Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » kahden miehen galaksi: Um Jepa

2

kahden miehen galaksi: Um Jepa

By

View read count
kahden miehen galaksi: Um Jepa
Buying a CD is more of an act of commitment nowadays than ever. One may be motivated by acquisitional zeal or by dedication to an artist, and opening up the wrapper brings one a little closer to the creative source regardless of any future pleasure from its consumption.

The cover in question is as surrealistically appealing as it is tantalizing, rather like the music on this first CD by the Finnish duo Kahden Miehen Galaksi/Two Man Galaxy. As the name implies, the artistic scope of two human minds is as endless as our concepts of space allow. Indeed, as the main keyed sound source of so much late twentieth century popular music, the range of the canvases that these Hammond organ tones can conjure up is galactic. Likewise the rhythmic capacity of drummer Joonas Riippa, as well as the depth of his box of additional percussive toys, seems to be an inverse relationship to his modest physical size.

Seppo Kantonen earned his laurels playing keyboards with Finnish meteor Pekka Pohjola, and for many years thereafter eschewed attempting his own compositions. Working with a swathe of Finnish rock and jazz musicians he developed his palette and versatility, but his compositional skills featured on this disc are very much a later creation. Pieces like "Sadicon" and even the opening "Um Jepa" (a play on the French expression for the inexplicable or unknowable 'je (ne sais) pas') develop longitudinally but then veer suddenly into unexpected tonic and rhythmic territory. Without a libretto this can be as baffling as the cover, where the two courtly clad musicians parade before an extensive collection of very rustic traditional shovels and spades!

In contrast to the richness of the artists' live interplay in concert, this music is somewhat two dimensional, limited by the bounds of the instrumentation and recording technology. But the richness of those Hammond sonorities guarantee that, as a source of wonder and possible inspiration, their canvas is infinite.

Track Listing

Um Jepa; Nahk- Attack; Hairy Gun; Golintsu; Sadicon; Lookout for schrapnels, Charlie Brown; Sick Y.

Personnel

Seppo Kantonen: Hammond B3, Mellotron, synth; Joonas Riippa: drums, percussion, voice, guitar.

Album information

Title: Um Jepa | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Fiasko Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.