[Extended version of this text.]
There’s Bonus Beats, a new compilation from Cold Blow Records that brings up quite an onslaught of memories for me.
Namely, of those times when we had our own Club Telex at Tampere’s Yo-Talo (Student Union House), and also hanging out at the electro parties in Helsinki (remember Helsinki Turbo?) and Turku, with those lovely freaks of Rikos Records (the defunct cult label from Jyväskylä, also represented on Bonus Beats), Op:l Bastards, Imatran Voima (with the late lamented Perttu Häkkinen), Mr Velcro Fastener (who specifically informed me that “Mr” in their name is spelled without the full stop), Nu Science (the unofficial “house band” of Club Telex -- now there’s one act who would deserve their own retrospective compilation), Mono Junk, Jori Hulkkonen too, the ever-present Erkko (who curated this compilation), and so on.
The first Club Telex, with Nu Science and Op:l Bastards performing, took place on the 27th of March, 1999, at Yo-Talo, Tampere’s traditional Student Union House. I remember our concept of having electronic live acts was somehow inspired by a club named Osasto in Helsinki. What we added there was that we also showed short films early in the evening, making it a sort of – for a lack of better expression – multimedia event.
“Electronic Avantgarde Excursions” was the tagline of Club Telex, even though in the end there was less experimental music as the average member of local audience – usually consisting of students, indie hipsters and perhaps an odd raver -- was craving for something to dance to rather than to listen some weirdness while scratching one's chin and nodding one's head knowingly.
"Perkeleenmoinen groove" (loosely translates as "hell of a groove") was another expression that was favoured in our plugs to specifically promote the event.
There was also DJ music, usually by the resident disc jockeys Mikko “mini” Niemelä and yours truly but sometimes also guest DJs spinning records. Alongside mini and me, organising the club were Antti Vuorio (R.I.P.) and Olli Sotamaa, both familiar from the academic circles in Tampere, Vuorio also representing the Monroe film club where he then worked as a president. Monroe was an important collaborator for Club Telex, specifically providing us with the short films. As was also the Student Union of Tampere University, who would assist us in booking the nights at Yo-Talo.
The name “Telex” was inspired by the Belgian synthpop act of the same name, having also a nice retrofuturistic ring to it in an era when e-mails and the Internet were already replacing the old telex and telefax machines as a primary means of rapid global communication.
Some Finnish artists who performed at Club Telex:
Acidroot Soundsystem, Ektroverde, Ever Had, Helsinki Bass Machine, Imatran Voima, Jimi Tenor, Kemialliset Ystävät, Kukka, Anton Nikkilä, M.A. Numminen, Mono Junk, Mr Velcro Fastener, Nemesis, Nu Science, Op:l Bastards, O Samuli A, Ovuca, Pan sonic, Pink Twins, Planet Lander, Spektor vs. Nukleon, Tero, Unidentified Sound Objects, Ural 13 Diktators, Virtalähde, and Ylikulju.
And the international artists who performed at Club Telex:
Alexei Borisov (RU), Chicks on Speed (AU/DE/US), Fennesz (AT) (who played as a duo with the late Mika Vainio), Hecker (AT), I-f (DJ set/NL), Jeans Team (DE), Peaches (US), Nicole Willis (US), Pluxus (SE), and Skot (AT).
Some of these artists we had in collaboration with Avanto Festival and Helsinki Turbo, who arranged for them a gig also in Helsinki (for some of these people, there might have been some live action in Turku, too). There were also some events in collaboration with Kaukana Väijyy Ystäviä and Mindtrek festivals. Fennesz, Hecker and Skot were courtesy of Austria's Mego label.
As guest DJs for Club Telex nights we had, among all, such people as DCom, 6M4 (a.k.a. Gamma), Indigo, Kauko Lampi, Kuuro Kädetön Paisti, Marko Laine, Mike Not, Randy B., and Stimulus Progression.
As for the films shown during our nights, we had at least Futuro and Thank You for the Music by Mika Taanila, then the world premiere of Routemaster by Ilppo Pohjola. The director himself would have liked to show it with a 35 mm film projector, but dragging such heavy and expensive equipment to the club premises of Yo-Talo, which originally served as a bank in the early 20th century, would have been sheer impossibility, so we had to compromise, and another video projection it was to be. Also the legendary Eino Ruutsalo’s experimental 1960s shorts and episodes of such classic Finnish children’s animation series, from the 1960s and 70s, as Kössi Kenguru and Käytöskukka were often seen.
Jyrki, at that time perhaps the most watched pop music TV show in Finland, visited the Commodore 64 theme night of Club Telex in January 2001. Interviewed here are Mikko "mini" Niemelä (known for Polytron, later also as the promoter for Ruisrock festival), Tero (Mäyränen, who released 8-bit type of electro for Rikos Records) and Nu Science, with Mikko Ojanen (who later wrote his doctorate thesis on Erkki Kurenniemi) and Henri Tani talking at Yo-Talo's legendary backroom while the third member, Aku Raski (later known for Huoratron), smiles contentedly.
From 1997, when I witnessed I-f’s (playing as Ferenc) set at Jyväskylä’s festival and instantly became converted, to perhaps 2005-06 when I quit DJing, it was electro (or to be more precise, its second or third wave, if we take into account its Stateside originators in the 80s) that ruled supreme, with some other related genres also squirming into our sets, such as IDM, EBM, synthpop/futu, Italodisco, Hi-NRG, even a bit of dub & hip hop, and yeah, some good old 4/4 techno, with also some occasional, erm, electroclash (once a hip genre cursed among all "real" electro fans) – yes, it can be confessed now since there isn't any personal “street cred” to hold on to anymore (if there ever was).
Alongside Club Telex, there were also some events dedicated purely to electro. In February 2001 we had as electronic live acts from Holland, representing the legendary Bunker Records, both Legowelt and Orgue Electronique.
Was the electro journey worth taking? Sure, there were a lot of things that, in retrospect, should have been left undone, should have been left unsaid. Maybe there’s still someone out there who harbours resentment. Apologies accepted or not, call it a learning process. But despite any personal blunders there might have been, the music was good, and that’s the only real thing worth remembering.
Musical fashions change rapidly. For a couple of years in the late 1990s and the first years of the Noughties, electro was "hip", then something else came along. Since the millennium we've had EDM, trap, vaporwave, synthwave, and loads of other new genres born almost every year that it's totally impossible to keep up with them anymore. Also techno has been revived for the Berghain generation. Classic Italodisco of the 1980s seems to hold its cultish popularity among the club hipsters, year after year. As for electro, probably there will be another full-fledged revival one day, as it seems any type of electronic music will eventually create its own "trad" following, in the way of "classic rock", as can also be witnessed from the ever-rising popularity of analogue instruments.
But enough with the ranting, get this compilation if you want to get a little taste of what it was all about. It's full of lost gems, such as Imatran Voima's 'It's Time to Testify' from their first EP (Kostamus Records, 2000).
[Extended version of this text.]