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The stack
of great releases that Circle amassed during their first ten years
consolidated their elder statesmen-like status in the northern
scene of alternative rock. Still, they must have remained a fascinating
footnote in the history of Finnish rock, if Jussi Lehtisalo, the
bassist and primus motor of the band, had not organized a staggering
double-bill with krautrock legends Faust in April 2000 at Club
Tavastia in Helsinki. The fame of this coming together of two
reborn pioneers has since reached near-mythical proportions –
some have even proclaimed it the first day of the new era of Finnish
experimental rock. For once, Circle and zeitgeist happened to
be speaking the same language; after their stray excursions into
dubby art noodling, Circle more or less returned to the same kind
of exalted and trascendental drone they had started with, but
with up-dated gusto! The audiences and possibly even the media
had matured during a decade of related phenomena: post-rock, stoner
rock, neo-psychedelia, and Julian Cope’s Krautrocksampler
were all helpful signposts for a confused listener.
The title of Circle’s tenth album ”Taantumus”
(which roughly translates as ”Regression”) refers, among
other things, to the fact that the band is still inspired by the
same excellently stoopid revolutionaries that MC5, Motörhead,
and Spacemen 3 were, i.e. transcendence can be reached through
rugged rock minimalism – why would you need three chords,
when the fascination of piledriving two, or even a single holy
chord can last for decades? JP
Saturday 10.11.2001 - Gloria
21:00-03:00 - Live at Avanto-Club
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