Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Disco Ensemble

Details: Written by: Sebastian Huhn; Published: 11 October 2008

Matrix, Bochum, Germany
10th October 2008
Disco Ensemble, Lapko

Not only in their home country, the Finnish Band DISCO ENSEMBLE has a loyal and big fan base. Also the Germans are totally crazy about those guys and this Friday evening they came to throw a big party in Bochum, supported by their compatriots LAPKO…

Lapko

The three members of LAPKO have already known each other since infancy, living in a small Finnish town called Harjavalta. With various live shows and the EP ‘Your Special KO’ they aroused the attention of both the music press and some music lovers, but with their debut ‘The Arms’ from 2004, they’re introduced to a bigger audience. Two years later they release their second album ‘Scandal’ for which they switch to the label Fullstream Records they’re working together with ever since and also released their third album ‘Young Desire’. Both albums reached top positions in the Finnish album charts. LAPKO is Malja (guitar, vocals), Nordberg (bass) and Heikkonen (drums). http://www.lapko.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/lapko

Music & Performance
I for one hadn’t heard too much about the Finnish trio before, but I checked some songs on MySpace and thought this could be interesting. The room was relatively well filled. Not as much as during the last time we’re here for the EISBRECHER tour but that’s another story. The three guys entering the stage a short time later looked very young to me. The stage all belonged to Singer Malja and bass player Nordberg and initially it looked like it would become a little rigid performance, but just as the music suddenly changes from softer to hard parts, the guys on stage did and Malja showcased, let’s call it an eccentric dancing style with very expansive movements, danced in a ring that it made you feel giddy or rubbed his guitar on boxes or amps.

Well, that’s quite a different way to get something out of that instrument. Bass player Nordberg had more of a sub-cooled style on stage but moving as constant as his band made did. There was a very strong energy flow on stage the whole time. As regards the audience, it was “stand & watch” or “Nod your head” (at leas something) for the most part.

Setlist
01. Funerals & Parties
02. Sawyer the Brother
03. Scandal
04. Killer Whales
05. Bad Boy
06. All the Best Girls
07. Future Planes
08. Paranoid
09. Dead Disco

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.3 / 10

Disco Ensemble

Mikko Hakila and Jussi Ylikoski came up with the band under the name DISCO in the late 90s. Later on they extended the name to DISCO ENSEMBLE due to the name equity with the finish pop duo DISCO. In 2000, Miikka Koivisto joined in as singer and keyboardist. Following the release of the first album ‘Viper Ethics’ which included a Top 20 chart hit in Finland with the single ‘Videotapes’ the band started touring intensively and in 2005, the second album ‘First Aid Kit’ was released. In 2006, they played on several European festivals like Rock am Ring/Rock im Park in Germany, Nova Rock in Austria or the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. In January, they supported LINKIN PARK on some gigs and at the moment they are on tour with the DONOTS. ‘Magic Recoveries’ is the newest album and was released in May 2008. DISCO ENSEMBLE are Miikka Koivisto (vocals, keys), Jussi Ylikoski (guitar), Lasse Lindfors (bass) and Mikko Hakila (bass). http://www.discoensemble.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/discoensemble

Music & Performance
The longer the changeover took the more impatient the audience in the meanwhile packed venue got. Shouts and clapping choirs sounded before the lights finally went down short after 9 o’clock To announce the Finnish ensemble and soon after the first one’s entered the stage, the set began with the first tunes of the new album’s title track ‘Magic Recoveries’ and I’d like to say one thing: If the word power wouldn’t exist already, you would need to invent it for this band. We already had the pleasure to see them end of August at Area4 festival and it was impressing, but this evening they topped it for me. As soon as Miikka Koivisto was sweeping on stage hell broke loose; you can’t put it different. The energy of their music is conveyed to a 100% on stage. Sweat ran down their faces in torrents as they laid down an insane show up there. Not only Koivisto moved into every possible direction on stage, jumping onto the boxes to freak out there again, Jussi and Lasse followed suit and twirled ‘round the stage.

Apart from the opener, a big part of the set comprised songs out of the new album ‘Magic Recoveries’ like ‘Worst Night Out’ or ‘Bad Luck Charm’ mixed up with a few “classics” such as the hits ‘Black Euro’ and ‘We Might Fall Apart’ from ‘First Aid Kit’ all of which were extremely pushing and actually they played not a single song who wasn’t. Sure, they have calmer moments with Koivisto playing some piano chords, but only as a little breather and what can’t be missed out on a rock concert? Right, stage diving! Not by the band itself but there were enough fans loving to do that instead. One was then catapulted back into the mob with a soft ass kick and speaking of the Mob. Right from the start they turned the area in front of the stage into a mosh pit and no matter which song was announced, they clapped and screamed before as well as afterwards.

After the main set ended it was absolutely impossible that it was already the end of the show. With loud ‘encore’ shouts and clapping choirs they made the guys come back for another three songs, but after ‘Stun Gun’ and a pompous acceptance speech thanking the crew and of course or better especially the fans who paid money for a ticket to see them. To quote Miikka “It’s fucking appreciated.”

Setlist
01. Magic Recoveries
02. Drop Dead, Casanova
03. Bad Luck Charm
04. We can stop whenever we want
05. Worst Night Out
06. We might fall apart
07. Arsonists vs. Firemen
08. Black Euro
09. Headphones
10. Threatletter Typewriter
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11. This is my Head exploding
12. Beacon
13. Stun Gun

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 10
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8.3 / 10