independent brand.

i took some time this morning to read the piles of newspapers we have accumulated next to the sofa. i have not had a chance to read the paper for almost a fortnight and i looked forward to spreading the large sheets on the coffee table. a beautiful snowfall, a steaming cup of coffee and, finally, a less congested head capable of understanding written material – it started as the perfect morning.

profoundly fitting for the day of finnish independence were the already old news of the finished work of the country brand committee. i had browsed through the book mission for finland! – how finland will solve the world's most wicked problems and clicked their flash filled website. i found the work thoroughly finnish and optimistic – a paradox, as i was to find out this morning.

i had read some reactions to the publication from online journals, but while they were carefully positive or only slightly snickering, i was not prepared for the loathing that hit me in the face from the newspapers' opinions and editorials.

my problem with the entire project was that i do not recognize the sort of nationalistic sentiments in myself that seem prerequisite for partaking in something like this. for me, feeling proud about being a finn seems alien. it is my cultural heritage, heterogeneous as such, but my process of an identity is too multifaceted to support such statements as national pride in all honesty. still i can grasp the objective at hand. or so i thought.

the thing is, it seems many finns found the project with the objective of defining features of finnish society that could be our strengths lacking because the end result wasn't a state of the nation report. the most common source of whining was that the problems we face – longtime unemployment, terrible mental health care, youth marginalization – were not discussed. that the perspective was not that of an average or disadvantaged member of society.

i am sorry but at what point did a listing of strengths need to include the problems? the country branding report was not meant to tell the world (or ourselves) what was wrong with finland, but what was great and unique about it and its people.

moreover, anyone with culturally sensitive reading glasses can infer from many of the tasks where our problems lay: lack of communication, lack of personal social support (in lieu of institutional support) and lack of intergenerational connections. there are suggestions for improvement and change but their focus is on the positive, not the negative.

and that's where the report fails to reach (some) finns.

i guess they got that much right.

happy independence day!

cossus snufsigalonica.

already out before xmas, i wanted to share this piece of dance bliss with those of you who have not yet stumbled into it. fear of tigers is the project of benjamin berry and his debut album titled cossus snufsigalonica (gotta love it, right!) has some amazingly beautiful pieces of electronic floorfillers.

the title song appears to use a (lyrical) sample from corona's "rhythm of the night" from 1993 combined to a very 80's pop background. all it's missing are bright lights and smiling faces on the dance floor around 3.20am...



go to fear of tigers myspace and download entire album for free!

let the drums play!

right now, this is making me happy. imagine the beach boys twisting in the sand with joy division, the gloomy factory records influenced by a sudden, sunny love of surfing... the drums bring extended summer to these rainy fall days. their ep summertime! is filled with cheerful tunes, including my fave "don't be a jerk, jonny" downloadable here.

music sounds better with you.

aussies are at it again. miami horror is 22 year-old benjamin plant, a melbourne born and bred dj and producer. "make you mine" is a definite feelgood song to take you towards the weekend's bounciest dancefloors...



download the mp3 via rcrdlbl.

so me.

yet another great video directed by so me, ed banger's creative director responsible for such fun videos as justice's d.a.n.c.e. and pretty much everything else his record label puts out from sleeve design to t-shirts.

here's kid cudi's "day 'n' nite". the use of graphics reminds me of diesel's xxx ads.

download the crookers remix here.

remember to floss!

a song for the weekend: flosstradamus feat. caroline polacheck. at first i thought the song was boring, but i'm easily persuaded by accordion playing and now it's really catching on. it's kinda goofy, but makes me wanna dance.



downloadable via greenlabelsound.

go disco!

with the increasing popularity of acts like glass candy, sally shapiro, metro area and hercules and the love affair, it seems italo is definitely making a comeback. the new acts evolve from dark electro sounds, but add color and happy housey choruses. i think next summer we'll all be italo discoing (and actually there's a chance to get in the mood at rautatientori ice park next tuesday).

therefore, i will return the favor sugar kane provided earlier today with a disco remix for your friday pleasure by dj-photographer extraordinaire antti hiljá. go dance!

karin.

my love for the knife is immense: they are out of this world. the musical project of the dreijer siblings blows me away with every single listen. they are genius.

when karin lent her voice to röyksopp and they created the most hauntingly beautiful song what else is there i started to suspect the girl had something hidden just waiting to burst out in the open. and here is fever ray, her solo project. here's the video for her first single if i had a heart and it is a masterpiece both visually and musically.



these remixes are worth a listen as well: one by familjen and another by fuck buttons of which the latter will be released as part of the 7" out feb 10. the album can be downloaded from klicktrack.

ocarina.

there are several great features for the iphone which give it that extra bit of oomph regular phones just don't have.

the decisive application for me is the smule ocarina. created at stanford university (which actually has the most beautiful campus on this planet; if you're ever in the bay area in cali, pay it a visit. i used to go skateboarding there when i lived in palo alto...) center for computer research in music and acoustics (ccrma) the program transforms your iphone into a flute: you just blow into the microphone and "cover" the virtual holes to alter the flow of air and, thus, the tone, and out comes music. genious!

a list of funky photoshop actions.

this list of photoshop actions seems pretty cool for anyone like me who likes to play around with their collection of snapshots. i especially like the lomo effects, the long term lomophile that i am.