Teksti-TV 666 – Aidattu Tulevaisuus
First things first, Teksti-TV 666 hail from Finland. Their songs are sung in Finnish and Aidattu Tulevaisuus is their debut album, which follows on from a series of successful EPs released back in their native country over the past few years.
Their sound sits somewhere between shoegaze, goth, post-punk and Iggy Pop. If you like any of the above, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re going to love Teksti-TV 666. It’s the sound of my teenage angst, which present-day bands just don’t seem to play anymore. In fact, practically nobody in the music industry appears to be angry anymore; bands have nothing much to say except, perhaps, slight resentment that their girlfriend has got up and left. No wonder!! Anyway, maybe more of that another time. What Teksti-TV 666 bring to the party is a whole load of angst, which is a very good thing indeed. For starters, they’re armed with four guitars – not in a heavy metal kind of way, you understand – but more of a chiming, distorted, shoegazey way.
‘Turbo-Mondeo’ kicks things off with a twisted, howling, distorted guitar. Straightaway I’m thinking that this record would fit nicely amongst the Club AC30 stable – think PinkShinyUltraBlast or Flyying Colours. The track builds and spirals in a way that the original shoegaze bands of the eighties arguably never did. It’s certainly heavier, but the band also keeps a very close eye on the melodies in both the vocals and guitar departments. Similarly, the title-track throbs its way through a series of power chords with a melody that kind of lingers in your mind long after the track’s finished.
Elsewhere, ‘Rauhankone’ is slower and heavier still – before it morphs into something altogether different a couple of minutes in. There’s even a guitar riff featured that reminds me briefly of The Stone Roses (though the track is about as far away as you could get from Madchester). Lyrically, I have no idea what the song’s about, but if I had to guess, then I suspect they’re pretty angry about something. Perhaps everything.
The intro to ‘Serverny’ will have you checking that you’re still listening to the same album; it’s absolutely bonkers. It’s only a brief respite, however, as it quickly launches into a Stooges-style drone. If The Sisters Of Mercy were to cover ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, then it would maybe sound like this.
‘Katko’ is a ten-minute killer track that starts at a pretty relentless pace and never really pauses for breath. It’s wild, over-the-top escapism which conjures up images of crowd surfing at a music festival. Ambitious? certainly. Thrilling? definitely.
This is exciting, uncompromising, challenging music which deserves to be listening to.
~Aidattu Tulevaisuus is released on September 7th 2018.~