Pog-O-Matic Pogomen 3000000 – Freakdance

Jere Hakkinen, aka Luomuhappo, is 22 years old, this music is mental, there’s only 700 copies produced in this limited-edition run, and this music is mental. Again. Greatest Of Blessings has a morphing BPM and is best described as synth pop meets acoustic dub, with plenty of twist. Vonka is a 150bpm acidic assault, very in keeping with the fast-paced mentalness of proper funland saunatrance. There’s more key changes than the new band aid record, there’s more paranoia than a conspiracy convention, and there’s more imagination than a legion of psyreviewers coming up with daft epithets (none nearly as apt as Freakdance’s own description of this, “The Prodigy vs. Finnish Schizo-disco on a nearly lethal dose of mushrooms,” which is actually the description of Sossumassi Jam that I’ll use. Dixie Bitch is a twisting, spaghetti junction baffler that deploys legions of 303’s, some funny pipes, and just about every synth sound Jere could get his paws on, and Luuloterve is the greatest post-Donna Summer manic disco track ever recorded. Linnahomo is a cartoony acidised laugh-laden romp through the forest – bloody excellent. Nainen is simply awesome, it’s breakbeat-bordering-jungle, and driven by an acoustic guitar it’s simply a staggering piece of electronic music. Very, very impressive indeed. Ghetto-Zen Dub is sort of space reggae through a Casio blender, and very delightful it is as well, and Rauhaa Veljet can only be described as Funland experimentalism transplanted to a Japanese Zen garden. Haapaneitty proves that Jere’s also a dab hand at conventional tribal-tunnel chillout, while Line Out is a bizarre slice of post-pop agit-cheddar that rounds the album off wonderfully. All in all, a staggering release – and with the half-dancefloor, half-chillout makeup this album’s got some life in it. But get in there quick – these 700 will sell out, and Freakdance releases have changed hands for daft money on ebay: rightfully so.