Pakastaa taas

The weather is getting cold again. Some winds seem to be heading this way straight from Siberia and North Pole.

I recorded some tracks to my composition Moduloiva apina (=Modulating Ape). Unfortunately I didn't have time to begin the mixing. Maybe tomorrow or later.

Ari sent us - to Sini and me - an invitation to the opening of an Art Exhibition. It takes place in Hamburg, Germany. ( Link here) Actually a couple of weeks earlier he asked Jori and me to come to play some music there as Improvisages. But the invitation came a bit late. We're having some other gigs...

Juha H.

Lake Keitele. (Juha H.) 

Equipments of a fisherman on the ice of Lake Keitele. (Juha H.) 

Sunnuntaita

Sini sang - I recorded and mixed my composition Ilon kameleontti (=Chamelion of Joy). Everything else was pretty much just waiting for her part. Now all is well.

Yesterday we, Sini and I, trekked to Toropainen's hunting cottage. He surprised, actually almost ambushed us in the forest with some fireworks. And then came out from behind the trees as self-proclaimed Bishop of Hentuvansuo. Some photos I added here - pics of forest, "bishop" and his premises...

Juha H.

On our way to Toropainen's hunting cottage we found this odd pile of stones... (Juha H.) 

Jees!!

It's been a long time since before this evening I listened to Yes album Relayer. That's a bit surprising. When I was young I did listen to it quite alot. And in those bygone days I liked the band and its music quite alot, too. Well, well still Relayer sounds surprisingly good. And perhaps I now know why I then - during the 1970-ies - digged it so much. It was somewhat different from the rest of the Yes music of that time - more progressive, more aggressive and there where more surprises involved within the music. I like surprises, I like odd meters, I like things creative - I like music changing, evolving into something else...

Creating of my own music goes on. Today I recorded some instruments - bass guitar and a couple of tracks of woodwinds - to my composition Moduloiva apina (=Modulating Ape).

Juha H.

Moduloiva apina

I began recording my composition Moduloiva apina (=Modulating Ape). The original idea was born in December 2005 when I wrote a twenty-bar melody with chord changes. That little piece of music goes through four or more different keys within that short time - and those keys are not related in any ordinary ways... The name of the composition comes from the idea that man modulates - changes and makes things, thougths and all, not only music. Man is sometimes able to create something extra-ordinary, something wonderfully beautiful, something extra that animals can not. Bigger brain and skilful hands make this possible.

Lost on TV. Something different. But I don't know yet wheather it's worth watching. Anyways I'm going to try.

Juha H.

Matti ja muuta

Yesterday I went to Jyvaskyla and saw a movie - Matti. It's a story of one of the greatest athletes of all times. Matti Nykanen used to be a ski-jumper. He won many Olympic medals and other championships... But he was - and probably still is - a heavy-drinker. The movie was a story more of the latter, of his drinking habits. He also has created some great aphorisms, like this one: "Tekematonta ei saa tekemattomaksi" (=What is NOT DONE can not be UNDONE). That's something quite unbelievable...

Mixing goes on and on.

Juha H.

Beauty and the Beast... (Juha H.) 

Pakkanen katosi

Cold weather is gone, -4 Celcius degrees. And this is good. Warm winds from the North Sea pushed away the biting frost.

I've been mixing my music all evening.

Juha H.

Sunset at the Lake Keitele. (Juha H.) 

Pakkanen

In the morning the temperature was -30 Celcius degrees. Right now it's "only" -24. This is quite nothing when compared to Siberia and Verhojansk, -68. Tomorrow the temperature should rise possibly some 20 degrees. The roads will become quite slippery.

Recorded almost all tracks to my compositions Uusi folktwisti (=New Folktwist) and Ilon kameleontti (=Chameleon of Joy). Now only Sini's singing is missing. After she finishes her part - tomorrow, next week - I can get to mixing.

Some walks on the ice of Lake Keitele with Sini. The wind was quite biting.

Juha H.

While trekking on the Ice of lake Keitele, Sini and I. (Juha H.) 

Folktwisti, Kameleontti, ELP ja Machine Men

Music is the best, as Suzy Creamcheese said. She was some sort of an alter ego of Frank Zappa.

I've been listening to music, I've been making music.

I listened to Machine Men, their latest CD Elegies. Wonderful, fantastic and surprisingly mature music created by a bunch of quite young and very talented guys. Thank you very much! Go hear them LIVE. They are quite amazing!

I listened to ELP, their album Brain Salad Surgery. Indcredibly and amazingly interesting and complicated music they - ELP - created in 1973. Within their music is so much talent and musicality that it's incredible still today. During the 1970-ies you had to be able to play everything for real. No fooling, no MIDI, no AutoTune, no fix it in the mix and so on... Talent and musicality - that was all they had. Well, to be precise they did have MultiTrack-recording. So they could do an other take with a hard-part. Especially I like Keith Emerson and his quite amazing talent and virtuosity.

I began recording my song Ilon kameleontti (=Chameleon of Joy). Four tracks I laid down today. Some other day I'll add more and Sini will sing it.

Added Bass guitar to my composition Uusi Folktwisti (=New Folk Twist).

The temperature is crawling slowly higher, - 25 Celcius degrees today...

Juha H.

Uusi Folktwisti

Began recording a composition of mine - Uusi Folktwisti (=New Folktwist). It may well be that the piece of music has got nothing to do with the Twist. Anyways - fast folk oriented music. I laid down just a guitar track. More tomorrow.

Listening to ELP, their Tarkus album. Progressive rock.

Outside -30 Celsius degrees. I hope that next week this hellishly cold weather will melt away...

Juha H.

Pro tools 7

Upgraded my Pro Tools to version 7. Installation went surprisingly smoothly and quickly. And after that just had the time to go through some of the new features and the overall changes that were easiest to see. Very nice. I'm quite a bit impressed.

The weather is worsening. The temperature is sinking fast, right now -28 Celcius degrees. Only consolation in a situation like this is that it could be even worse - like in Siberia -56 Celsius degrees...

Juha H.

Before the performance of Kukkiva maa (= Blossoming Fields). Stage is set and ready in Suolahtisali, Finland. (Juha H.) 

Jatkosota ja kukkii pakkanen

For a few days I've been reading Jatkosodan pikkujattilainen (=The little Giant Book of the Continuation War). It's a massive book about what happened to Finland and Finish people during the tumultous years of the Second World War. Very interesting.

Kukkiva maa-project had a rehearsal in Suolahtisali.

The weather is freezing. Cold winds all the way from Siberia bite so hard and deep. It was very harsh to walk across the lake Keitele in the darkness of the evening..

Juha H.

Kukkiva maa jatkaa ja FireFox kaatuu...

Once again Kukkiva maa-project had a rehearsal... One more day to go before our next performance in Suolahtisali on Wednesday...

Twice I wrote my post today and twice FireFox decided not co-operate. Lost all my text - TWICE!! Shit!! The trouble was NOT any Blogger-problem. It was FireFox - and how much I've trusted it up to this evening.

Third time writing - let's see...

Juha H.

Improvisages jatkaa talvea pitkin

I've been working with the music of Improvisages. Mixed some jams Jori and I played and recorded some time ago. And I've selected a great number of Ari's paintings to go with the music. The amount of weird and wonderful pics that he's created is so vast that it's a bit hard to do the selecting...

The day of presidential elections here in Finland. That's politics and I did vote. Actually I've voted always when it's been possible to partake.

Juha H.

Full Moon above Lake Keitele. (Juha H.) 

Kukkiva maa

Project Kukkiva maa (=Blossoming Fields) had a rehearsal. It was very nice and revealing. The whole - combination of Katri Vala's and Edith Sodergran's poetry recited by Maija Piitulainen and my music - feels still surprisingly fresh and good. Today's hard and ignorant world disturbes and sometimes even denies beauty...

Some trekking with camera in the darkness of evening. Full moon and the ice of Lake Keitele.

Juha H.

Improvisages jatkaa...

Sigh of relief - Wooaahhff!! I feel pretty good - worked for a few hours with the music and pics of Improvisages. The music was recorded LIVE - last Spring, 2005. ( The original hand-written sheet music was created by me and it can be found here.) Ari created the pics and paintings before that. And finally I had the time to combine the two together. The sound quality of the recording is not absolutely "suberpe". (Well, how could it be - taken as a stereo-file from the outs of a mixer...) Still I'm very pleased and happy with the whole.

Juha H.

Lake Keitele and the little lighthouse of Tallisaari. (Juha H.) 

Sunrise at ten o'clock. Hey it's Winter here in Finland. (JUha H.) 

Satriani Vai Petrucci

I've been watching and listening to G3 Live in Tokyo DVD. Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci perform virtuoso music with some fantastic backing musicians, eg Billy Sheehan ... But especially I like Steve Vai - the melodies he plays, the rhythmic complexity of his legato/glissando lines and the wonderous surprises of his music. All in all very a nice DVD.

Recorded bass guitar and four lines of percussion instruments to my composition Tulia pidellessa (=While at the Campfire). Now the whole just waits to be mixed...

Juha H.

Yesterday's Sun setting behind the lake Keitele. (Juha H.) 

Sunnuntai

Quite alot of trekkin' today. I had my camera, Nikon D70s, with - so I took pics and added thirteen here. Winter sceneries. Weather was fine - less than -10 Celsius degrees.

Recorded two tracks of woodwinds to my composition Tulia pidellessa (=While at the Campfire). Didn't have time for more...

Juha H.

Musiikillista puuhastelua

I began recording my composition Tulia pidellessa (=While at the campfire). It is going to be a song, soft funk. Well, just a guitar track today - more tomorrow.

Compiled a sort of video for Improvisages. The audio track is a jam Jori and I had a few weeks ago. And visuals are Ari's pics. It's just a beginning for more Improvisages multimedia... It was a bit hard to go back to the world of "videos". It must have been last Spring that I worked with them before today. So I was somewhat at loss with the use of Adobe Premier...

Right now Jori is playing Rock'n'Roll in Suovanlahti - home of the Traktori Jazz.

Juha H.

Night in the Lizard Forest. (Juha H.) 

Chapel in the cemetary. (Juha H.) 

Derek Bailey

Just today I heard that Derek Bailey has passed away. He died on Christmas day last year. The world has got one great improviser less. That's a bit sad - improvisers are quite rare and good ones even more so.

Recorded the rest of the instruments to my composition Ensimmaiset 31 vuotta (= First 31 Years). I mixed the whole, too. Hopefully tomorrow I can get my hands on next piece of my music. And I have some tasks and obligations for the music of Improvisages , too. When do I have time for that? During the weekend?

Juha H.

31

I began working with a composition of mine - Ensimmaiset 31 vuotta (=First 31 years). Recorded some woodwind tracks. Peaceful modal melody - in the Eb-Lydian Mode. Actually that 31 years is the time Sini and I've been together. Then many days ago we were so young. Now after more than three decades - we don't feel so old...

Juha H.

New Year's Eve In The Forest. (Juha H.) 

Happy New Year!! (Juha H.)