#kaiku studios

[beatmenace]

Ghost

[brasenlair]

DENA - "Bad Timing" (acoustic at Kaiku Studios Berlin)

[swedeandsour]

LCMDF - Mental Health Pt. II (Album Review)

May 7th, 2013

Words: Peter Quincy Ng

As time passes, comes the slow yet eventual realization that everyone grows up. Even the Finnish sister duo, LCMDF, which famously named their band Le Corps Mince de Françoise after their friend and former member Malin Nyqvist’s starving cat. Well not really to be exact, but sort of. While the childish name calling doesn’t exactly stop on their latest installment of “Mental Health Pt. 2” where the titles “Douche Bag” and “Loser Song” make their debut, acceptance and attitude seems to be the theme of the album. Like the cult-movie “Ghost World” (2001) starring Thora Birch and the then up-and-coming actress Scarlett Johansson, the sisters Emma (24) and Mia (22) dabble in the traumas of troubled relationships and not-so-distant pop culture nostalgia. Opening track “Douche Bag” is silly yet edgy, kind of like calling someone a douche bag on the chorus that goes “You’re a douche bag baby! / I’m just saying: the city ain’t yours anymore” but digs deeper when a line references older sister Emma’s quarter-life crisis stating, “I was just a kid, who cares what people think / now I’m 23, it was time for me / it’s time for me / it’s my own responsibility / now get this together girl”. Following LCMDF’s cheeky opener “Douche Bag”, is a collaboration with Berlin-based indie pop/rock trio and labelmates Ballet School on track “Rationality”.  Another “letting go” anthem, “Rationality” is defined by its warm guitar feel and intermittent raps which split the vocal harmonies in this grow-up, smarten-up “call to senses” type of track. While “Douche Bag” may be quick out to lash out at the loser types, “Loser Song” seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. This self-deprecating track is ironically the biggest winner on the album. With its gentle guitar skip and nostalgic 90s pop sound, the track is perhaps most interesting in the demonstration of LCMDF’s vocal performance. Sweet and sassy, LCDMF’s vocal performance which unfortunately is not often complimented enough, perfectly alludes to the second place finish of “Loser Song” - never being the coolest kid around and being “just friends” with all the boys. Closing track “Trippin’”, changes the theme a bit and is less about fitting in and boy trouble, but more of a teenage/young adult freakout track. An homage to all things LCMDF, the track like the duo itself is difficult to generalize which its genre-bending ways. Grungy, 90s-era rap verses and acid synths pulse through “Trippin’”in a sudden and abrupt end to the second installment of “Mental Health”. While it may seem silly to call “Mental Health Pt. 2” the duo’s most evolved effort, in many ways it is exactly what pop music needs today. It’s the proof that growing up while not necessarily comfortable is something not to be taken too seriously and can be laughed at. You live, you learn, you forget and move on. Like today’s youth which reject conformality, LCMDF’s latest EP defies generalization, as it’s an album not exactly this or that – a perfect blend of sounds from the past, present and future. Its an album that doesn’t aim to be misleadingly cool, and that in itself is a sign of maturity.

[swedeandsour]

D E N A - Thin Rope

Just a day after the release of her collaboration with Finnish odd-poppers LCMDF, D E N A with her Berlin crew and all set out into the night with her latest track "Thin Rope". With its pumping bass and light marimba vibe, the Berlin-based Bulgarian Denitza Todorova shoots out her monotonic raps as everyone gets into party mood. Glittery clothes and happy hipsters, feature in the beep-boom quirk of her video for "Thin Rope".

Check out the video below:

[swedeandsour]

D E N A - Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools (Acoustic Version at Kaiku Studios)

It's a shame we haven't been really writing about Denitza Todorova's D E N A, because we've been following her since day dot ever since she started working with Helsinki/Berlin production house Kaiku. Well nevertheless, we're more than glad to revisit her latest single from last year, with her latest acoustic performance of "Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools" shot at Kaiku. Picking up from her fun, little video in which the Bulgarian exercises her flea-market swag, Denitza subs in the punchy beats of "Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools" with a sedated jazz-piano rendition of the track with her accomplice Anna Glahn on the shakers and backing vocals. Smiling and staring smugly at the camera, D E N A which sings about being in warmer climes isn't letting the winter blues get to her.

Check out the video below:

D E N A - Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools (Acoustic Version at Kaiku Studios Berlin) from dftb on Vimeo.

and D E N A's previous rendition of "Games"

D E N A - Games (Acoustic Version) from dftb on Vimeo.

[swedeandsour]

LCMDF - Paranoia (video)

It wasn't long ago since we posted on genre-blending single "Paranoia" from the Berlin-based Finnish sister duo of Emma and Mia Kempainnen - an eclectic mix of all things 90s from house and old-school hip-hop to grunge. The video directed by former member Malin Nyqvist, has the two sisters snazzily-clothed in minimal white giving hard stares and blank looks, while their more ridiculously-clad members play with odds and ends that you might find in a Chinatown. Japanese and Korean fonts deck the screens, while coffee machines run, Popsicles melt all while floating AR-15s and golden hearts float around. While the video for "Paranoia" and the band clearly project an absurd image, there's something about the carefree attitude of LCMDF that separates cool from consciously weird.

Check out the video below:

[swedeandsour]

LCMDF - Paranoia

While Le Corps Mince de Françoise, have decidedly shrunk their long namesake to LCMDF and cut down the amount of kitsch and being consciously weird (well only slightly), the 90s-vibe seems like its here to say. Their second release off their upcoming EP "Mental Health", the turntable-scratching single "Paranoia" is a genre-bending single combining elements of 90s rap to vintage house and a grunged-out guitar chorus. With a video for "Paranoia" soon on the way and the eventual release "The Big Skip", the final song off their 3-track EP "Mental Health" featuring the up-and-coming Bulgarian 90s-house rapper D E N A (aka Denitza Todorova), "Mental Health" is certainly making us lose our minds in anticipation.

Grab a download of "Paranoia" below and listen earlier single "I Go Insane" which we unfortunately never got around to posting earlier:

[suomisoundsmofos]

Wow! More indie-electronica goodness coming your way over here! A new music video for a song called Worries by an artist called Fotoshop.

This is a completely new acquaintance for me. I found him by following up on what Kaiku Studios (a music production and management company based in Berlin and Helsinki) is up to at the moment, and I recommend you do the same if you like this stuff.

So who is this Fotoshop? Well, his real name is Jarno-Erik Faarinen and he lives in Helsinki nowadays, but was born and raised in Tornio next to the border of Sweden. He used to be the lead singer of a band called At The End and also seems to have had a poorly named one-man-band-project called Erik & The Roses From Outerspace.

But even though I haven't heard of it before, Fotoshop doesn't seem to be completely new. Apparently he released the first Fotoshop-tracks on Myspace in 2009 and by mid-2010 he had released an EP called Accidents.

In November 2011 he released a full album called Lifeforms. For more Fotoshop, visit his Soundcloud-page.

Oh, and he's on Tumblr too!