Kuupuu - Lumen Tahden

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Phil on Wed 16 Sep, 2009.

We got some booty in this week on Time Lag which has been one of my favourite labels for ages now. There's not too much on the label that hasn't taken me off to a special place. Do you have a special place? I like to touch mine sometimes but then people shout at me. So here's a new Kuupuu CD/LP to do some special place touching up then. Her last 2 albums on Dekorder were completely ace so I was well excited about hearing this. Her brand of weird Finnish forest folk which sounds like it's been made by aliens is always utterly beguiling. I'm only on the 1st track as I write and I'm thinking it's the best thing I've heard by her. Her vocals are alien like and distant sounding, they're surrounded by wierd tribal rhythms, strange tinkles and noises, looping effects and general oddness. It's possibly unlike anything else I've heard... there's some hauntingly beautiful moments on here. The closest 'what does it sound like' comparison I can come to is 'Grouper on acid being mauled by wolves' and that will have to do. From start to end Lumen Tahden is a brilliant record... you need to check this woman out!

"Although Finlander Jonna Karanka has been slowly leaking out little Kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow its taken just that long to materialize her first proper album. Maybe it has something to do with the time shes devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, including Hertta Lussu Assa (with Islaja and Lau Nau), Anaksimandos, Avarus, and many others. But, you know, I always figured Kuupuu music didnt have much to do with time anyway. Its music from another reality, to put it bluntly. A beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. You could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much. Post-everything? Pre-birth folk? Bedtime acid-art? Naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? Maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop. The sound of tiny bioluminescent insects systematically devouring an urban cityscape in hyper-speed, while just as quickly slithering neon flora entwine the metallic gray remains, only to then be gobbled themselves by a leaderless army of pulsating micro-robots. Got that? Now play backwards in slow motion. Surreal might just be an understatement. Packaged in a stunning ultra-heavy laminated full color gatefold cover with full color art labels, all created by Jonna. Pressed on audiophile 180gm vinyl. Limited edition of 750 copies." - Time-Lag.

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