"That can't be right," my roommate said. "There aren't any black people in Finland." How wrong he was.
When Megaphone State released their debut album Home of the Knockout Artist in the Summer of '09 they were making buzz on a small Finnish label called Fresh Tunes Finland. F.T.F. is home to several up-and-coming Finnish punk, synth, and indie artists, as well as two rappers (one Finnish-speaking, one English-speaking). Megaphone State is the latter of the two.
Now, hip-hop isn't something you probably associate with the Baltic, but Home of the Knockout Artist was an incredibly inventive record. With neo-soul samples, fluttering synths, sub-bass kick drums, H.K.A. won a place in my heart on the first listen, and now M.S. is releasing a new record VLA Kings on the 11th.
"Lights", from this past August, was the first single released off VLA Kings. Stylistically, it's more of the same from H.K.A., with slow-piano breaks, up-beat horn stabs, and deep bass drum hits. And then, today, Children of VLA was released. The second single off VLA Kings is more experimental, verging on Com Truise-ish production, with a newer, tighter drum-kit, and a guest vocalist on the chorus.
They're both worth a listen, and be sure to keep a look out on the 11th for a VLA Kings review. Enjoy.
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