blog.sunherd.net

This year the Finnish rock band 22-Pistepirkko (”22-spot ladybird”) released a new record - their 12th studio album if I counted right. The name of the record is “(Well You Know) Stuff Is Like We Yeah!“.

The band has made different kinds of music during their existence. There has been straight rock records, alternative rock records, one record that is just alternative (without any rock elements) and some records that are quite electronic too. Almost always there is some indie country -like elements on the records too, and the new records isn’t an exception to that either.

I think the best song on the record is “Sky Girl”, but sadly I can’t find any streams of it on the Internet. Luckily, the two second best songs can be found:

• 22-Pistepirkko - Suburban Ladyland (youtube)
• 22-Pistepirkko - The Others (myspace)

There’s nothing new on these songs itself. On the contrary, one might say that this is music that has been done million times before. So it might sound like a bad idea to do it once again. But 22-Pistepirkko has the odd habit that when they do things others have already done, they somehow make it work better.

Some have said that they haven’t liked the new record as much as the previous material. Many of them point out that on this record Espe Haverinen, the drummer of the band, sings too many songs (5). This is probably because one of the bands best known trademarks are the original lead vocals of P-K Keränen - although many claim that Espe’s singing skills and his accent are just plain bad.

I diagree. I think Espe’s vocals are brilliant! The accent is original in a nice way, and perhaps as I am a more indie kind of person I value the sounding of his voice too. Great record, great songs, and while P-K’s singing is great, it’s nice to hear Espe too.