Alamaailman Vasarat
Vasaarasia

The musical world always reserves beautiful surprises for us when we least expect them. I had one a few weeks ago when I got my hands on a CD from a group with an unpronounceable name...

Alamaailman Vasarat (a Finnish band formed in 1997 from the offshoot of Höyry-Kone). If someone asked me to categorize them within a genre, I wouldn't know how to answer! This Finnish avant-garde group is something bizarre, they perform a grotesque mix of sounds and genres of all kinds: from polka to bossanova, to a whacky pseudo-tango, to crossover made with unusual percussion and a strange soprano saxophone (in “Asuntovelka”).

Sometimes, listening to this album, Bregovic comes to mind, as the similarities are not few. In fact, “Kebab Hai Tenki” seems to have come out of “Music for Weddings and Funerals,” but, both unfortunately and fortunately, in “Vasaarasia”, there is something more and something less: not only is there Eastern Europe, but there is also Transylvanian vampirism, there are metal suggestions reminiscent of some German avant-garde groups, something that reminds of Nino Rota... in short, it's a melting pot of genres, you hyperbolically transition from one sensation to another, through different colors and noises. The music is completely instrumental based on powerful rhythms of brass and guitars, beautifully arranged, complex, and pleasant. It is pure experimentation, majestic and triumphant, undefinable, fun, and above all, healthy.

“Vasaarasia” is a carnival of music, outside of any musical routine, outside of any sterile experimentation, darkly hysterical. Purists should abstain from listening to this complex work as there's a risk of getting burned (and I don't want to have any responsibilities) with this post-modern mess, and if you really can't resist, arm yourself with a “great sense of humour”!