The Kolmas

Artist: 
Album Title: 
Kolmas Testi
Release Date: 
Friday, May 31, 2013
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

Behind this Finnish Electronics project, we find one Veli-Matti LäjäÄijälä, none less than the mastermind behind the bands Terveet Kädet, Death Trip, Aavikon Kone Ja Moottori, Billy Boys, The Sultans, and The Bugariloves...whom kicked off this project at the end of the '70s as a means to doing stuff quite different from what he usually does.

Combining early synthesizers with drum machines indeed differentiates the project musically from the styles of his bands, and ultimately served as a vehicle for the artist's quest for silence and peace of mind. The music compiled for this album is was recorded at several occasions and, including a live session in Tornio in the early '80s and in front of a small audience of devotees and sessions at several incarnations of his Ikbal Studios in cities all over Finland, contains recordings spread as wide as 3 decades!

Personally, I have second thoughts about this album. Except for one track (the 8-minute “Viisi Osaa 5”) track length is relatively short, with only 6 of the 16 remaining tracks exceeding the 2,5-minute border. And, for the most part, most of the tracks sound more like recordings of trial runs of the machinery the artist had at hand (you know, like “Let's see what this baby can do”...and record it), than as tracks which are recorded after rehearsal (you know, like that would make 'em “music” rather than just incidental sounds). For your listening “pleasure”, the label has posted two of the shorter tracks at their site (www.) ektrorecords.com (just scroll down the page until you come across the album's announcement; you'll find the songs posted at the bottom of the article). The Kolmas also has a page at Last.fm (quite empty at the time I checked) and MySpace (which I was unable to open on the network pc I use for my researches on Internet).

Well, let's not waste too much time on this, and recommend it to those who are into electronic music. Alternately, fans of the artist might also be interested, hum?

78/100