22-Pistepirkko are easily one of Scandinavia's most eccentric and evocative pop acts. The band's sound and diabolical dynamic, remarkably consistent over the span of the 22-year career, is a luminous, surreal, guitar-based electro-pop and proto-garage-psychedelia blended with elements of acoustic folk and spaced-out bohemian blues-rock. 22-Pistepirkko are slightly weird, slightly childish, slightly psychedelic, slightly rockin', but mostly epic, genius, and supremely Finnish.
22-Pistepikko have just finished a new and upcoming studio album, "Drops & Kicks". It was produced together with Kalle Gustafsson of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Michael Ilbert (The Hives, Cardigans...) and John Hanlon, engineer/producer for Neil Young have been working on mixes.
With a slow maturing process behind it "Drops & Kicks" surprises by breaking the bond with earlier, machine-oriented albums. The sequencers and drum machines play an insignificant part. Instead there¹s sometimes rough, sometimes sensitive, but all in all quite raw trio playing, while their songwriting abilities just reached a new peak.
"Drops & Kicks" is full of potential hits. The funny Rat King; reminiscent of Wild Thing, has conquered the Swedish College radio list for weeks. This is a good sign indeed, for there are way more strong songs on the album (note: 7 more great tunes on the revised vinyl version)"Drops & Kicks" has almost everything that it takes to be a good rock album.
It prefers stupidity to intelligence; it is angry, swinging, mean, ironic at one¹s own expense, tight and funny. It includes comic strip, bubble gum, boogie and angst. It has taken less to conquer the cover of NME!
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.22-pistepirkko.netTrack List:
1. Mr.Twister
2. Rat King
3. I Knew
4. Space Riding
5. Sister May
6. Not So Good At School
7. X-(Wo)Men
8. Stay
9. I Got Burned
10. Hello Sunshine
11. One Man Down
12. Soul Free
13. Second Thoughts
14. We Ought
15. (I Left My Baby)
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