Koneisto festival 2005

[Kvagga]

It was mental!!!!!

One of my best nights ever and I'm still recovering from it.

Full report later on...

Oh and if you ever have even the slightest chance of catching Mouse On Mars live: DO IT!

[Kvagga]

Okay, as I promised, here we go:

My friend and I arrived at Kaapelitehdas (which is the place where the festival was held) at about 20.15. We thought it wouldn't matter if we'd miss the first couple of minutes of Aavikko (which we went to see first), since I hadn't heard anything too mind-blowing from them before. Now I regret missing those few minutes, since the set they played was fantastic! I always thought of them as being quite chilled, but boy was I ever wrong... They totally rocked the place with their uptempo überfunky grooves. An amazing live act that shouldn't be missed. They had influences from techno, jazz, electro, funk, electrofunk , even Finnish pop oldies (this mainly referring to the amazing encore song they played us)... In other words, pretty much from everywhere. One of my favourites was a song with a somewhat oriental groove (the kind you here in old movies like Lawrence Of Arabia).


Aavikko bringing the grooves.

After Aavikko finished, we went to get some drinks, met some friends, and then it was on to see Norway's princess of electropop, Annie. We missed the first half of the set but what we got hear was very good stuff. Most of the songs were way better than Chewing Gum (which we also got to hear). We pushed our way to the front so we could see the lovely Annie from up close. Her second encore song was unreleased new material and a pretty catchy number too (could've been called "Will You Marrie Me?", or at least that was the main lyric). Might very well become a hit.


The least blurred pic of Annie I got...

From Annie's set we literally ran back to the place (Pannuhalli) where we had earlier seen Aavikko, to get up fron to see Mouse On Mars. We were directly in front of the band, when they played possibly the most unbelievable live-set I've ever heard. Totally different from what I expected and at the same time some of the best stuff ever. They rocked with such amazing beats and sounds that it blew my mind. Having originally expected something chilled, I now found my self dancing like a lunatic and I've never sweat so much in my life (I literally had a puddle of sweat in front of me). The band didn't resemble an IDM outfit at all either (with the exception of the main synth/sampler guy). The most un-IDM looking was their supertalented drummer/"vocalist" that looked like a tougher version of Jimi Hendrix. Especially the third song, whatever it was, kicked bum so hard, that I'll be couching arse-pieces for the next couple of days... This is a live-act that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime (preferably with all three, instead of just the main duo). They even did a fifteen minutes overtime encore (it was nice how we got encores from all the live artists).


Mouse On Mars giving an unforgettable live-experience.

Now it was time to chill a bit and get more drinks and a snack (in the form of hotdogs). We did go catch the last few minutes of Kevin Saunderson DJing, blasting some housey techno, which really got the groovetoes tapping, though. After Saunderson we went to look from some Drum N Bass, catched the last song from Infekto's DJ-set, which was Ruff In The Jungle Bizness by The Prodigy, which of course with me being a huge Prodge-fan, made me go nuts on the dancefloor. After Infekto and a vodkashot, the nuttiness continued, since we were treated to a megatough Darkstep/Techstep-set from DJ Muffler. It was continuos insane dancing in front of the speakers from the start to finish, after which we needed to chill again and again drink and get another hotdog.


DJ Muffler with his eardrum-rippin' ritalin-beats and growling basslines.

We were still up for some rough raving though, so we went to get some more Drum N Bass from Norwegian Neurofunk DJ Teebee. He entertained us with some pretty hardcore beats for the rest of the night till 4 o'clock am. The room was full of smoke and sweat and there was a guy running around with a water tank, pouring the much needed liquid into our dehydrated mouths in the frontrow...

Then sooner than we realized, it was over. But what a night it was! Also a perfect early birthday present for me (since today, 15.8, I turn nineteen).

I took some video and recorded some soundbites too, but afterwards realized that my mobile's recording capabilities were totally crap... Neverthless the melodies and beats are now permanently burned into my brain and now (after almost six hours of dancing in right next to speakers) iI'm just waiting for the tinnitus to kick in.

Koneisto is definately the ultimate canine's b*llox.

[Kansler]

thank you, kvagga.

yea, I figured Mouse on Mars COULD be mental, and apparently it WAS! That's the main thing I feel bad about missing.

I really would've wanted to see Adam Freeland, though, and Roisin Murphy too (according to how neat her new album is). Hell, Kevin Saunderson is a classic just as well.

... So you had one of THOSE really hardcore d'n'b r0x-yer-s0x electro nights, eh?

For me, that sounds like when I was in that same room dancing my socks off to the majestic Ken Ishii. (in the good old days, dig?)

Hmm, come next year it's my turn... Glad to see you had a good time, though!

Great pictures, too!

[Kvagga]

Cheers Kansler.

I missed Mr. Freeland and Roisin Murphy too, plus catched only the very end of Saunderson's set, but you can't have it all, now can you...

Missing Freeland pissed me of the most, since everyone was telling me how great his set the day before had been. Roisin Murphy I would've wanted to see, but it wasn't my friend's cuppa and I already had dragged him before to watch Annie, so I decided to give in on that.

Everything I did get to see was total ace and totally made up for any losses, though... Like I said: One of my best nights ever.

So you had one of THOSE really hardcore d'n'b r0x-yer-s0x electro nights, eh?

Indeed I did, and now my body is paying for it. Ken Ishii would've been a fitting addition.

Let's hope that next year we can both make it.

Oh, and the pics would've been so much better, if I had had an actual camera with me, instead of my phone...