths dominate later, some piano on this one as well. "Vasikka" has these swelling synths, an electronic beat, drums and more in this fairly energetic piece. So much going on here. "Exit" says it all doesn't it? The synths bring HARMONIA, NEU! and La DUSSELDORF to mind as we get a plodding beat and even female vocal melodies at one point.

I really enjoyed this record, these guys are clearly influenced by the Krautrock scene and i'll be checking out at least one of their earlier albums if not both in the future. Great album!