Sunday, March 23, 2008

Hassisen Kone-Harsoinen teräs,LP,1982,Finnland

Inspired by Eppu Normaali's Maximum jee & jee, in late 1979 Ismo Alanko decided to set up a new band to make Finnish language punk rock. Returning home to Joensuu from Stockholm where he had been working, he contacted old band mates Reijo Heiskanen and Harri Kinnunen. With the addition of Harri's little brother Jussi Kinnunen on bass, Hassisen Kone's lineup was complete.
The boys landed a record deal on the small Hilse label on the strength of an early demo and caught a further break when they won the new wave category in a national competition for pop bands. Their first single, "Hassisen Kone/Kolumpia orkesteri", followed in April 1980 and their debut album Täältä tullaan Venäjä went gold by the end of the year.
In 1981 Hassisen Kone released their second album Rumat sävelet and took part in the famous Tuuliajolla tour with luminaries Eppu Normaali and Juice Leskinen. In the winter of 1981-1982 the band saw several lineup changes. First their ranks expanded when Safka Pekkonen, Antti Seppo, and Hannu Porkka join. Then Reijo Heiskanen resigned before a big tour and Jukka Orma filled in.
The making of Hassisen Kone's third and last album proved to be a difficult process after the changes in the band. Harsoinen teräs was released in the spring of 1982, but the end was nigh. The band played their last gig on August 1st, 1982 (till a brief reunion two decades later).
RYM biography
Great Finnish post punk,synth driven in the great tradition of UK bands of the same genre.Some dub influences here and there reminds me much ,Monochrome Set,a bit of Spherical Objects (minus the voice),Theatre of hate (especially when sax is used)and even Black Albul -era Damned.This is their final LP and possibly their best,and for sure one of the best in the 80s Finnish post punk scene.

Note: link removed as it was brought to our attention that this is still in print.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 25, 2008 at 9:49 PM

    Hi mutantsounds,
    I am wondering whether you are going to post the Rolf Schulz album I uploaded for your blog nearly 2 weeks ago? It was a big hassle for me and I've been checking every day to see if you've done anything with it, and nothing has been done. I hope I didn't upload it for nothing - I don't know how long sharebee will keep the file seeing as there would have been no downloads of it yet.
    Link is in the Tommi Stumpff comments, in case you forgot where we were discussing it.
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  2. mutantsoundsMarch 26, 2008 at 6:07 AM

    Hey Chris
    OF course i will post it,this will happen in the next 2 days,don't worry

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 26, 2008 at 3:43 PM

    I checked out the album that is being discussed here. It is ok, but nothing to get all bent out of shape about.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMarch 30, 2008 at 6:13 AM

    Heh, Hassisen Kone are one of the most famous bands of Finnish rock music with several hit singles that everyone under 40 knows... Funny to see them discussed in this context of ultra-obscure post-punk. Good band, great album. Take my word, the lyrics are a marvellous expression of urban anxiety and existential pain!

    - ToniK
    Kouvola, Finland

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMarch 30, 2008 at 8:43 PM

    Hello:

    I wonder - could you perhaps re-upload George Jinda - Wheel of Love, which you posted a while back; the link is now dead.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 1, 2008 at 5:48 PM

    Hi mutantsounds,
    should I give the link to some other blog? Surely the files will be deleted soon due to no downloads.
    regards
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 13, 2010 at 7:08 AM

    This is a classic record, and still very much in print:

    http://www.recordshopx.com/artist/hassisen_kone/harsoinen_teras/

    Btw, in some of your posts, you spell "Finland" with two n's, so when one searches the blog for "Finland" those other wonderful posts don't come up. I eventually figured it out and started searching for "finnish" as well.

    Cheers,

    ReplyDelete