Mika Vainio has a new album due out in May called Kilo.

As FACT report, the record is being billed as a beat-driven follow-up to 2011's Life (…It Eats You Up) LP for Editions Mego. Recorded in the Pan Sonic member's Berlin studio, Kilo will come out on Blast First Petite, which has a relationship with Vainio stretching back some 20 years (its parent label, Blast First, put out Pan Sonic's first album back in '95). The producer also has a remix of occasional Blast First Petite label-mates HTRK—specifically "Poison," from their 2011 album Work (Work, Work)—on the way in the coming months.

Tracklist
01. Cargo
02. Cranes
03. Load
04. Docks
05. Sub-Atlantic
06. Rust
07. Wreck
08. Scale
09. Freight
10. Weight

Blast First Petite will release Kilo by Mika Vainio on May 6th, 2013.

Kraftwerk are heading up the 2013 lineup for Flow Festival, which runs August 7th through 11th in Helsinki.

Now in its tenth year, Flow Festival brings stylistically varied lineups to Suvilahti, the historic site of a former energy production complex that's now an arts and culture centre. The promoters bill it as the largest music and arts festival in Finland. The festival's headliners will be doing something extra-special this year: the techno originators are performing a version of their 3D retrospective concert, which has played to sold-out crowds at London's Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The rest of the lineup sees Swedish duo The Knife will headline an opening concert on August 7th, while Disclosure, AlunaGeorge, Maya Jane Coles and Tensnake are among the DJs booked for the main portion of the festival this year. Performances from rappers Mykki Blanco and Azealia Banks, Blawan & Pariah's Karenn project, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and locals Sarah Kivi & Non Orchestra will also feature.

Clouds will release a mini-album on Ramp Recordings next month called USB Islands.

Clouds is Samuli Tanner and Tommi Liikka, a Finnish duo that's been putting out moody bass records since 2007. They started turning heads a year later when DJ /rupture included two of their tracks on Uproot, a mix CD that was widely considered one of that year's best. Since then they've appeared on a variety of respected bass labels, including Mala's Deep Medi Musik, which will reportedly release a full album by the duo "in the not too distant future."

USB Islands includes six new tracks from Clouds. You can stream or download one of them ("I'll Be Broke") on Ramp's SoundCloud page.

Tracklist
01. Cannibal Generals
02. Four Hands
03. You Go To My Head
04. I'll Be Broke
05. Napalm
06. Get Over It (feat. Lotta-Liina Salonen)

Ramp Recordings will release USB Islands in November 2012.

Roberto Rodriguez will release his first full-length, Dawn on his own Serenades imprint on May 14th.

Rodriguez is based in Helsinki, where he's been putting out records for over a decade. Also known as Manolo and as a member of the Finnish techno collective Future Beat Investigators, Rodriguez's deep house and disco-oriented solo material has recently shown up on labels like Delusions of Grandeur, Freerange and FINA. Dawn will be released on Serenades, the label he started last year. Aside from an ambient intro and digital reprise of the title track, most of the album is devoted to floor-ready material filled with retro-leaning synth work and lots of vocals. Lead single "Tell Me" was released on vinyl last month and featured a remix from US artist Jacques Renault. Dawn will be put out on a 14-song CD as well as a digital version featuring four extra tracks.

Tracklist
01. Tito
02. Show Me
03. Eternity
04. I Believe In You
05. Love Withdrawal
06. Tell Me feat. Kholi
07. Saturn
08. Try (How Am I Supposed To)
09. Eva
10. Body Right
11. Shibuya
12. Lies feat. Max C
13. Song 4 You feat. Devon Dunaway
14. Dawn
15. Alone Tonight
16. Mustat Varjot
17. Dawn (Reprise)
18. Tell Me feat. Kholi (Instrumental & Backing Vox version)

Serenades will release Dawn on May 14th, 2012.

The 2012 edition of Flow Festival will take place in Helsinki from August 8th through the 12th.

Flow Festival is a music and arts event that's taken place in Finland since 2004. The music policy is decidedly open-minded, with this year's programming pulling together everyone from R&B legend Bobby Womack to the New York no wave outfit Swans. There's a strong electronic presence too: the DJ bill includes Richie Hawtin, Pinch and Caribou with Four Tet, while live performances come from Nicolas Jaar, Flying Lotus, Monolake, Africa Hitech, Oneohtrix Point Never and Fennesz with Lillevan. Other highlights include Björk and French artist Yann Tiersen. The festival will once again take place at Suvilahti, a former energy production complex that's been refashioned into an arts and culture center.

Turbo Recordings will release a remixed version of Renaissance Man's debut album, The Renaissance Man Project.

Renaissance Man is Ville Haimala & Martti Kalliala, two Finnish artists with a knack for weaving found sounds and field recordings into their leftfield house productions. It's a style they've developed since their 2009 EP Spraycan (featuring, of course, the sound of spray cans) and that defined their first full-length, which came out last summer on Tiga's Turbo Recordings. The upcoming remix album features reworks by a varied cast of producers, from UK veteran Paul Woolford to Hotflush Recordings newcomer Locked Groove. Matthew Herbert, a master of found sounds in his own right (think of 2010's One Club and One Pig) gets in on the action too.

Tracklist
01. Vancouver (Call Super's Proto Forma Mix)
02. What Do You Do When You Do What You Do (Matthew Herbert's Little Liar Remix)
03. Trance Central (Joakim Remix)
04. Trance Central (Teeth Remix)
05. S.O.S. (WhoMadeWho Remix)
06. What Do You Do When You Do What You Do (Paul Woolford Remix)
07. Stalker Humanoid (Dexter Remix)
08. Stalker Humanoid (Renaissance Man Remix)
09. Stalker Humanoid (Locked Groove's Lost in the Jungle Remix)
10. Natty Jussi (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)

Turbo Recordings will release Remix Album on March 19th, 2012.

Later this month, Smalltown Supersound will release the first album by K-X-P, a krautrock-inspired group from Finland.

The three-piece outfit is led by Timo Kaukolampi, a multi-talented artist who made a name for himself in the band OP:L Bastards and as Norwegian pop princess Annie's main producer and co-writer. Described by XLR8R as "spaced-out krautrock-meets-drummy-disco dance party," their music consists primarily of drums, bass and synthesizers, with the occasional reverb-laden vocal. Given their fusion of electronic sounds and gritty, cosmic rock, it's not surprising that K-X-P enjoy support from Glaswegian duo Optimo, who booked them to play their second to last night at Sub Club and remixed their track "18 Hours (Of Love)" (as heard on last year's Summer Synth Mix). The band's self-titled debut will hit stores later this month.

Tracklist
01. Elephant Man
02. Mehu Moments
03. 18 Hours (Of Love)
04. Labirynth
05. Aibal Dub
06. Pockets
07. New World
08. Epilogue

Smalltown Supersound will release K-X-P on July 19th, 2010.

Hot-off-the-press: Sasu Ripatti lets slip about a new Luomo album 'coming out soon' on his own Huume Recordings imprint.

Luomo is the name by which Ripatti goes for his dub house productions. The new album titled 'Convivial' picks up from the vocal leans of 'Paper Tigers' (2006) , 'The Present Lover' (2003) and the seminal Vocalcity (2000). The number of side projects (including Uusitalo and Vladislav Delay) means Luomo albums fall many years apart. But more often than not, they're worth the wait.

This time round vocals come promised from techno stars Robert Owens, Cassy and Apparat. The one other vocalist mentioned comes from further afield; Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters.

No more information has been announced, but as a tracklist and release date are published, we'll let you know.

Moodmusic owner Sasse casts an eye to Detroit for his latest artist album. With over a hundred singles and remixes under his belt, it's surprising that this is only the second longplayer from the productive producer, whose musical career spans 15 years.

The album entitled Toinen, literally meaning 'second' in Finnish, takes a slightly different direction from Klas Lindblad's debut album of Italo House & Space Disco on Made Within The Upper Stairs Of Heaven. Expect Sasse's usual euphoric overtones, highlighted by dangerously groovy basslines and percussion which echoes of his mid-90's productions as Freestyle Man.

Tracklist
01. Berlin
02. Wrapper
03. Take Me To Bologna
04. Friday Sessionz
05. Clemens
06. Fly
07. New Sun Day
08. Break Up
09. Poneloya
10. Big

Sasse will release Toinen on October 6th, 2008, via his Moodmusic imprint.

Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti returns to more rhythm-oriented music on his third album as Uusitalo. 'Karhunainen' is out in October.

Ripatti records under three aliases: Vladislav Delay for beatless ambience, Luomo for vocal house and Uusitalo for instrumental, rhythmic pieces. And no one could accuse the Finnish producer of being lazy: 'Karhunainen' is his third full length album in less than a year, following up the acclaimed 'Paper Tigers' as Luomo and 'Whistleblower' as Vladislav Delay.

The press notes humbly describe previous Uusitalo records as "resembling an undertaker at a disco", with the promise that 'Karhunainen' change that impression by returning to more upfront rhythms. 'Karhunainen' consists of ten songs, eight of which are "dedicated to the bass drum", while the drum machine on some cuts is replaced by a drum stick knocking on random metal surfaces and Ripatti's daughter's toys. What a terrible father!

This time around, the album has been made strictly with analogue equipment, with all digital sound processing left out.

The album artwork is illustrated by Kaisa Kemikoski, and the record includes a 16-page booklet of Ripatti photographs.

Download the skewed, Detriotish preview track 'Korpinkansa' from the record, or check out three tracks at the Uuisitalo MySpace page for a taste of what to expect.

Tracklist

1. Vesi Virtaa Veri (Water Flows Blood)
2. Korpikansa (Backwoods People)
3. Tohtori Kuka (Doctor Who)
4. Konevitsa (Machine Cane)
5. Sikojen Juhla (Feast Of Pigs)
6. Karhunainen (Bear Woman)
7. Satumaa (Wonderland)
8. Nälkälaulu (Hunger Song)
9. Himo Perkele (Lust Perkele)
10. Puut Juuriltaan (Roots Out Woods)

'Karhunainen' by Uusitalo will be released on Huume Recordings on October 12, 2007. There will also be a pre-album digital release available this month.