IT'S A TRAP! Scandinavian Music Journal

Kallioinia s/t Flora & Fauna

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700

If ever there were a CD whose playfully loopy, zigzagging synth sound was tailor-made for colorful animated videos, this outing by brothers Matti and Simon Kallioinen is it. The eleven tracks on this disc sound like they were made by robot-children, or perhaps intricately constructed toys that have suddenly come to life. Everything is whirring, bleeping, dancing up the synthesized keyboards and generally running amok with glee. Most tracks are instrumental; the few with vocals, such as "Emerald", rely on vocoder or "Virtual Singer programming" to keep the voices as electro-fied as every other sound. "Marble zone" and "Eon" are thoroughly enjoyable romps, and there's a brightness of color and youthful zippiness throughout that you can't help but respond to. I would have preferred a slightly darker edge and a couple more experiments with pitch-shifting, but that's just personal taste. Overall, this is an entertaining synthesizer/programming foray that pushes the right buttons (literally) in creative ways.

MP3: Kallioinia - Making out

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800

I've been wanting to post some skweee, but since it exists solely in vinyl format for the time being, this might be as close as we're gonna get for now. One of these days I'll hook my turntable up to my computer again so I can rip and encode some records, but until that time comes, we'll just have to make do. Kallionia is the duo of Matti and Simon Kallioinen. Sister Julia contributes to a song as well. But the thing that got my attention was that production duties were shared by Pavan. Perhaps you remember that Fattaru track "100:-" that I posted awhile back? Well, that was also a Pavan production and probably one of the best songs I posted last year. Kallioinia doesn't quite bring the funk like Fattaru, but I do love the squiggly bassline on the track I've posted today. The goofy Peter Frampton ripoff vocals are fun too. Actually, "goofy" and "fun" are probably the two best adjectives to describe these guys. This isn't music that requires much thought - it's pure silly enjoyment and sometimes that's all I need, especially on a Monday morning.

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Flora & Fauna has posted the new Kallioinia single "Castle pop" for download, along with the Rigas remix: http://www.brilliant.nu/ (under 'mp3')

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Flora & Fauna report that they've signed the artist known as Kallioinia and will be releasing "his album of luxurious pacman-space-disco" in November. In other F&F news, the third Chrysler album "The Benelux years" is done and being scheduled for an April 2007 release.