2011 - Joonatan Elokuu - Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun (Maito Records, mai005)

'Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun' by Joonatan Elokuu available from Maito Records at http://maito.hear.fi/mai005.html

You can download the free digital EP from their site, or from this url: http://www.hear.fi/~elokuu/utupuu%20releases/

The EP has one track, which is divided into 3 parts.

1. Mother Earth - Father Sky
2. Dans van de Slakkengeliefden
3. Sister Moon - Brother Sun

‎"'Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun' was recorded and mixed in the Dutch countryside, and mastered at Maito Records. It's perhaps the most personal piece of music I've ever put down on tape. The songs were written while I was hospitalized because of a serious illness. During the ambulance ride I was given a heavy dose of morphine, and while drifting in and out of consciousness, I had a vision of an angel with a peacock's features. I also heard the sound of animals, birds and wings flapping all around, mixed with the drone of the engine (which morphed into a weird harmonic layer of sound) while the chatter of the paramedics faded slowly out. The first ten minutes of the album were definitely influenced by this experience. It's definitely not a happy album, but a very spiritual and personal one. I hope that the album could serve as a reminder of the beauty and fragility of our existence, and that there is a light at the end of even the darkest road. I recorded the music on a handheld recorder as I started my recovery from the operation. While I was really happy to be alive and well, I had to deal with thoughts of death and loss not only because of my own experience, but because my father was also seriously ill during this time.

I have started recording the new album, and it might take quite a while until it's ready for release. I want to record the album in a proper studio with plenty of time, because it will feature some of the best songs I've ever written. After 2012 we will disappear into Asia for a long time, and I hope I have the chance to record the album before this. It will be available as a CD on a different label, more info on this will be available in time. Meanwhile, there should be a compilation release coming out on Hear Records, let's hope they'll have this out at some point."


-Joonatan

News 18.07.2011

NOTE: CDrs are not available at the moment, so bear with the free downloads. Handmade items will be available again when we have settled down properly. We are currently residing in the Dutch countryside & busking in Amsterdam area, many countries apart from our earthly belongings.

If you enjoy the free downloads, feel free to say hi to us at kiiltomatolyhty(nospam!)gmail.com or donate a sum of your choosing via Paypal to the same address. All donations will be used to further our agenda of offering free downloads of Utupuu releases & making handmade items available.

Utupuu/Kiiltomatolyhty on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Utupuu/101752999886145

Black Deck - "Black Deck EP" now available via Utupuu

Black Deck, the project of Olli Niemitalo & Joonatan Elokuu has a new EP available as a download via Utupuu.

2011 - Black Deck - Black Deck EP (UTUPUU04)

1. I - Spore Transmission
2. II - Smoke Signal
3. III - Telephone

Olli Niemitalo - Black Deck, field recordings, electronics
Joonatan Elokuu - electric guitar, vocals
Kata Havahu - saxophone
Helena Halla - additional vocals

Lyrics on "II - Smoke Signal" were taken from the song "The Nights" by Lee Hazlewood.

All music on this EP was created by Black Deck in early 2011.

Mixed & Mastered by Olli Niemitalo

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.hear.fi/~elokuu/utupuu%20releases/


*** More information on the project can be found from http://yehar.com/blog/?p=1398 ***

Black Deck EP

Black Deck - "Black Deck EP" available soon as a download / CDr from Utupuu! Running time ~23 minutes. A collaborative effort from O. Niemitalo (Black Deck, field recordings) & J. Elokuu (electric guitar, vocals), Black Deck EP documents a musical expedition in the realm of DIY electronics & psychedelectric folk drones.

Utupuu group in facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Utupuu/101752999886145

Contact address update

Contact kiiltomatolyhty(nospam)gmail.com for bookings & inquiries.

For orders from Utupuu, contact info(nospam)utupuu.fi

Utupuu is still recovering from the move from our former home to the New Country, so albums are only available as a download for the time being.

-Utupuu

Joonatan Elokuu & Mossycoat (UTUPUU03, 2011)

Hello Friends,

As some of you might already know, we are leaving Finland for good in a month or so for a new home somewhere South. For a long time now, we've been occupied with making arrangements and selling our belongings while sharing flats with our beloved friends & families. I even had to part with some of my beloved instruments...

It would be problematic for us to carry copies of our albums with us, so we've decided to make all of them available as a free download from this address. Including the brand new album 'Joonatan Elokuu & Mossycoat'.

This doesn't mean that the handmade CDrs are no longer available; we simply cannot guarantee that we can send them on time, nor that we would be carrying enough copies with us to meet with the demand. You can inquire our situation from info(nospam!!!!!!at)utupuu.fi; we might be able to send You a copy, if not now, maybe sometime in near (?) future!

Sincerely,
Joonatan

P.S. The info above applies also for Utupuu jewellery at www.utupuu.fi. In near/distant future the jewellery will be available internationally through Artfire. All items will be unique from now on!

P.P.S. Here's the the new album:














***DOWNLOAD MP3/320***

"Joonatan Elokuu & Mossycoat" (2011, Utupuu)

1. Prayer of the Mushroom-Eater
2. Autumn
3. Owlsong
4. Mountain of the Moon
5. Lantern in Her Hand
6. Roots
7. Matkalaulu
8. Prayer for Dying Trees
9. On the Shoreline
10. Leaves of Life - Elon Lehdet
11. Boat of Flowers
12. Amanita
13. Sininen Uni

Songs written & performed
by weary travelers laying low for the winter season 2010-2011.

Tracks 3, 5, 11 were written by Mossycoat (Helena Halla), and track 13 is a rendition of an old Finnish song originally written & composed by M. Haavio and T. Rautavaara. All other tracks were written by Joonatan Elokuu, except track 9, which was co-written by Mossycoat.

Instrumentation & Vocals - Joonatan Elokuu (guitar & Portuguese guitarra, harmonica, electronics, minstrel banjo, melodica, flutes, indian harmonium, cittern and mandolin) & Helena Halla (melodica, electronics, guitar)

Mastering - Mikko Määttä

From Psyche Van Het Folk:

"Joonatan Elokuu & Mossycoat (FIN,2011)****/*****

Stylistically Joonatan continues with his new album with intimate minstrel music, led by a whispery warm male voice in the vein of In Gowan Ring and a gentle female voice which gives beautiful alternation. The songs rooted in a bond with nature, mystics and the art of love and care, are accompanied by nylon string guitar strums and pickings, ghosty background sounds, a minimum of electronic pulses, small moody flute arrangements, a touch of organ, some mandolin, and a bit of mouth harmonica. Music to learn to use the imagination proportionally, make thoughts balanced through concentration thanks to the purpose of silence to make the senses available again."

Foxy Digitalis review HERE

Joonatan Elokuu - 'A Vagrant's Whim' (UTUPUU02, 2010)

***DOWNLOAD MP3/320***


We are happy to inform that 'A Vagrant's Whim', the new album by Joonatan Elokuu is now available! Those fluent in Finnish can order it via http://www.utupuu.fi (the site does not yet feature English language). English inquiries can be made by contacting info(nospam!!!at)utupuu.fi.

Tracks:

1. A Song Writ on Leaves
2. Rishikesh Song
3. Wicker Girl
4. Silk Road Sunrise
5. A Dream by the Arabian Sea
6. Montsegur
7. Born Again with a Hedgehog's Heart
8. Nancy
9. Valencia
10. Brother Sun
11. Like Christ and Osiris
12. Galilee

Playing time ~46 minutes.
Mastering by Mikko Määttä.

The CDr comes in a handmade, nature friendly packaging. The price is 8e (+2,40e postage).

The album is a collection of songs composed during various seaside drop-outs in India, France, Spain and Portugal (2008-2010) and finally recorded & finished once safely back home in Finland (...after a perilous journey through the Balkans & East Europe, including desperate hitchhiking and traveling with a French circus troupe...but that's another story, folks!)

The songs here are presented in a rather stripped-down and raw form; compared to the debut album 'Mushroom Heart' (2009), the instrumentation on 'A Vagrant's Whim' is much more dependant on just guitar & voice. Other instruments include cittern, harmonica, melodica, sitar, indian harmonium and portuguese guitar.

Released through Utupuu, limited to 300 hand numbered copies.

Phil McMullen from Terrascope wrote:

"Staying in Scandinavia, it was good to receive the latest full-length limited edition release from Finland’s Joonatan Elokuu, entitled “A Vagrant’s Whim”. For the most part this follows a simple formula of guitar and Elokuu’s soothingly soporific baritone, supplemented here and there by wife Helena on vocals and occasional other accompaniment. There’s not much to choose between the songs, all of which will delight in a lo-fi, late night, mellow sort of way. “Born Again with a Hedgehog Heart” features some sampled dialogue, possibly from a film (now that could be the quiz question this month), and “Nancy” continues with the spoken-word (Elokuu’s this time) while introducing some understated but evocative electronic backing, whilst “Like Christ and Osiris” features sitar and Indian Harmonium (and probably other things). Elokuu’s evidently an interesting and widely travelled chap with many a tale to tell, and this is all very pleasant and a fair enough if not quite essential contribution to the wyrd/alt/psych/whatever folk canon."

A short review from Psyche Van Het Folk:

"The second album by Joonatan Elokuu reminds me even more of In Gowan Ring, singing minstrel-like songs in his own modest way, with a warm introspective expressive way of singing with two acoustic guitars and accordion, and with the addition of some second female voice (Helena Halla) here and there. Only after a few songs different arrangements occur, like some flute with echo on “Silk Road Sunrise”. Special to hear also is the “Born Again with a Hedgehog's Heart” intro with a dialogue from a movie of someone seeking for birds/nature-like spiritual freedom. “Nancy” is expressed with more spoken word with warm ambient electric piano and synthesizer. More stretched in acoustic improvisation with harmonium, zither and sitar is “Like Christ and Osiris”. The last track concludes the album by adding whistling. Another good one from this new psych-folk artist. Released as a CDR in an envelope with some artwork."

Oscar Strik from Evening of Light wrote:

"After several years of building up steam as Aura Shining Green, it seems Joonatan Elokuu has recently settled into a relatively steady rhythm of writing and recording songs. Mushroom Heart was a very pleasant album from 2009, and this one, self-released in late 2010, is its equally fine successor.

Even more so than the last time around, travels form the inspiration for this collection of singer/songwriter folk pieces. The road took Joonatan and his wife Helena through Southern Europe and Asia, as we can see from titles like “Montségur”, “Valencia”, “Silk Road Sunrise”, and “Rishikesh Song”. This, however, hasn’t resulted in an overload of oriental and raga influences, as has been a fairly common occurrence in folk music since the 60s. Though certainly inspired by all kinds of vagaries from modern folk, guitar and voice dominate practically everywhere on these songs of Joonatan’s, and frankly, he needs little more to make perfectly enjoyable and intimate songs.

That’s not to say there isn’t some variety to be found. Melodies are executed with flair and diversity across the different tracks, and in some places intensities of arrangement highlight the flow of the music, such as in the rich “Wicker Girl”, where multiple guitar lines and additional vocals by Helena fill up the sound perfectly. At the other end, there is the ambient spoken word piece “Nancy”, a brooding track based on soft organ chords in the background, some use of samples, and introspective text. I wouldn’t have minded even more of these experimental sojourns, and perhaps it would have made the album more balanced and powerful.

As it stands, though, A Vagrant’s Whim is another nice album from a warm voice among the underground folk wanderers of today. Joonatan and Helena are on the move once more, but there are plans of rereleasing remastered version of the Utupuu albums in the future. Until then, the two have made all of their recent albums available as a free high-quality download on their website here, so there is no excuse for not checking their material out right now, and if you like what you hear, I’m sure they might have some physical copies available for sale."