Ontto (Oranssi Pazuzu - bass)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2013? (In order 1-5)
- My Bloody Valentine – mbv
- Primal Scream – More Light
- Dark Buddha Rising – Dakhmandal
- Inter Arma – Sky Burial
- Jucifer – The Russian Album
2. What band did you discover in 2013 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
This year I was introduced to Swans, through their album The Seer. I had heard their older stuff a couple of times, but never really gotten into it properly. Actually it was released late previous year, but anyway, it’s the album I have been listening to most this year. The songs have an amazing variety. They go from couple of minute hymns to half-an-hour trips heavy with different atmospheres, but everything holds together. The hypnotic repetitions, the chanting, the beautiful chord changes, it’s all feels very inspiring to me. Also have to give special credit to the soundscapes here. At times the music reminds me of modern classical minimalism, the atmosphere is so thick and the sceneries feel so otherworldly, like the long ambient buildup in "A Piece of the Sky."
3. How will you remember 2013? (In terms of music)
The finalization of our third album took most of the early year, so it was pretty busy. But I think the year was a good one musically, lots of good releases and interesting new bands. I’m happy that progressive ideas in music are not so out of fashion these days. Musicians should always reach for new artistic hights and this kind of open-minded atmosphere is a good starting point for that.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2014?
We’re going to do some European shows and festivals. Then we’ll probably focus more into writing new material. That will probably take most of the latter half of the year.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2014?
Usually when something good comes out, I find about it through friend’s recommendations or from internet blogs, etc. Don’t know what would be in store for 2014, but I’m looking forward to finding about it.
6. There is a lot of debate over streaming sites and royalties, namely with Spotify. What is your stance on the economic policies behind the current streaming services? Do you have a preferred one?
I use Spotify to check out new music. I have a “premium” account that costs something like 10 euros per month. I think it’s small money compared to the amount and quality of music you get. If I really dig something, I also try to buy it on vinyl or cd, because for me the record listening experience is also a ritual of sorts and I like the idea of supporting my favourite bands that way.
I read an analysis by a Finnish pop musician where he stated that a track streamed by a paying Spotify Premium user actually makes the artist about ten times as much money as a track streamed by a free-listener in the advertising version. So probably, if enough people would buy the premium version, us music makers too could get something from it eventually. So far it hasn’t been very promising.
Personally the money I got from Spotify last year was just a bad joke. That said, I don’t believe that completely free sites like YouTube will be the answer from artists’ point of view. The adverts there simply produce money equal to a fart in the Sahara if you compared it to the amount of music in there. You would need a government tax to support that system if you want even a remotely reasonable compensation to the authors. I think Spotify has the right idea fundamentally, but it needs more paying users and through that a proper author’s compensation. That can’t happen if greedy investing corporations cut all the money before it reaches the artist. I hope there still is a possibility for the thing to work out.
