DJ pHinn
p l a y l i s t s
8 November 2000, Club Telex, Yo-Talo, Tampere
This time Club Telex was honoured to arrange a ("rural", as they so nicely put it on their CD booklet) "kick-off" party for Helsinki's Avanto festival. The guests were Hecker, Fennesz and Skot of Austrian Mego label; also Pita Rehberg was supposed to arrive, to play a set as a combo with Fennesz and Pan sonic's Mika Vainio, but we heard Rehberg had stuck in Tokyo where he had played at Spiral Club's Büro festival.
The afternoon soundchecks had not proceeded without the usual mess-ups, and this time we found out that we had failed to obtain Pioneer's scratching CD player for Hecker's set even though it was mentioned on the technical rider Mego's Isabelle had posted us weeks earlier. Another exercise in how (not) to delegate things: of course it was someone else who should have taken care of it. As always. Gladly, an alternative solution was found, but let it be known that some embarrassed moments were had on the part of club promoters.
So, in the end we witnessed a magnificent set from a duo of Fennesz and Vainio, which had been preceded by Hecker's beautifully cacophonic laptop noise excursions and Skot's video art. Fennesz/Vainio digital-clashes-with-analogue set varied from overwhelming noise to Pan sonic-like heavy factory rhythm to dub-from-hell FX. Their aural punishment was so hard that you could actually smell the smoke emitting from the overheated monitor PAs.
Organising these sorts of clubs in a town the size of Tampere and not even in a weekend day can be a pearls before swine situation, so a serious lack of audience was had here too. An amusing (and somehow typical) sight was the two drunken gentlemen who slowly shuffled to see what Hecker was doing with his laptop, just in the middle of his performance. Well, maybe to have some real success here we should have had instead some Swedish Britpop clones in black leather pants playing for limp-wristed suicide candidates or a night of drunken Finnish hip hop MC's waving their arms like drooling maniacs while the vandals in baggy pants decorate the men's room with their tags...
Some memorable backstage moments: Mika Vainio quietly concentrating on a Paul Auster book, Herr Hecker taking a well-deserved nap on a sofa after a hard night; Fennesz (a tall figure with a profile that made him look somehow like a mild-mannered pirate) and Hecker (a computer geek-type with specs and short blond scalp, who seemed to be baffled occasionally by the weirdo Finns and seemed not always understand what the hell I was babbling about) recollections of the Tampere specialty mustamakkara ("black sausage", a local variation of German Blutwurst) and Hartwall's godawful "Oktoberfest" beer. And while they were having dinner at the cellar restaurant of Yo-Talo, Mego guys were amazed to find out it is not a Finnish custom to give tip to waiters. Yes, we are barbarians.
The night's special guest DJ's were Stimulus Progression (a.k.a. Mika Taanila) with his easy-listening strings and Kauko Lampi of Op:l Bastards doing some M.A. Numminen rarities; also Telex residents mini and pHinn played some.
Kaktus: A The Octagon Man: Phonic Maze Hertsi: Kohina A Virtalähde: Normaaliajan hälytysmerkki M.A. Numminen & Sähkökvartetti: Kaukana väijyy ystäviä Sperm: Korvapoliklinikka Hesperia Erkki Kurenniemi: Antropoidien tanssi Chicks On Speed: Post Police Razzia in the Le Corbusier Lounge Marseille
DJ Stimulus Progression tracklist:
THIS HEAT: Graphic/Varispeed (Piano Records) ALBERT CAMUS: Noces (L'Encyclopedie Sonore) KPM ELECTROSONIC: No Man's Land (KPM Music) KPM ELECTROSONIC: Depression (KPM Music) STOCK, HAUSEN & WALKMAN: Veneering (Hot Air) MELACHRINO STRINGS: Alone (RCA) MELACHRINO STRINGS: The Champagne Waltz (RCA) VLADIMIR USSACHEVSKY: Wireless Fantasy (Composer Recordings) STOCK, HAUSEN & WALKMAN: Unlucky (Hot Air) MUZAK CORP./STIMULUS PROGRESSION: Whole Lotta Sunlight (Muzak Corporation) KPM ELECTROMUSIC: Psycho (KPM Music) RONNIE ALDRICH: This Guy's In Love With You (Decca Phase 4 Stereo) LEE RANALDO: Ouroboron (Blast First) PLAGIARIST: Fernando (Wafer Face 7") VERDE: To Traffic Light (CD-R) BILL JUSTIS: Raunchy (Sun) LEE RANALDO: Fuzz/Locusts (Blast First) STOCK, HAUSEN & WALKMAN: Honey (Hot Air) JOHN CAGE: Cartridge Music (Roulette) MELACHRINO STRINGS: The Four Seasons (RCA) IAN HELLIWELL: Into The Light (Avanto) FLYING LIZARDS: Portugal (Virgin 7") IAN HELLIWELLIN NAAPURI: Track #10 (CD-R) LOU REED: Metal Machine Music (RCA) J. GUITAR PONY: Crying Time (Loistavaa 7")
All playlists