Unsigned Artist of the Month

Ozone Player
Orange Apples

Want something different? Look no further. Finnish multi-instrumentalist Otso Pakarinen mixes apples, oranges, synthesizers, guitars, a beat-up car, your third grade teacher, fog, several small planets, a rubber chicken, and drops of sweat from John Zorn into this eclectic album. The results are weirdly engaging and fun. Grabbing marginalia from rock, jazz, contemporary classical, electronica, and world music, Otso doesn't so much play outside the box as build a new one of his own; "Two Completely Unprepared Pianos Under Attack", for example, begins with a melancholy Debussey-esque solo piano soliloquy before the gloom is shattered with zaps, smashes, and burning guitar lines - which are in turn demolished in cartoonishly tragic manner and replaced by somber piano and guitar melodies. Is this a bizarre metaphor? A veiled musical commentary? Beats me. It's just a trip-and-a-half to listen to.

Michael Gallant, Keyboard Magazine