" There's the astonishing Rinneradio,
a hard-edged techno band led by a cool jazz sax player. That might look nightmarish
on paper, but the reality is spiralling, mesmerising which induces dance-floor
dementia in some and tranced-out tranquillity in others". (Melody Maker)
RinneRadio fuses electronic underground beats with progressive jazz. As the
rhythms of drum'n'bass and hip hop are fermented with dark dub, lush ambient
soundscapes and timeless soprano sax textures, the resulting brew becomes
equal parts sexy trance jazz and surreal dance music.
The offspring of reedsman/composer Tapani Rinne's brainstorming and composer/drummer
Edward Vesala's encouraging, RinneRadio came into being in 1988 as three years
of participation in the latter's groundbreaking Sound & Fury workshops
in Helsinki encouraged Rinne to step to the fore as a bandleader.
The debut disc 'RinneRadio' consists of compositions by both Rinne and Vesala,
and remains the most acoustic entry in the group's logs.
All in all, 1988 was a most important year in Finnish avantgarde jazz: Vesala
was busily recording the future classic 'Lumi', and aside from Rinne, another
Sound & Fury alumnus - guitarist/composer Raoul Björkenheim - made
his first mark as a bandleader. His group was called Krakatau , and the debut
album 'Ritual'. Rinne and Björkenheim shime not only on 'Lumi', but also
as guests on each other's albums.
Named in the polemic style of such milestones as 'The Shape of Jazz to Come'
or 'This Is Our Music', RinneRadio's sophomore effort came out in 1990 under
the proud monicker of 'Dance and Visions'. These ten tracks laid the bedrock
of the mèlange of jazz combined with various styles of electronica
from ambient techno to drum & bass.
Rinne presented a 12-strong team of respected Finnish musicians,
among the ranks of whom one could find local synth wizard Tommi Lindell and
Sami yoiker Wimme Saari.
'Dance and Visions' also marked the beginning of the collaboration between
Rinne and Jari Kokkonen, which continued to the very end of 2001 both in RinneRadio
and in Wimme's group. All but one of the bold compositions are Rinne originals;
the one being a collaborative effort between him and Wimme.
The RinneRadio camp was rocked by several earthquakes in 1992: Tapani founded
Aani Records and pocketed the acclaimed Georgie Award (aka the trophy for
"the Jazz Musician of the Year") as awarded by the Finnish Jazz
Federation.
On the more musical side of things, 'Joik' was released. This disc is the
first RinneRadio appearance of Kimmo Kajasto, the sample stylist who was to
remain a most integral part of the team's sound until 1997.
The next release, the cd EP 'DiorInNera', kickstarted
a RinneRadio tradition of releasing original non-album material in another,
more accessible, format.
RinneRadio's fourth full-length offering, 'Unik' was released in 1994. The
group's underground following was growing at an almost exponential pace and
its trance-like concerts were suddenly not-to-be-missed events for those involved
in the techno and rave scenes.
A postmodern psychedelic venture, 'Unik' was received very favourably in the
media and went on to be awarded with the Jazz-Emma (aka the Finnish equivalent
of the Jazz Grammy).
Hot on the heels of RinneRadio's recent visits to countries such as Belgium
, Spain and Estonia , they were now invited to perform in Sweden , Denmark
, Germany , and Japan .
The next cd EP, 'Joulu', was a poignant reminder of the stylistic range of
the group: These thoroughly Scandinavian readings of Christmas carol favourites
proved that RinneRadio was once again ahead of its time in predicting the
current trend of hymns interpreted with a jazzy overtone.
At the time of their fifth full-length offering 'RoK'
(1996), Tapani Rinne, Jari Kokkonen and Kimmo Kajasto had invented a new musical
style which would have its larger global impact a good ten years later.
Whereas the laidback tones of acid jazz were all the
rage on the Old Continent, RinneRadio brewed a delicious and dangerous cocktail
mainly from jazz, hip hop and drum & bass.
Manifested in trailblazing pieces such as 'Aromaa Alt Too' and 'A Lot of Interference',
RinneRadio had managed to carve a totally novel niche from Finnish jazz, Northern
shamanism and various techno-related dance styles prevalent at the time especially
in the UK.
1996 concerts at MIDEM in France combined with the groups first ever performances
in the USA and Canada laid the bedrock for the upcoming international underground
success.
The team's flirtations with the electronica scene were celebrated in 1997
in the form of 'pfft', an EP culled from a 1995 live session where Pan Sonic's
inimitable Mika Vainio (aka Ø) interpreted a RinneRadio concert in
real time according to his own minimalist sense of aesthetics: While the group
performed a regular show in a regular concert hall, the members of the audience
were able to walk into an adjoining room and experience the music as a simultaneous
Vainio live remix.
By replacing sample wizard Kimmo Kajasto with a drum & bass DJ while beginning
work on their sixth album, RinneRadio were once again willing to recalibrate
the meters by which all innovative makers of music are measured.
In the manner of most techno events, the "warm-up" and "chill-out"
sections mastered by such Finnish DJ's as Orkidea, Slow and Bunuel had been
a part of the RinneRadio show for some five years already, but 'G' introduced
DJ Ken-One (aka Jean Johansson) as a fully fledged member of the collective.
The album was also rewarded for its cover art by the
prestigious "Vuoden huiput" ("The Best of the Year") –panel
consisting of members of the Association of Professional Graphic Designers
in Finland .
This 1998 release was the culmination of hard live work. New areas bombarded
with the RinneRadio sound during 1997 and 1998 include Russia and Estonia
.
An especially noteworthy event was the July 1997 show at the Knitting Factory.
The music was sent live via ISDN cables to the Pori Jazz festival, where DJ
Spooky interpreted the sounds in his own way to a Finnish audience.
On the release front, a separate mention must be given to the EP 'Osaka/Walk/Auto',
whose title track is an absolute gem not available on any album. The other
single release from ‘G' was ‘juju'.
RinneRadio decided to celebrate its ten years of existence in 1998 by commissioning
a set of remixes from a variety of Finnish dance and rhythm music artists.
Released in 1999, 'B' represents every album in the group's oeuvre and is
packed with wild readings from the likes of Op:l Bastards, JS16 and Jori Hulkkonen.
For the live environment, the group underlined its visuality by constructing
a special concert, during which they performed mostly improvised music as
Luc Besson's film ‘Atlantis' was shown. The special guest for these shows
was pianist/harpist Iro Haarla. Collaboratory concerts were also performed
with The Nits and Edward Vesala.
Utilizing outside producers (mainly Jori Hulkkonen
and Veikka Erkola — of Brothomstates fame) for the first time in the group's
history, RinneRadio shed its skin in 2001 with the lauded 'Nao', a multicoloured
album which also managed to spend a few weeks in the Finnish Top 40. After
‘Nao' Tapani Rinne worked on the ‘Finndisc' project with Slowhill, a studio
duo formed together with DJ Slow (Pepe Deluxé). The CD was released
on EMI/BlueNote in 2002. Late in 2002 also Tapani's second solo album ‘Nectic'
was released.
The Phoenix-like rejuvenation saw yet another change in the line-up of RinneRadio
as DJ Ken-One made way for Zarkus Poussa, a fearless percussionist formerly
of local dubrock heroes Giant Robot. Zarkus was later replaced by Abdissa
“Mamba” Assefa (known from Nu Spirit Helsinki and Kimmo Pohjonen Kalmuk).
In 2002 the current line-up started to take shape. Verneri Lumi (keyboards,
samplers) and Juuso (percussion; still also a member of Don Johnson Big Band)
became Tapani's new cohorts.
In March 2003 RinneRadio finally releases a new cd
‘Lumix'. RinneRadio's new video Airo wins the MTV3 Levyraati (THE Finnish
Jukebox and Video Jury) on 28.9.2003 with record breaking 39 points out of
40! Only one of the jury members gave Airo a nine instead of full ten! Airo
video was directed by P.V. Lehtinen.
In October ‘Lumix' gets a four star review in Dutch magazine Aloha (#7):
Adventurous Finns
Hardly known in the Netherlands, but a very esteemed stage guest in other
Western European countries is the Finnish band RinneRadio, founded in 1988
by sax player Tapani Rinne. Operating on the border of jazz and electronic
music, the group built an impressive catalogue.
With their album ‘Rok' (1996) they were one of the predecessors of the lounge-sound
and recently the group played with The Nits. In short, RinneRadio is one of
the pillars of the interesting electronic jazz-scene in Scandinavia .
Their ninth album, after a stormy period finished in a new line-up, presents
the more accessible as well as the experimental side of the group: from beat
driven atmospheric tracks to etherical film music, displaying an unearthly,
fairytale-like feeling thanks to Rinne's bass clarinet. `Lumix´ is a
rich and timeless album, and RinneRadio deserves a place on North Sea Jazz.
Reviewer: Alfred Bos
In 2004 band releases album "Pan". It is made a bit different than the last records, more like a live-studio recording featuring some guests, i.e. Siiri Nordin, Teho Majamäki, Pekka Kuusisto.
Following several high profile live gigs in 2005, including London Barbican Center with Herbie Hancock, NorthSea Jazz festival in Holland and Spitz Club at London Jazz Festival as well as performing at the Midem opening night show in Cannes in January 2006, Finland's leading electronica act RinneRadio release follow up to the acclaimed 2004 album “Pan”.
Band leader Tapani Rinne replaces
soprano sax with various clarinets on the new CD, which is the first studio
production by the current line-up that also features Verneri Lumi a.k.a Tuomas
Norvio on electronics and Juuso Hannukainen on acoustic and electric percussion.
Regular RinneRadio guest, violin player Pekka Kuusisto brings in his whole
string quintet and Don Johnson Big Band rapper Tommy Lindgren is featured
on one track.
On the new DualDisc album “+” the band explores new paths, taking the music
towards experimental, even industrial sounds. Engineer Hiili Hiilesmaa, who
is famous for his studio work with metal bands like HIM, is partly responsible
for the more aggressive sound on tracks like “Krump”. RinneRadio's signature
smooth nu-jazz grooves are still evident on tracks “Mel” and “Sella The Dog”.
A limited first edition of “+” is released as DualDisc. The DVD side features
30 minutes of the band's 2004 outdoor show at Leigo Lake Festival as well
as a bonus track, picture extras and tools & files for remixes.
RinneRadio “+” will be available in the UK on March 20 via Proper Distribution.
In Finland album was released 8th of February, and in Germany , Austria and
Switzerland album will be out late March.
Petri Silas, Tampere // 3rd December 2001
updated by Tapio Korjus October 2003, TN 2006
Rockadillo Records / Mr. Tapio Korjus
Ilmarinkatu 12 A 2,
33500 Tampere, Finland
www.rockadillo.fi
Tel: INT +358-3-213 1260
Fax: INT+358-3-213 1297
records@rockadillo.fi