Fonal Records signees Olimpia Splendid is explained to be "about endless loops, hypnotic bass and sort-of-tune guitar noise, whispering, unruliness, skrikes". The trio was founded in the summer of 2010 in Helsinki and is formed by visual artists and musicians Heta Bilaletdin, Jonna Karanka and Katri Sipiläinen, known from acts like Toblerones, Melmac, Bir iki, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Hockey Night, MYTTYS and Kuupuu. Fonal Records released their 7” ep in 2013 which was followed by a full-length debut in July 2015. Olimpia Splendid returned in 2022 with new two-track ep "Nicotinella".

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Helsinki-based ensemble Tölöläb's music combines woodwinds, electronics and free improvisation. Its members’ primary background is in classical music but its methods and influences come from a wide range of genres, ranging from western medieval music to EDM or hardcore noise. Collaborators of Tölöläb have equally varied backgrounds. Tölöläb’s natural habitat includes concert halls and churches as well as clubs, festivals, restaurants, abandoned lighthouses and trams. Tölöläb has collaborated with some of the biggest names in Finnish jazz and hiphop as well as orchestras such as Tapiola Sinfonietta.

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Founded in 1988, RinneRadio is a pioneer in Finnish electronic jazz. Operating on the boundaries of jazz and electronic music, RinneRadio fused jazz into ambient music and techno years before it became a worldwide trend and added hints of world music into it. The biography on the band's website provides the following description of the music they produce: "As the drum'n'bass and techno rhythms are fermented with dark dub, lush ambient soundscapes and timeless saxophone and bass clarinet textures, the resulting brew becomes equally sexy trance jazz and surreal dance music."

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Läjä Äijälä's (Terveet Kädet, Lapin Helvetti) and Albert Witchfinder's (Spiritus Mortis, Reverend Bizarre – see out New Rock and Metal from Finland playlist for all these band references!) music relies on minimalistic approach and blends Witchfinder’s mysterious and even raw vocals with the ominous backgrounds created by Äijälä. They released an album “Centuries of Youth” in fall 2021.

Onségen Ensemble is a group of musicians from northern Finland. Being faithful to its own purpose, the spiritual home of Onségen keeps its doors open for everyone to enter. The music is promised to take the listener to a “mystical trip with excursions into wonderfully cinematic and flamboyant landscapes”. Onségen Ensemble’s fourth album “Realms” was released in 2022.

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Marja Ahti is a frequent collaborator of the Kemialliset Ystävät musical collective and one half of the electro-acoustic duo Ahti & Ahti. Ahti creates vivid, imaginative compositions of sound and rhythm using electronics and treated samples of recorded acoustic instruments, objects, voices, feedback, and environmental sounds.

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Sasu Ripatti, also known as Vladislav Delay, now sporting the new "Ripatti Deluxe" moniker, presents his very own abstract take on early rave and happy hardcore. "Speed Demon" marks the first release on Ripatti's newly launched label "Rajaton".

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Ismo Alanko, Kimmo Pohjonen and Tuomas Norvio have teamed up for a new project, Pohjonen Alanko. The core of their music is vocal improvisation and electronic adventures. The sounds, melodies and rhythms conceived in a free form state are developed into powerful visual imaginations and creative compositions. Various sounds emanating from the human body, hypnotic vibrations and lyrical melodies meet modern technology.

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Mirror Ghost is the alter ego and creative playground of Finnish musician Teemu Into. In 2021 he released Syrup Hill, an album of meditative ambient that echoed early synthesizer music, new age and Japanese environmental music. With the modular synth as his main tool, accompanied by tape loops, field recordings and traditional instruments, Mirror Ghost spawns melancholy harmonies and celestial melodies that evoke feelings of comfort and hope.

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Sami "Albert Witchfinder" Hynninen has joined forces with Finnish hip hop maverick Olli Hänninen. Together they create alternative rhythm music unlike anything that has existed before. Their music stretches from experimental drones through jazz and marching music to bona fide synth pop.

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Mysterious alternative world music group IANAI’s music is imbued with flavors from indigenous musical cultures around the globe and clothed in darkly hued indie moods. As the album progresses, listeners transcend through the instrumentation of Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, Middle East and South America. From celestial harmonies to earthly delights, IANAI’s music is a reflection of both the worldly and otherworldly.

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The Helsinki based producer AHO found by composer Matias Ahopelto, blends ambient textures with vivid compositions. His first full length album Nowinter Nosummer was released in 2020 by PME Records. On the debut albums the simmering electronics are faced with organic instruments creating a unique soundscape.

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On Project Vainiolla's album "Waves of Inner Peace", reel-to-reel recorders released composer Kalle Vainio to create an hour-long audiovisual artwork. In the composition one can hear e.g. string orchestra, Buchla 200e and Serge modular synthesizer, prepared piano and five-string kantele. Every recorded sound has passed through an analog tape such as reel to reel, elcaset or cassette recorders. Instruments on the record are prepared piano, modular synthesizer, string orchestra and 5-string kantele.

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Helsinki based composer and producer Mari Sainio works in domestic and international concert, theater and film projects. In 2017, Sainio released her debut solo EP ”Tales”, which was followed by her full length debut "Minus 25" (2018) and sophomore album "Archipelago Stories" in 2022. In her music, Sainio combines elements of classical music with cinematic melodies, electronic sounds and post-rock textures.

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Woodwinds specialist Tapani Rinne and percussionist Teho Majamäki's duo project harks back to 2011. Space and the sound of it have been the cornerstones of the duo's music since the beginning. Their two forst albums contain meditative music recorded in acoustically interesting and atmospheric locations – temples and caves in India, as well as deep inside the country in the railway tunnels of the Helsinki metropolitan area. With their 3rd album "On the Border", the musicians wanted to keep outside factors to a minimum and record compositions in controlled studio conditions.

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Elia Lombardini (Elias Riipinen) is a finnish-italian composer, producer and violinist. His music fluctuates between classical and electronic music, cathartic harmony and atonal breakdowns. The Helsinki based artists music has drawn comparisons to works by other contemporary composers such as Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Elia has previously played with esteemed Finnish groups such as The Holy, Karina and Ruusut. Elia Lombardini’s debut album "In Death and the Hunger for a Thousand Lives" was released in spring 2022.

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Laura Naukkarinen’s songs are imbued with a cinematic breadth of vision and her idiosyncratic, finely honed soundworld builds on fragile, spectral otherness. In her concerts you can feel the time stop while she shares small stories with the audience, accompanied by a guitar, synths, small toy instruments and a sea of effects. Lau Nau’s fifth album Poseidon was released in November 2017. It is a heart breaking, beautiful, crooked orchestral album that is created with her co-players Matti Bye, Helena Espvall, Samuli Kosminen, Pekko Käppi and Antti Tolvi. 

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With his countless music projects – including his current band K-X-P, Timo Kaukolampi has been an influential artist in the Finnish music scene since the late 1980s. With his solo music he has managed to reinvent himself as a musician and is now finally getting the recognition he deserves. Expect: pulsating synths and distant beats, cosmic disco, techno and dense cinematic ambience.

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TRAINS describes their own music as "dramatic ambience". Consisting of Stina Koistinen, Ilkka Tolonen and Ville MJ Hyvönen, the trio of musicians uses human voice, instruments and machines as their tools. Trains put out their first three releases, their self-titled limited edition cassette and the albums "Simple Beings" and "III" between 2021 and 2022.

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Formed in 2009, defunensemble has established ifself as one of the most important contemporary music groups in Finland. The ensemble’s vigorous mission is to systematically delve into the world of electroacoustic music. Defunensemble gives Finnish premieres of the most essential electroacoustic repertoire both classic and current, while simultaneuosly actively commissioning new works incorporating the latest technologies. With artistic director Sami Klemola the ensemble’s concert concepts have proven to be highly innovative, blending different sub-genres of the electroacoustic persuasion with an unprecedented street credibility—any dusty notions of classical music are soon forgotten. A serious professional undertaking, the musicians and sound designers of defunensemble are some of the most active personalities in the Finnish contemporary music scene.

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Jori larres is a musician, composer and a producer based in Helsinki. His music creates layered cinematic soundscapes with experimental twist. Drawing inspiration from the speculative futures, his latest album “Intervals” was released in 2022.

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Jussi Lehtisalo, known as the founder of a rock act Circle, is a bassist and vocalist based in the city of Pori. His music has been described as a mixture of different moods and as organic blurring of styles. Lehtisalo's latest single "Supertaktiikkaa" released in 2022 tells a story about a nostalgic Finnish board game known as "Kimble".

Aleksi Myllykoski is a Finnish producer, sound designer, artist and DJ. Musically, he collects ideas from several different musical styles such as ambient, techno, experimental music and jazz. He uses deep, melancholic and dark-toned sound textures in his music. Beside his solo career, Myllykoski is also the founder of the Signature Dark record label.

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Marko Nyberg (also known as the founder of Husky Rescue) draws inspiration from his real-life experiences and further from the art of Hilma af Klint. Nyberg’s music combines neoclassical with techno joined by the sounds of live string ensemble. In early 2022 Nyberg released his solo debut "Ingrid EP".

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On his latest 17 albums or so, electronic producer Aleksi Perälä has used the novel musical tuning system called Colundi. His music, which combines IDM with fluttering microtonal melodies has been released by labels such Rephlex and Clone.

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TAL a.k.a. Tuomas A. Laitinen is is an artist who works with sound, glass, and video installation. Laitinen composes situations and installations that inquire into the porous interconnectedness of language, body, and matter within morphing ecosystems. His debut album “Sapiduz” released in 2021 has been described as medieval music played on an interstellar journey, creating both absurd and chimeric combinations of sounds and moods.

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An ambient artist Osa 7029 combines electronic and acoustic sounds creating neo-classical, calm, relaxing, sometimes even ominous soundscapes. Osa 7029 has released three albums in 2016-2021 and has worked with acts like Max Gaertner and Debi Wrong.

Signe is a jazz band with four female vocalists (Riikka Keränen, Kaisa Mäensivu, Selma Savolainen and Josefiina Vannesluoma). Their current project “Onomatopoesia” is a trilogy of albums contemplating one’s need for attachment in the rapidly changing surroundings. The first part of the triology, “Phonemes”, involves works by Tytti Arola, Mikko Sarvanne and Sampo Kasurinen and playing of percussionist Mika Kallio and avantgarde violinist Meriheini Luoto.

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Holy Play Boys is new meditative music project by two established musicians Tuure Kilpeläinen and Teho Majamäki. The source of inspiration to their cinematic soundscape’s is Manuel Basco’s artwork “Seven Sisters”. Their debut album carrying the same name was released in fall 2021 and focuses around seven different themes – space, ground, air, fire, time, wood and love.

The Finnish composer and audio creative Arttu Silvast released his first solo album "Polarity" in 2021. Inspired by the landscapes and isolation of the Arctic, his music combines organic and synthesized sounds creating spacious ambient soundscapes. Among the piano themes, a variety of instruments can be heard on the album all the way from the temple bells of Myanmar to more traditional Scandinavian instruments.

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