★Svart
Ode to Marilyn
Black vinyl, 500 copies. This collection of experimental recordings was originally released on Scandia, one of Finland’s largest labels, which shows how open the mood of the mid-seventies was for new things, even in large-scale record companies. Ode to Marilyn, based on a group of recordings from 1973, is a sophisticated gem of experimental music. The recording sessions resulted in the material on the album, which is a coherent and balanced package and is a combination of avant-garde, improvisat…
Jazz Liisa 17
In January 1973 an impromptu supergroup took over the airwaves on the Jazz Liisa series. Saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, pianist Esa Helasvuo, join bassist Teppo Hauta-Aho and drummer Edward Vesala in a special one-of-a-kind show of contemporary, revolutionary jazz.
Jazz Liisa 18
The final part of the Jazz Liisa series sees the extraordinary cult percussion artist Edward Vesala lead a 9-piece ensemble. Recorded in 1974, shortly before the recording of his legendary Nan Madol album, this is a rare chance to hear Vesala live on air during his early creative period.
Wahoo!
A fiery, raw burst of fusion jazz played by a large group with incendiary energy, Eero Koivistoinen’s commanding saxophone controlling the chaos! Don't be put off by the long name, or the overuse of vowels in the title – because this album's a killer batch of free jazz, filled with loads of choppy sax riffs, sweet Fender Rhodes licks, and plenty of heavy drums. The record's got a hard fusion groove – and all the tracks are long instrumentals served up with plenty of power, and plenty of ferocity…
50th Erection I, Collected Works 1968 - 1971
CD version. Pekka Airaksinen is a legend of the European musical underground, and The Sperm was his first outfit. Active from 1967 to 1971, they challenged every possible norm society and the current musical climate had. Ungodly racket to some, psychedelic experience to others, The Sperm’s Shh! album and their EP 3rd Erection have become legendary collector’s items, far ahead of their time in terms of musical experimentation. Svart Records have joined forces with Pekka Airaksinen, whose archives…
Hot Lotta
CD Version. Limited, exclusive, extended reissue of Hot Lotta, one of the rarest items in Peter Brötzmann’s oeuvre. Hot Lotta was a special cultural event, the meeting of the brightest free jazz talent from Germany and Finland. Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald were joined by Edward Vesala and Juhani Aaltonen for the studio session that resulted in the album but also toured Finland and recorded a radio session. That radio session has now been unearthed and is presented as an added bonus in this o…
50th Erection, collected 1967-70
White vinyl, 200 copies. Pekka Airaksinen is a legend of the European musical underground, and The Sperm was his first outfit. Active from 1967 to 1971, they challenged every possible norm society and the current musical climate had. Ungodly racket to some, psychedelic experience to others, The Sperm’s Shh! album and their EP 3rd Erection have become legendary collector’s items, far ahead of their time in terms of musical experimentation. Svart Records have joined forces with Pekka Airaksinen, w…
The Front Is Breaking
More magic from the Finnish jazz scene from the 1970's, recorded originally for the Love label. Eero Koivistoinen 1976 album features great musicians such as Olli Ahvenlahti, Pekka Pohjola and others. Black vinyl edition with gatefold cover.
Labyrinth (2Lp+7
For this heavy duty reissue of Koivistoinen’s 1977 album we went back to the original multitrack tapes and discovered a heap of alternate takes that were left unmixed at the time. Koivistoinen selected the best and most interesting alternate versions of each track and a new, fresh mix was prepared specifically for this release. The first LP in this package is the original studio album (Love Records 1977), remastered for vinyl at Finnvox. The second LP contains the alternate takes, and there’s ev…
Based On A Novel
Svart Records is proud to reissue Olli Ahvenlahti’s first three LPs. This is his third and most difficult to find album, Based on a Novel. Olli Ahvenlahti’s first albums were issued by the independent company Love Records which then went bankrupt in 1979. Otto Donner, one of the founders of Love Records and the power behind the scenes of Bandstand and The Poet, decided to form a new recording company, Ponsi. The doors were once again open for Olli Ahvenlahti to enter the studio. Ponsi was, howev…
Veskunoita
Actor/singer/flautist Vesa-Matti Loiri's third album 'Veskunoita' (1973) delves deeper into the kind of vocal jazz-pop which he mastered on his second record, 'Vesku Suomesta', but with a more light-hearted approach. During the recordings Loiri was joined by a host of well known Finnish jazz and rock musicians. This is the first ever reissue of this title of which original copies are almost impossible to find.
Nykysuomalaista - Contemporary Finnish
It seems bizarre that this LP’s original copy was pressed in such low numbers in 1969 that it has become an unusually expensive and wanted collector’s item that hasn’t been repressed on vinyl (and never released on CD) until now. Soulset were, after all, in the late 1960s one of the most popular pop groups in Finland. Their recorded legacy is relatively short, and when this split LP was released, Soulset were already about to call it a day. Here Soulset perform five fine cuts of jazzy Fenno-soul…
Etiquette
Black vinyl, edition of 300. Svart Records presents the first vinyl reissue of the first solo album by Juhani Aaltonen, a rarity since its original release in 1974 on Love Records. Saxophonist and flautist Juhani “Junnu” Aaltonen is a living legend among Finnish jazz musicians, having also performed stints with rock groups such as Tasavallan Presidentti. Encouraged by the ubiquitous Edward Vesala, with whom Aaltonen recorded several albums over the years, he ended up in the recording studio as …
The Poet
Olli Ahvenlahti's a poet on the keys – one of the most soulful players in the 70s Finland scene, heard here on one of his greatest albums ever! The record's got a glowing grace that's really wonderful – part CTI-inspired electric fusion, without as much jamming as other European work of the time – but also an album of rounder, warmer tones – recorded with a slightly larger lineup that includes Eero Koivistoinen on tenor sax, and lots of great percussion at the bottom! Tunes have a subdued approa…
3rd Version
3rd Version is Eero Koivistoinen's seventh album and finds him in the company of other excellent Finnish musicians: pianist Heikki Sarmanto, guitarist Jukka Tolonen, bassist Pekka Sarmanto and drummer Reino Laine, plus American drummer Craig Herndon. Except for Tolonen, who is mostly associated with jazz-rock fusion due to his membership in the legendary Finnish bands Tasavallan Presidentti and Wigwam, the rest of the players are all pillars of the Finnish modern jazz scene and all are vi…
Valtakunta
350 copies on clear viny, 8-page, 30 x 30 cm size booklet, with Finnish and English biography and Liner Notes (by Juha Henriksson), and with CreditsThe master of Finnish jazz and all-around composer Eero Koivistoinen turns 70 on January 13th. Svart Records celebrates the occasion by reissuing his first ever album, Valtakunta, on vinyl. Originally released on Otavan Kirjalliset Äänilevyt (a book publisher) in 1967, the album has since then only seen a very limited CD reissue in the 90s, and has b…
Eteenpäin! Vorwärts!Forward!Antauen! 1966-70
A 6xLP box comprising the entire discography of Eteenpäin! Records, the first Finnish record label and also the first to release music from outside the mainstream, including experimental and totally weird styles. Includes tracks by legendary artistst such as Sperm, M.A. Numminen, J.O. Mallander, Rauli Somerjoki, Markus Allan, Pepe Willberg, Tommi Parko, Baby Grandmothers, Nalle Puh Big Band and many others.
The classic Eteenpäin! Period consists of only 14 seven inch records (one of them in…