Finnish fortress of inscrutable aesthetics EKTRO RECORDS announces May 17th as the international release date for three new releases: CIRCLE’s Six Day Run, VHK (Galloping Coroners)’s Bite the Stars!, and HEBOSAGIL’s Lähtö. Three cult icons, three cult records – more info follows below!
CIRCLE’s Six Day Run is a soundtrack album containing all the tracks recorded for Mika Taanila’s short film of the same name. In one of the most extreme individual endurance sports, the competitors run with minimal sleep, all the while trying to accumulate as many miles as possible on a one-mile paved loop in a park. The annual event has a colorful tradition from betting scandals to deep meditation, dating back to the 1870s. The film was shot during The Self-Transcendence Six Day Race in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens, New York City between April 22-28, 2012.
It was premiered at the 42nd Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) on January 24, 2013.
”The film makes us understand what it must feel like to get into a trance-like condition by the solitary action of running” – Sylvia Castellano, Nisimazine, Jan 2013
Formed in 1991, CIRCLE is the most visible and prolific name in the Finnish avant-rock underground. Having survived innumerable lineup changes, the band and its founder, bassist/vocalist/guitarist Jussi Lehtisalo, have constantly reinvented themselves, weaving hypnotic mantras out of exacting Krautrock beats, heavy riffs, spacious noise, and dark psychedelia. Hard, chilly repetition has served as the lone unifying theme throughout 15 years of experiments. As a live act, CIRCLE has solid cult following, especially in the UK, US and Germany.
Mika Taanila (b. 1965) is a Finnish filmmaker whose works range from documentaries to experimental film and visual arts. The recurring themes in his films are utopias, scientific progress, failures and man-machines. Taanila’s films have been screened at over 300 film festivals. Last summer he was one of the artists in Kassel’s dOCUMENTA (13). The trailer of Taanila’s film can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqTrJVMZnZE
Full tracklisting for CIRCLE’s Six Day Run
1) Day One
2) Day Two
3) Day Three
4) Day Four
5) Day Five
6) Day Six
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The Hungarian shamanic punk legend VHK (Galloping Coroners) release their first studio album in 13 years, Bite the Stars! Their magickal folk music on the new Bite the Stars! presents the band’s extremely powerful presence fresher than ever, with ferociously transcendental songs reaching an extraordinary dramatic effect. One of the most original and charismatic groups in the world, VHK conceive music in its cosmic spirit, full of magick and wonder, receiving their hypnotizing energies from the power of primordial life instinct.
Established in 1975, Galloping Coroners (Vágtázó Halottkémek: thus, VHK) have been a distinguished cult band in Hungary as well as in Europe and the US since the mid-1980s. Their original approach to music includes completely free creation of music onstage, liberating long-forgotten vital powers, and is usually described as “shaman punk,” “psychedelic hardcore,” “magical folk music,” with lead singer/worldwide-known astrophysicist Atilla Grandpierre at the fore. Officially, they were forbidden until 1986 by the socialist regime, but their music was so liked that there were always some organizers who took the risk to be kicked out because of allowing them play. Thus, often using fake names, they were able to play regularly, even if illegally, in large university clubs. After the system change, in the 1990s, they became favourites of Iggy Pop, Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins, and Steve von Till, among others, and played to tens of thousands of fans all over the world. Their albums were released by Sonic Boom in Europe and Alternative Tentacles and Neurot Records in the US, until 2001 when they dissolved. Now, they return stronger and more magickal than ever with Bite the Stars!
Full tracklisting for VHK (Galloping Coroners)’s Bite the Stars!
1) Handshake
2) Falling into Love
3) Celebration of Life
4) Moons Towards East
5) Winged Sky
6) Inner Universe
7) Hun Brotherhood
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The Mayans didn’t know anything. However, HEBOSAGIL know when the final hour’s to come – when it’s time for Lähtö – and their manner of exiting is BIG, loud, penetrating, and hard to the core. From the fallout, the radiometers are detecting remnant radiation from Slayer and Melvins, while the cockroaches may still recognise the brutal beat of Radiopuhelimet and Unsane. Musically, HEBOGIL’s Lähtörelies equally on their previous material as well as turning a new page. They plunge towards more and more tormenting tunes that burrow into your frontal lobe, avoiding the pitfalls from which most of the so-called „heavy” and „uncompromising” bands are eternally doomed to seek a way out. They don’t know anything; HEBOSAGIL knows. Do you know Lähtö?
HEBOSAGIL potted history: five young men from Oulu, Finland grabbed instruments in 2003. Since then, they have tortured the world with riffs that began brewing in Birmingham back in 1969, groove that many rock ‘n’ roll dinosaurs can only dream about, and stories which make your average adult-magazine reader blush. To put it shortly, a hellish racket that only HEBOSAGIL can create. Lähtö is the band’s third full-length destroyer to date.
Full tracklisting for HEBOSAGIL’s Lähtö
1) Ei ole mitään mihin palata
2) Valot päälle
3) Valinta
4) Kävelet pois
5) Matkalaulu
6) Padot
7) Valmis mihin vaan
8) Juippi