CIRCLE!

above: circle live in various locations across europe. photos by michael gallagher.

i don't remember when exactly i picked up the album "raunio" by the finnish band circle, but it was a very important discovery for me, and proved to be the first of many circle albums to be added to my collection there after. seldom have i come across any of their recorded work that i have found to be less than great despite the massive amount of releases they've issued over the years, and the vast number of styles encompassed therein. while it seems they have managed to develop a rather rabid following, it still seems disproportionally small considering what a truly tremendous band they are, thus my feeble attempt here to point some more people in their direction. they have done records with a wide array of labels over the years, but the bulk of their output has been released by their own ektro records label, a fantastic entity in its own right. if i had to narrow it down to a few favorite releases i would say "forest", "katapault", "prospekt", and "tulikoira" are up there and showcase the band in many of its various stylistic forms (which include but are not limited to power/thrash metal, krautrock, psychedelic rock, hypnotic folk, etc). i recently had the pleasure of seeing circle live when they toured together with isis, and it increased my appreciation of their music significantly (even though i was already an avid follower). i don't usually describe musical experiences as "life changing", but i would say that that having the pleasure of seeing circle a number of times over the course of 2 weeks certainly qualifies in that regard.

on a related note isis had the great fortune of having mika, vocalist of circle, join us on stage on the last stop of the tour in berlin. while the video is of less than stellar quality, you can view it here.

thanks circle!