Lala Salama Conjure Bright Memories of Summer Adventures on the Effervescent Shoegaze Single “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään”

Lala Salama, photo courtesy the artists

Lala Salama’s latest single ahead of its anticipated debut album release is the “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään” (in English “The Sun Melts My Head”). The up tempo shoegaze ballad and its colorfully dramatic and fantastical video featuring animation and alternating images of the band performing live and frolicking while shape shifting into dogs, snakes, older versions of themselves and back while playing the song on a conventional stage and during a storm with lighting strikes all around (as projections and as effects directly on the musicians) has all the hallmarks of the kind of song destined for a celebratory action sequence in a film. The circular guitar solo and its fast strumming alongside Rosa Jules’ anthemic and emotionally charged vocals recall memories of summer adventures just in time for making more after what has felt like an extended winter. Effervescent and uplifting, “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään” is a song for fans of the irrepressible energy of bands like Blushing and Asobi Seksu. Watch the video for the song on YouTube and follow Lala Salama at the links provided.

Lala Salama on Facebook

Lala Salama on Instagram

Finnish Psychedelic Garage Punk Band Kaksipäinen Koira Debuts Lively Then Introspective Single “Kuolema voittaa aina”

Kaksipäinen Koira, photo by Maxie

Kaksipäinen Koira (in English, Two-Headed Dog) is a supergroup group Finland signed to All That Plazz that includes guitarist/singer Tero Huotari (Teksti-TV 666, HÄN and Kuusamo) and drummer/vocalist Aliisa Keränen (Bad Sauna, Lala Salama), “Kuolema voittaa aina” (“Death Always Wins”) with bassist/singer Otto Pekkola rounding out the live lineup. Its debut single “Kuolema voittaa aina” (“Death Always Wins” in English) is short (two minutes six seconds) but begins with a charging rhythm like a Reatards song inspired by Buzzcocks with a fuzzy melody and call and response vocals before shifting gears just over half way through to a more introspective and atmospheric feel with the previously urgent pace slowed to something more leisurely. The production is appropriately lo-fi but the range of sounds and in so economic a fashion points to promising material ahead for the new project. Listen to “Kuolema voittaa aina” on YouTube and connect with Kaksipäinen Koira, possibly a sly Roky Erickson reference, at the links below.

Kaksipäinen Koira on Bandcamp

Kaksipäinen Koira on Instagram

Lala Salama Imbue Its Shoegaze Single “Summer Love” With a Rush of Excitement and Emotional Intoxication Befitting the Title

Lala Salama, photo courtesy the artists

“Summer Love” from Helsinki-based band Lala Salama begins in a hazy reverie and then kicks into urgent, warping surges of guitar and ethereal vocals in a kind of interplay of the tranquil and the passionate. At times it’s reminiscent of The Flaming Lips’ “Race For The Prize” in its pacing and tonal palette but in terms of its dynamic twists and turns more akin to the likes of the avant-pop aspects of Asobi Seksu circa its 2006 album Citrus and more contemporaneously Blushing’s exquisite melodic whorls and uplifting rhythms. Listen to “Summer Love” on YouTube and connect with Lala Salama at the links below. Look out for Lala Salama’s album All That Plazz forthcoming in 2023.

Lala Salama on Facebook

Lala Salama on Instagram