Circle - NWOFHM

Taantumus re-issue out now

11.06.2009

Taantumus - a Circle album from 2001 which has gone out of print long ago - has been re-issued by Ektro Records and is now available directly from the label and other sources.

The new version of Taantumus has been remastered and comes with a new cover design plus Veitsi, a 9-minute bonus track not present on the original album.

Saturnus Reality DVD available

25.03.2009

Saturnus Reality, the full length documentary film about Circle previously shown at one film festival only, has now been released on DVD by No Quarter.

Mika Rättö: Tihkuluodon kuiskaajat

09.02.2009

Satukirja Tihkuluodon kuiskaajat on Mika Rätön esikoisteos, jonka Kustannusosakeyhtiö Teos julkaisee maaliskuussa. Teos kuvailee 176-sivuista taiteilijan itsensä kuvittamaa kirjaa seuraavasti:

"Mika Rätön esikoiskirja on tarina siitä, kuinka kiemurainen ja järjenvastainen tiemme toisinaan onkaan, ja kuinka eräskin hienkatkuinen ja hämärä päivä voi olla alku jollekin suurelle ja tärkeälle. Se on myös anarkistinen ja liikuttava satu oman elinpiirin tärkeydestä ja pelastamisesta."

Lisätietoa ja tekstikatkelma kustantajan sivuilla. Ilmestyttyään kirja tulee saataville myös Ektro Recordsin verkkokauppaan.

In English: Circle's Mika Rättö makes his literary debut next month as his fairy tale book Tihkuluodon kuiskaajat gets published by Teos. The book is in Finnish and sports cover art and black and white illustrations by the author himself. The book will also be available through Ektro Records' webstore when it's published.

Triumph finally available

27.01.2009

Circle's double live LP Triumph is finally out on Fourth Dimension Records after some unfortunate delays.

Triumph can be ordered via Ektro Records also.

Pori film screening with live music by Circle

11.12.2008

A rare screening of Mika Taanila's triptych film Pori (3x16mm) takes place at Finnish Film Archive's beautiful Cinema Orion in Helsinki, on January 17, 2009 at 18:45.

The silent film is accompanied by Circle's live gig. This show brings Circle on stage in their native country after a year's pause. The Pori film is a symphony of a small industrial town. It features steel bridges, element houses, a shipyard, robot cameras in sewer systems, water, antennas and other important elements of the band's hometown, as well as archival film footage portraying some brief moments in the history of Pori.

This film/music performance dates back to 1998, when it was commissioned by Kiasma The Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki. In the same screening the show starts with Taanila's film Futuro - A New Stance for Tomorrow (also from 1998), with a film score by Ektroverde.

Hollywood

02.10.2008

"Circle: No beginning and no end, and when you think you’ve come upon the conclusion you’re back at the start. Perhaps this describes Circle’s compositional work ethic more than anything."

"As has always been the case, Circle has presented itself yet again as being unwilling or unable to sit still or to be predictable, but their desire to present the best work possible is always a part of their program. As if in a screening room, dim the lights, hit the projector, and take in Hollywood."

HOLLYWOOD, Circle's upcoming new studio album, will be officially available in Europe on CD October 15 and as a double LP a couple of months after that. Hollywood will be available in the USA early 2009.

You can listen to some full songs from the album on MySpace.

If you're in a hurry to get your copy, it can be pre-ordered from Ektro Records until October 6th. More info on the label's website.

Vinyls at Ektro

02.08.2008

Ektro Records has just put a few vinyl copies of Katapult, Tulikoira, Sunrise and the Sunburned Circle album for sale.

Circle covers Syd Barrett

27.07.2008

On September 23 Dwell Records will release Like Black Holes In The Sky: The Tribute To Syd Barrett. Circle's version of Barrett's song Rats appears on the album along with covers by the likes of Kosmos, Kylesa, Pentagram, Jesu, Jarboe and others.

Circle on Pitchfork

25.06.2008

Circle had a chat with Pitchfork (scroll down, the Circle interview is the last one).

Triumph

17.06.2008

In 2006 Circle released Arkades, an album recorded live at the WFMU radio station in Jersey City, USA. When the band returned to the states in 2007, they once again dropped by at the station to record another live session for them. This session was originally broadcast on WFMU on September 25th that year.

Now, in a month or so, this radio session will see the light of day as Triumph, a glorious double LP released by Fourth Dimension records.

Circle in Skyscraper Magazine

10.04.2008

There's a Circle feature in Skyscraper Magazine's issue #27.

Rakennus now available

07.11.2007

Rakennus – approximately the seventh full length Circle release this year – is an hour-long snapshot of the band's recent tour of the USA. The concert (recorded in September in Charlottesville, Virginia) thunders and wobbles onwards with unprocessed autenticity. The recording effectively captures the full spectrum of Circle's contemporary live expression, revealing to us a glimpse of the spiritual landscapes of the most astonishing speedkraut pioneers of our times.

There's an abundance of ritualistic rumbling to be discovered between the twitchy hard rock show opener ”Uusi uhraus” and ”Kaappikellon kummitus”, the ravishing Rättö ja Lehtisalo cover song that closes the album. Rakennus displays the joy of playing music in its most pure form. (Eetormentor)

Out now on Ektro Records.

May the Circle Remain Unbroken

02.11.2007

Saturnus Reality (2007) is the Finnegan’s Wake of Finnish rock documentaries, and a fabulous cul-de-sac in a stream of consciousness. The film’s subject is Circle, the prolific Finnish experimentalists hailing from Pori, but it is a self-ironic vicious circle of a film that focuses on the curious world of the band and its musicians, shot on a home video camera. Jussi Lehtisalo, Mika Rättö, Janne Westerlund, Tomi Leppänen and Tuomas Laurila appear in the film as if they were acting out themselves.

The film is nominally centred on the recording sessions of Miljard, one of the latest albums by this extremely productive band, whose output includes 28 albums in 16 years. Starting out as a traditional rock documentary, the film soon runs loose on various sidetracks: to the depths of a forest, onto a frozen lake, into the darkness of night. The band’s primeval music becomes the soundtrack for magic rites performed in nature. The musicians meet the mysterious Oracle of the Reed Sea, a strange meteorite has landed in a snowy landscape, and so forth. What matters in Circle’s fantastic world is totality of vision, while details are treated somewhat generously. The new genre the band has coined, NWOFHM (The New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal), may just as well mean fragile atonal piano improvisation or catatonic one-note walls of sound. Inspired by the ritualistic films of Stan Brakhage and Kenneth Anger, the film moves to the beat of double and triple exposures, the atmosphere balancing in the timeless opening between childish horseplay and reckless pathos. Enthusiastic live commentary can be heard beside the camera by the director/cinematographer, Pori’s multi-talented craftsman of the psychedelic, Esko Lönnberg. His earlier works include the splendid concert film with Doktor Kettu (also from Pori), shot through a distorting lens.

- Mika Taanila

Saturnus Reality
(Finland, 2007, 60 min, Finnish dialogue, English subtitles)
World premiere at Avanto Festival, Helsinki

Kiasma Theatre on Friday, 16 November at 7 pm,
second screening on Saturday, 17 November at 7 pm.

Live music and photos

02.11.2007

A live music clip from 2004 can now be listened to in the media section. The clip was recorded at Studio 24 in Edinburgh, UK.

There's some photos and another video from Circle's past in the media section too.

Rakennus

20.10.2007

Rakennus is an authentic Circle experience, a live album in it's most pure form. The album was recorded on Circle's recent tour of the United States, in Charlottesville, VA.

Rakennus will be released soon by Ektro Records.