Erik XI

by Zel Quartet

By the end of my stay here, I start to discover some bands from Porvoo. At least I think they are from Porvoo. Zel Quartet is one. The other day I saw an old (two or three year old?) poster of them on the wall close to the town centre. (Which made me think that either nobody dared to paste anything over or the glue used for the latter posters was of inferior quality.)

The title of the album sounds like a name of an Old Norse king but I think it simply reflects the fact that the bandleader, Erik Lindroth, wrote eleven compositions (if you count Spacetip — Introduction and Spacetip as one). In any case, Viking metal it ain’t. The music is more like “old-school” jazz-rock, which is surprising as that the band members appear in their late 20s or early 30s. All in all, a very impressive debut album, recorded in just three days. I have been listening to it for about a week now and I am still not bored.

Any reservations? Well, somebody should have proofread the liner notes. Given that you are highly unlikely to buy the real CD, this should be the least of your worries.

Erik XI

Spacetip — Introduction Spacetip (Beck’s Slide) — inspired by Jeff Beck Octa B (GB Octaves) — inspired by George Benson Jimmy Zep — inspired by Jimmy Page sCo — inspired by John Scofield Mindflick Too Slow To Part M Drop — inspired by John McLaughlin Wes — inspired by Wes Montgomery Thoughts Of You — inspired by Al DiMeola Six Through Eight Shifting Zel Quartet is: Erik “Zerick” Lindroth: guitar Lasse Rantanen: bass Mikko Seppä: keys Wille Granö: drums All songs written by Erik Lindroth Arrangement: Lindroth, Rantanen, Seppä, Granö Recorded live between 6 and 9.8.2012 Recording engineer: Jonas “Blomman” Blomqvist Producer: Erik Lindroth Custom Music Records © & ℗ 2013

Revival

by Timur Kulikov

An absolutely fantastic work. This is what Timur says:

Another idea for a movie. Haven’t thought of a name yet but I’ve thought of the story. After an evil alchemist killed half the people in the kingdom, five people were sent to bring him to justice. The currently dead guy and the four guys with their backs turned. From left to right: a human alchemist, a gargoyle, a mercenary of a race that have one eye on the front and another on the back, a mushroom man who mainly carries stuff and fights when the group is endangered. Currently the four-armed one has had his soul expelled and they’re using a spell triggered by music to get him back.

Of course, there is more to it. Who are the guys who face us? (I like the guitarist.) What is this place? Who are the dark figures on the top? You think about it.

Revival

Right Ho, Jeeves

by P. G. Wodehouse

It’s funny that, though being a fan of the old J. & W. show, I never read anything by P. G. Wodehouse himself, until now that is. But — listen. Last Christmas two young feline creatures named Jeeves and Wooster made their first short appearance around here. Since then, I completely forgot about them. And then I went away for a month and learned that they were visiting again and made themselves at home, to the extent that they viewed the living room rightly theirs and regarded anyone else as visitors. Right ho, I said to myself, what a wonderful world, or something on those lines. So I downloaded this book onto Kindle and read most of it in the air, somewhere between Las Palmas and Helsinki. Marvellous. And did it have anything on cats? What cats? It never was about cats.

I remember when I was a kid at school having to learn a poem of sorts about a fellow named Pig-something — a sculptor he would have been, no doubt — who made a statue of a girl, and what should happen one morning but that the bally thing suddenly came to life. A pretty nasty shock for the chap, of course, but the point I’m working round to is that there were a couple of lines that went, if I remember correctly:

She starts. She moves. She seems to feel
The stir of life along her keel.

♥ ♥ ♥

The discovery of a toy duck in the soap dish, presumably the property of some former juvenile visitor, contributed not a little to this new and happier frame of mind. What with one thing and another, I hadn’t played with toy ducks in my bath for years, and I found the novel experience most invigorating. For the benefit of those interested, I may mention that if you shove the thing under the surface with the sponge and then let it go, it shoots out of the water in a manner calculated to divert the most careworn.

♥ ♥ ♥

His hair was full of twigs, and there was a beetle hanging to the side of his head which would have interested Gussie Fink-Nottle. To this, however, I paid scant attention. There is a time for studying beetles and a time for not studying beetles.

♥ ♥ ♥

I consulted Jeeves once more in the language of the eyebrow. He raised one of his. I raised one of mine. He raised his other. I raised my other. Then we both raised both.

♥ ♥ ♥

“Curse all dancing chauffeurs! What on earth does a chauffeur want to dance for? I mistrusted that man from the start. Something told me he was a dancer.”

♥ ♥ ♥

“Bertie, I have something to say to you.”
“What?”
“I have something to say to you.”
“I know. I said ‘What?’”
“Oh, I thought you didn’t hear what I said.”
“Yes, I heard what you said, all right, but not what you were going to say.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Right-ho.”