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Janne Maki-Turja's Chugchanga-L Poll 2000 Entry


here are my fave records of the year 2000 for the Chug poll:

Mental Market, Spooky (Popatak)
Dirty Three, Whatever You Love You Are (Bella Union)
Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (Kranky)
Radiopuhelimet, Oulu On Kaupungin Nimi (Bad Vugum)
Office Building, To See Only Shadows (Fonal)
EC8OR, The One And Only High And Low (Digital Hardcore)
Max Tundra, Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be (Domino)
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, I'm Going To Do What I Wanna Do - Live At My Father's Place 1978 (Rhino Handmade)
Neurosis, Sovereign (Music For Nations)
Eturivi, Lempilapset 7" (Verdura)
Platypus, Disco Recorder (Autotehtaat)
Movietone, Blossom Filled Streets (Domino)
Festermen, Full Treatment (Bad Afro)
Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious (Burning Heart)
Guyana Punch Line, Irritainment 7" (X-mist)
.fuckingcom, s/t 7" (Prank)
Kemialliset Ystävät, Pieni Palatsi 7" (Vauva)
Queens Of The Stone Age, Rated R (Interscope)
Es, A Love Cycle (Fonal)
Mother Goose, Little Richard (Seriously Groovy)


I was broke for most of the year, so there are still many records I
haven't heard that would probably make my list, like the newest ones
from the White Stripes and Vagtazo Halottkemek.
I'll only comment on the records from my home country cos I don't think
too many chugsters are familiar with them.
Finnish marginalia had a great year: lots of great records & gigs. 2000
was the kind of year we haven't experienced since the glory days of Bad
Vugum. What we're still lacking in Finland is bands who are more
influenced by Essential Logic or the Stretchheads than by Tortoise or
Sonic Youth.

Mental Market, Spooky (Popatak)
- Explosive & tuneful wall-of-guitar, killer choruses and madness-fueled
lyrics that would make Roky Erickson happy. They list Hawkwind & The
Bevis Frond as their influences. Surprisingly, this was the highlight of
the year for me. http://www.mentalmarket.com/

Radiopuhelimet, Oulu On Kaupungin Nimi (Bad Vugum)
- After a very disappointing album ("Hiljaista!") they made this, one of
their best. They've never sounded so relaxed yet tight in a (I guess)
carduccian sense of the word. Love 'em to death.
http://www.lpg.fi/badvugum/

Office Building, To See Only Shadows (Fonal)
- Led by Janne Laurila, a noise-kid who somehow metamorphosed into a
very talented songwriter with a shockingly beautiful singing voice.
Their debut album is full of folky, melancholic & timeless songs. The
solo gig I saw in late 1999 was one of the most moving experiences I've
ever witnessed, music or otherwise. Teemu Elo of Circle is the guitarist
in Office Building. http://www.fonal.com/ (seemed to be down)

Eturivi, Lempilapset 7" (Verdura)
- A project that's more or less a continuation of the Kirvasto project.
This has Kake Puhuu (AKA Keuhkot) ranting plus members of Circle &
Ektroverde providing the electro-pulsing background. I think you have to
be from Finland to fully appreciate what's going on in here. Maybe.
verdura@worldmailer.com

Platypus, Disco Recorder (Autotehtaat)
- One of the many secret weapons of the Finnish marginalia. On this CDr
they sound a lot like early Chrome with evil alien vocals, lots of weird
effects & kraut-ish rhythm work. They're still delightfully primitive in
their approach. http://www.uta.fi/~pm54740/platypus/

Festermen, Full Treatment (Bad Afro)
- They're from a small village in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that is
why they're so amazingly brutal. Motörhead colliding w/feedtime?
http://www.vow.dk/badafro/ and for just as good older records check:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~latvis/levy-yhtiot/TrashCanRecords/index.html

Kemialliset Ystävät, Pieni Palatsi 7" (Vauva)
- Primitive backwoods psych, this is Jan Anderzen's finest & most
together release. For fans of Godz, Mourning Cloak, Amps For Christ &
the most sunburned moments of the Sun City Girls, I guess. Just check
the links page on their web site: http://members.vip.fi/~anderzen/

Es, A Love Cycle (Fonal)
- A solo project from Sam Zapkilla who runs Fonal Records and plays in
Kiila, Velvolino, Slaughterhouse Quintet and maybe a few others. Loops
made w/record players. Beautiful & spooky. http://www.fonal.com/ (seemed
to be down)

Mother Goose, Little Richard CD-ep (Seriously Groovy)
- Ridiculously ignored in their home country, Mother Goose had to be
signed to an English label for the second time (the first was Blast
First, remember? Oh, you don't?) to get a record out. It's great,
subdued, emotional (not emo!) guitar-based rock music, and, no, they
don't sound like Sonic Youth anymore.
http://www.seriouslygroovy.com/index.htm

That's all. Hope my English isn't too bad.


Sorry to bother, but I've recently discovered two records that will
definitely make my 2000 top 20 list. So could you please remove the
Movitone & .fuckingcom records from my list and put these in instead:

Jackie-O Motherfucker, Fig. 5 (Road Cone)
Six Organs Of Admittance, The Manifestation 12" (Ba Da Bing)

Again, sorry to bother you, but these records are so unbelievably great
that they must be included. Hope you understand. Thanks.
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