Sigur Ros, The Mummers, Radiohead, The Wedding Present, Bon Iver, The Dirty Projectors, Amy Winehouse, Thao Nguyen, Simone White, The Editors, Interpol, Joanna Newsom, Sonic Youth, Curve, 22-Pistepirkko, The Sundays, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Blur, The Fleetfoxes, The Stone Roses, Ride, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Pixies, John Frusciante and Flea, the edge...
Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Danny Gatton, Jim Campilongo... and all those jazz and blues greats, of course!
The Kinks, The Searchers, The Beatles...
Danny Elfman, Johnny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood, Bodysong), Jon Brion (Punch Drunk Love), Michael Andrews...
Nigel Godrich, Daniel Lanois, George Martin, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson...
Béla Bartók (Concerto For Orchestra), Bernard Herrmann (The Film Scores conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen), Gorecki's 3rd, Sibelius' 2nd, Penderecki...
some essential live shows over the years:
*Radiohead at LLC, Manchester
*Thao Nguyen w the Get Down Stay Downs at Monto Water Rats, London
*Bon Iver opening for Jens Lekman at the Scala, London
*Dirty Projectors in Dynamo, Turku, Finland and Kentish Town,London
*Shapes and Sizes & The Forms in The Cake Shop, NYC
*Sonic Youth in Shanghai, China
Joanna Newsom in Helsinki, Finland
*Mew in Helsinki, Finland
*Ryan Adams in Helsinki, Finland
*Russian string quartet busking in the Helsinki train station
*Chinese traditional music group busking in Covent Garden, London
*Janes Addiction in Paradiso, Holland
*Ride, Daisy Chainsaw, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Cranes, Buffalo Tom, The Lemonheads and other bands that passed through The Paard in The Hague 1989-91.
*Asia at the Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Wong Kar Wai, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Gus van Sant, Roy Andersson, Aki Kaurismaki, Bela Tarr, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson, Andrej Tarkovsky, Park Chan-Wook, Loony Tunes, The Muppet Show...
Complicite: Mnemonic, A Disappearing Number; Shockheaded Peter w/ The Tiger Lilies; Teater Mars, Cesaris
Raymond Carver, Miranda July, Catharina Gripenberg, Chuck Palahniuk, Anders Larsson, Bo Carpelan, Mark Curlansky, Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggars
Vilhelm Hammershoi, Helene Scherfbeck, Japanese woodblock prints
Sounds Like
...the music I love, the specific instrument I am holding, and whoever I am playing with.
I play basses and guitars for Lettie (we have gigged extensively the past year, and are currently recording her 3rd album with Mike Mason), provide electric double bass live in the UK for Erin Lang, contribute guitars, basses and sitar etc. to Anne Nikitin's TV scores (including Banged Up Abroad, National Geographic's Journey To The Edge Of The Universe and BBC documentaries), and am currently recording/mixing/playing bass and slide guitar on Emil Brynge's 4th EP - have a listen to 'Bee Song' demo on his MySpace.
I teach guitar and bass in North London - "I can teach you your favourite indie/pop/rock song" is my selling blurb and method. I've taught myself to play through learning to play my favourite music, which is what I try to pass on to my students.
I was born in Finland but have lived much of my life abroad: in Japan, Holland, the UK and China. back in the day I almost started studying classical guitar at the Rotterdam Conservatory, but opted for theatre and film studies in the uk, which led to drama school in helsinki, which led to an acting career with 28 productions/800+ shows (1997-2007) and feature film work, directing, and short film and TV work (see below). I moved to London in the spring of 2008.
Here's a TV item I worked on while in Shanghai (on and off 2006-08) - The Umbrella Repair Man, a Pain In The Reel Production for Neon/The Finnish Broadcasting Company. More TV items and short films on youtube.
Hope all is well with you. Thought I'd drop by and let you know I have recently uploaded a new acoustic demo called Scream And Shout. Hope you like it. Have a listen anyway, see what you think....
Hi Oskar, Listening to Top of the Alphabet this morning with my son Oskar. It's beautiful. I have been attempting to learn how to play guitar in the mornings. I took a break and happened on your great piece. Best, David Baron & Oskar
These are really great tracks! Looking forward to seeing you play with Lettie at Second Sunday! Also, I'm planning to make the Emil Brynge gig at the Half Moon next week, so probably see you there!
