Skumju Akmeņi - Skumju Akmeņi Cassette album 1996
1) Skumju akmeņi
2) Krustceles
3) Nav tumša upe lāpas staros
4) Inūtilis
5) Stāsts par meiteni
6) Mums pietrūka smieklu
7) Atlantīda
8) Debess straumes
9) Pēc septiņiem vienatnē gadiem
10) Es vēlos palikt...
11) Pāri ilgām pelēkām dienām
12) Man pieder ceļš
13) Mūžīgā miera iela
14) Mēma zemes skumjā balss
Mediafire
I noticed I've posted quite a bit of black metal recently. So I guess it's about time for a seemingly random "different" post again. Here's a non-metal item for change, a cassette album from Latvian band Skumju Akmeņi I ripped on a whim some months ago. I suppose I call them gothic rock like people at last.fm seem to do... though I guess indie rock would be a closer call? Their vocalist Helēna Kozlova seems to be very well known in her native land as a singer-songwriter. I bought this tape when I happened to see the band live, oddly enough, in a rock bar in my hometown around 1996/97, can't remember exactly when it was. Anyways, I recall enjoying the gig and when I listened to the tape later being quite dissappointed with it. I can't really remember anymore but I guess it was a bit wilder live. Scans of the cover enclosed.
Ripped from an original tape the quality is good, though there is a little wear in some places. Musically they're playing something with touches of gothic rock but I'd say gearing more towards indie rock though it is quite moody and melancholic. Some (very scarce) Baltic folk elements can also be heard. Helēna's vocals remind me of someone I can't seem to name right now... you know those female singer-songwriters, one of 'em. That's going to help. She sounds a bit husky, with a quite low voice and actually does some rough vocals too for spice. As you probably noticed from the tracklisting, all lyrics are in Latvian which is not my strongest language. They gave me an English lyric sheet with the tape but I don't seem to be able to find it now. If I come across it later I'll scan it. I remember the band name meant "sorrowful stones" or something like that. Pretty light stuff with some nice bits but lasting almost 55 minutes it feels too long and in general isn't really my chalice of poison. For open-minded readers, fans of the genre and/or the vocalist.
4 kommenttia:
Excellent tape, totally not what I expected. Sort of sounds like a hybrid between post-DM era Amorphis and... The Smiths? And fronted by a female with a gorgeous voice. This, the Plastic Sampler and especially "Erotic Circus" by Perkele had an impact on me. I've been searching for other goth rock stuff like this, unfortunately with little success: some extremely obscure Finnish band with one even more obscure LP I can't find, Tiistai, and I guess the Cocteau Twins which I've barely had the chace to listen to, as well as some borderline shit like The Smiths which are not secret. I'd welcome more uploads of this nature if you had anything more like this.
@MLF:
Thanks for your comment, feedback like this naturally encourages me to keep posting these "other" items.
You might want to see if you can find other stuff featuring the vocalist Helena here, it seems like she has quite a discography... though much of it might be released only domestically.
Tiistai is not a familiar name to me, but that is to be expected as I'm by no means specialist in the genre. However, I'll keep my eye open for you. There's another compilation similar to Plastic Sampler I'm thinking about doing in the future, I'll haveto check first whether it's available as I don't want to post stuff like that.
Yeah, good luck with Tiistai. No [working] downloads, no torrents and not even any for sale. Only found one youtube video and a discogs page as the only evidence they exist. I contacted a yt users who claimed to be the son of one of the members but no response yet. Rarely do I come across something so obscure that the internet in all it's useless splendor almost completely lets me down. As far as obscure Finnish shit goes, this is probably as obscure as I've found, and believe me, I've come across some real barrel-scraping shit across all continents.
@MLF:
Well, at least there is some information available and this looks like one of those LP's you come across at some flea market or other by accident but can't find it if you actually look for it.
I've a friend who listened/listens to stuff like this a lot and collects vinyls. I'll ask him, he or his big bro might have this.
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