daylies music: Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Eero Johannes – Self-titled (Planet Mu/Inertia)

Posted: 08 Mar 2009 01:29 AM PST

In a sense Eero Johannes self titled album is a stepping outside the bounds of the Finnish/Swedish Skwee (Scandinavian conflict RnB) scene onto the broader world stage. If Skwee indeed is likely to be seen as a contender for a world massive sensibility in as much as dubstep has become a contender. Conversely Skwee could be read as interpretations and configurations of funk, RnB, electro, italo house, Miami bass… Like any compulsive musical synthetic event eschewing singular form it seeks a singular identity through the act of incorporation; note the paradox of identity within a massive, if this conundrum has not already slayed you.

However specifically in regards to the Eero Johannes album it is a clear crisp reworking of many of these genres with a large nod to Electro and Italo. At moments there are musical references from Kraftwerk to Afrika Bambaata while undercutting the form with a playfulness absent from both. Then into computer gamer sound palate references, turntabilist references, acid house motifs, soul melodic touches, simple and kooky rhythms and warm synth backwashes. Generally his form is so pristine and captures the sense of dance floor action that the very notion of homage to style is a misnomer, it becomes more of a sense of the formal setting and it’s tradition. It has a great deal of humor and playfulness injected into the album along with highly developed production technique. To an ear that has passed through the domains of sounds referenced Eero Johannes performs akin to stream lined electro-funker at the disco/video game arcade.

Innerversity Sound