Vuk
Experimental / Melodramatic Popular Song / Other
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"Pleasure is rebellion, my free will is a fist."
New York/Helsinki,
United States
Profile Views:
56884
Last Login:
11/18/2008
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http://www.myspace.com/vukmusic |
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| Vuk: General Info
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| Member Since | 2/21/2006 | | Band Members | CURRENT LIVE FORMATION (when not solo):
VUK (VOCALS, PUMP ORGAN)
LOUPINE (BACKING VOCALS, ELECTRIC HARMONIUM, PERCUSSION, ETC.)
JANNE LASTUMÄKI (DRUMS)
On "The Plains":
Singers: Vuk, Eevi Lappalainen, Johanna Tarkkanen, Ida Olsonen, Virva Immonen, Katri Onnela, Jani Marjoniemi, Mikko Raita, Kössi Salokorpi
Guitar: Riku Kuukka, Valtteri Pöyhönen
Bass: Jesse Valo
Drums: Tero Sundell
Saxophonones: Olli Piippo, Pentti Luomakangas
Trombone: Erno Haukkala
Trumpet: Eero Savela
English horn and oboe: Emma Voutilainen
Alto and tenor recorder: Eevi Lappalainen
Miscellaneous, obscure wood instruments and whistles: Julius Mauranen, Vuk
Vuk also plays harmonium, percussion, accordion, xylophone,
theremin, rhodes, hammond organ, kalimba, matches, kantele, "Jew's harp" and piano as well as additional
guitar, bass and drums on the album. | | Influences | Ok, hang in there:
Lucid dreams, Einstürzende Neubauten, Björk, PJ Harvey, Slavic, Balkan and Baltic folk and Romani music (especially Bulgarian vocal music and Romani brass band - for instance, Trio Bulgarka, Kocani Orkestar, Taraf de Haidouks, and an angelically gifted man I heard play in a squat, with whom I had no common language), Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/The Birthday Party, Carelian weeping songs, Blind Willie Johnson, Schubert, Serge Gainsbourg, Prokofjev, Puccini, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Diamanda Galás, Morricone, The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Bauhaus, Stravinsky, Andrei Tarkovsky, Mana Mana, Samuel Beckett, Russian Modernist literature, Russian Orthodox liturgy, Morphine, Rev. Gary Davis, Claude Debussy, Dälek, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian samba and forró, Ethiopian folk traditions, Henry Purcell, Dirty Projectors and Magyar Posse. Also, Monty Python and the photography of Josef Koudelka as well as Carl de Keyzer.
In other words, lots of people, numerous phenomena, and just about everything I've ever listened to. As long is it's Badass straight from the heart, or its opposite to the point of being interesting, I'm into it. The one thing I can't stand in music is watered-down compromises.
Latest: Oum Kalthoum, Farid El Atrache, Fairouz, M.I.A., Judy Garland, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Prince, Django Reinhardt, gamelan music, Clara Rockmore, France Gall and second-hand Balkan pop songs on Youtube, sung by children.
I swear, they all really matter!
| | Sounds Like | A chorus of charismatically endangered species. | | Record Label | Verdura Records, Johanna-kustannus | | Type of Label | Indie |
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Vuk's Latest Blog Entry
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November list
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Congratulations, USA!
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A conversation with some kids about violence in the movies
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Review for the Maj Karma cover EP in "Rumba"
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An Autumn List
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| [View All Blog Entries] |
| About Vuk |
"Imagine a fierier, less frilly Björk, PJ Harvey or Nico lancing every commercial impulse from her repertoire, and you'll have only vague insight into this woman's deep, emotional bouts with death-gospel drama, esoteric organ-and-harmonium requiems, percussive chants and unbridled, youthful whimsy. "
-Jordan Mamone, Dusted Magazine
"[Vuk performed] unprecedented wonders in a territory somewhere between that of PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Anette Peacock, a church organist on acid and ancient Bulgarian folksongs. [...] If justice prevails, Vuk will be the next sensation of [experimental] music. In truth, she already is."
-Jussi Niemi, Aamulehti
"The incredible tension sustained throughout [the Maj Karma cover EP] is a lot in itself, but the combination of this with Vuk's uncompromising interpretation makes her one of the most interesting artists in contemporary Finland."
-Jani Ekblom, desibeli.net
Hello, hello. I am Vuk. I'm a Finnish-American, former one-woman band who recently expanded into a small orchestra of several people. I move a lot between New York and Helsinki. Most recently, I've been performing solo with a pump organ, and also as a pump-organ-and-percussion duet with a wonderfully musical lady who goes by the very appropriate pseudonym of Loupine. Janne Lastumäki sometimes joins us on drums, too.
I draw from a wide range of influences, but I'd like to think that Vuk is more than a sum of its various sources. I've glided back and forth between deeper, murkier, experimentally musical tides, and the clearer waters of bluesily gurgling rivers. First and foremost, I seek to move and surprise my listeners. In the end, though, it's the pleasure one takes in the music that matters.
Just for the record: Let it be known that I want absolutely NOTHING to do with the mushy, vague, insipid, exploitative, bastardizing marketing term that is "World Music."
My as-of-yet unreleased, second album, called "The Plains," explores inner, fictional landscapes, gardens, carnivals, funerals and sub-marine territory, fueled by dreams, musings, memories and spaghetti Westerns. 20 people participated in the album over a period of 3 months of non-stop recording. All my respect and gratitude goes to them and their contribution.
My debut album, "Exile!," was released through Verdura Records in Finland, in 2003. (Go to the Verdura website to order.) I've also released an EP of cover songs this year through the Finnish label, Johanna kustannus. All the songs on it are by the heavy rock band, Maj Karma. It's only available in Finland for now, but if you keep asking me to pester Johanna kustannus, maybe we'll find a way to get it wider distribution...
Thank you for listening!
FOR BOOKING ETC.: Please contact me directly through Myspace or write to pajutar@hotmail.com.
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