Customer Reviews

Nuspirit Helsinki: Our Favorite Things

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It's been harder and harder to ignore the Scandinavian contribution to quality underground music these last few years. All that time staying inside during the outdoor unfriendly winter months is well and truly paying off. If you don't believe me then just listen to this compilation.

Selected by the Nuspirit Helsinki collective, some of the pioneers of the Finnish nu-jazz scene that started to make waves at the end of the last millennium, this is a musical education in largely contemporary Scandinavian and Northern European sounds.

The compilers have adopted a less is more selection of 10 tracks lasting 41 minutes but rather like a good restaurant what the portion size lacks is made up for by the quality ingredients and intense flavours.

Kicking off with the beatless jazz vibes of Aisha Duo the album then eases into one of Joakim's mellower moments as restrained classical piano combines with random analogue synths and the minimalist of percussion before floating into Trentemollers beautiful classical electro fusion `Miss You' where gentle electronic pulses swirl around the audioshphere with beautiful strings morphing into the otherworldly soundscapes.

It's not all horizontal ambient floaters though. All of a sudden you are woken up by the gentle shaking of Tuomas Kallios' electro dub remix of `Korpi Ensemble' a deep soulful electro house workout with hints of accordion and the beautiful vocals of Johanna Iivanainen that segues into the deep jazz intensity of Tales In Tones Trio, one of Germanys best new jazz outfits.

You should be getting the idea by now. This is musical deepness start to finish and with the likes of Jori Hulkkonen and the afro remix of `Mendiani' by Wai Wan raising the pulse before the album fades out gracefully with the sounds of CocoRosie and the jauntily named Flügelschlag! all musical bases are covered from electro folk and ambient classical fusion to soulful tech house via jazz and mother Africa.
Highly recommended.

Almost as if to exonerate themselves from blame ("They may not be your favorite things"), Finnish nu-jazz technicians Nuspirit Helsinki offer a bricolage of musicians for the first entry into Backdrop's Our Favorite Things mix series, where obscure European jazzbos like Flügelschlag! rub elbows with CocoRosie and Trentemøller. Surprisingly, this makes for a slick and agreeable set that enjoys diversity without standing out in any one direction.

Acoustic or electronic, all the songs are unified by ideals of cleanliness, austerity and melodic surface appeal, and it's clear that Nuspirit Helsinki have paid attention to how they fit within the greater whole. The high point arrives in the middle, when Korpi Ensemble's nocturnal "A Moment of Love" (reworked by Nuspirit's Tuomas Kallio) kicks up the energy, then slides into Tales in Tones Trio's piano-led "Sabari" that snakes like low-key Jaga Jazzist before Flügelschlag!'s African booty-wiggler "Mendiani" sweeps the image away. It's particularly effective considering the album's brevity--only 10 songs in 40 minutes--and provides a few key reference points for Nusprit's own productions.

There's a narrative arc in play that involves taxiing (Aisha Duo's quietly auspicious "Beneath an Evening Sky"), liftoff, cruising, and landing (Flügelschlag!'s tuckered-out "Zwei Elfen") that should keep listeners engaged. That's a big plus since not everything is immediately engaging. A few more vocal pieces, a less neutral mood and a shot of soul might have put this on the level of their eponymous debut in 2002 or the better entries in the Back to Mine series. But still, it works together, and Backdrop employees can go home happy. In lieu of a Nuspirit Helsinki sophomore effort, this will do for now.

(This was published in PopMatters on 11/14/08)

their cd isn't what i expected from the collective but the service was complete with on time delivery!