The roadside grill at Käpylä, Helsinki, has long served as a nice and comfy venue for the up-and-coming indie acts, and on Saturday, June 6th, 2024, there was something out of the ordinary on the menu. Continuing the “Käpygrilli Goes Electric“ theme started in January 2024, two electronic acts of the atmospheric variety were on offer – SAPPHIRE DREAM and PIHKA IS MY NAME. This evening marked the live debut of the promising new electronica bunch, SAPPHIRE DREAM, and some of their downtempo endeavors had already made a good impression through social media. Then, PIHKA IS MY NAME‘s first two albums, “Everything Is In Between” (2021) and “Caller Unknown” (2023), were reviewed on Tuonela Magazine with such praise by my colleagues back in the day, that my intuition told me this double-whammy would be something I’d better not miss. And, well, my intuition was not only right but this electronica extraordinaire proved one hell of a gut-punch of atmospheric synth greatness.
First up, SAPPHIRE DREAM set the evening in motion with an onslaught of experimental electronica leaning to the atmospheric school of thought. For an aging techno and trance enthusiast boasting a dubious history in the Helsinki underground techno scene in the late 1990s, the first half of the set triggered pleasant flashbacks of many a chill-out lounge from 20-something years ago. I guess this sound was pretty much what I had expected from this warm-up act – ambient synth textures with a mellow pulse and some nice melodic ornaments on top. The gentle introduction was just that – perfectly soothing music to cool off to, given the odd chance that you had danced for hours to a pounding techno beat until your feet became numb. This duo seemed to have assigned the roles on stage so that Sampo played the live keyboards and Aki handled the pre-programmed stuff. This modus operandi was also applied by PIHKA IS MY NAME later.
The set kicked off with a song called “Dreams.” The cover art for the studio version of the song released on Soundcloud has a somewhat Buddha-looking human figure floating in (inner) space, sitting cross-legged in nothingness. That’s pretty spot on. While this type of music would be more than fit for meditation, it worked nicely in the live setting, too, even without the yoga mats. The next couple of songs – “Neutrons” and “Orchid Riddim” – continued on this chill-out theme with the occasional trancey synth stabs and beefy basslines echoing the grooves of those sweet Ninja Tune classics from 30 years ago. On occasion, the duo switched to a more experimental and somewhat krautrock-ish approach recalling some of those obscure acts from the 1970s. One name, Klaus Schulze, in particular, popped into my mind, at one point.
Had they left it at this, I would have been pleased enough. I didn’t expect them to gear up on a banging techno beat, bordering on a somewhat 1990s-tinted trance aesthetic. I’m not saying that modern trance has gone to shit completely but it sure ain’t what it used to be. So, I must say that I welcomed this transition smiling like a Cheshire cat. It was probably the as-of-yet-unreleased banger, “Last,” that marked this change of mood (I’m old as shit, so my memory might not be exactly trustworthy). Whatever the case, the ending of their set was pure eargasm in this respect – and, judging by the crowd dancing wildly at the relatively small venue, I wasn’t the only one thinking, “What a banger!” The last song, entitled “Veriframe,” would have worked wonders in one of those classic techno raves hosted in some ramshackle industrial bunker, back in the day, just as well. I have danced to many a techno schlager of yesteryear with less cojones!
Next, PIHKA IS MY NAME took the stage. I was mentally prepared for some nice, class-A electronica but what this duo did was something else completely, something other-worldly – they ripped the roof off the venue with their mesmerizing show! I was seated at a table full of metalheads and it didn’t take long before the whole table was pumping their fists in the air. When the set ended and the crowd insisted on an encore, they dropped a drum&bass banger from the 2022 EP, “Dance Forbidden,” and you could even see a good few metalheads pulling their best Saturday Night Fever moves on the dancefloor. That says a lot. As for the song, its title escaped me in the passion of the moment. Each of the EP’s four songs is a breakbeat/drum&bass banger echoing the style of PENDULUM with a good pinch of that lovely mid-1990s sound of pedigree UK drum&bass labels, such as Moving Shadow and Looking Good.
The audience was served a nice selection of the band’s old and new material, with the highlight of the gig, for me, being the title track from the “Caller Unknown” album. This electronic melancholy resonated rather nicely with the air of, say, the haunting 2002 album, “Airdrawndagger,” by the Welsh superstar-DJ, Sasha. Then, it was probably the song, “Between the Icicle and the Flame,” with its highly evocative mallet motifs and gated synths, that nicely echoed the mid-1990s classics by the British legends, ORBITAL. Well, this was not a small feat!
The balance between pre-programmed, sequenced stuff and live playing was splendidly thought-out; during some of the pre-programmed passages, both Lasse Turunen behind the sequencers/controllers and Henna Helasvuo behind the keyboards either pulled some impromptu dance moves or choreographed pantomime routines. This is exactly how you’re supposed to engage the audience when you deal with pre-programmed music sequences! I was also delighted to notice that some of the keyboard motifs that I thought would be pre-programmed and coming from the sequencer actually weren’t; Helasvuo played a lot of those synth ostinatos live!
As a nice special treat, also PIHKA IS MY NAME played one song that’s not even released yet. In the heat of the moment, the song title escaped me completely but it fit seamlessly in their set, so… I’d better be on the look-out for a new single in the weeks and months to come. Seeing this duo drop such a jaw-dropping performance so shortly after the Tuska Festival, I couldn’t help but entertain the thought that, now that Tuska has been introducing more and more electronic artists in their festival program each year, wouldn’t it be great to see PIHKA IS MY NAME, say, on the Radio City stage in the future? Their live performance packs just as much punch as your typical alternative metal bunch. I mean, a small venue like this will soon be way too small for this duo.
And to think that this was a free event! I would like to quote a good friend of mine who used to play as a troubadour on those Viking Line cruises back in the day – “It’s free because it’s priceless.” So, if you missed this golden opportunity, next time either of these two acts will be playing in your neighborhood, I highly recommend putting on your glittery disco pants and checking them out! It’ll be a blast!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
