Jori Hulkkonen will release his tenth album this fall.
The record will be his first for Tiga's Turbo Recordings imprint, largely because his former regular home, F Communications, has gone on indefinite hiatus. Hulkkonen has plenty of contacts in the biz, however, and likely didn't need to search too long to find a label willing to put out his album. (Co-writing Tiga's "Sunglasses at Night" cover probably didn't hurt either.)
The album sees Hulkkonen in an odd mood, claiming that the thing he's most proud of in his career is the fact that he's never become popular. We'll let him take it from here...After nine albums, dozens of pseudonym releases on superhot labels (like Rekids and Get Physical just to mention a couple from the past few years), close to a hundred remixes, my own radioshow on national radio for more than a decade (in Finland though, so it may not count), thousands of DJ gigs all over the world under my belt (OK I never actually counted but a quick calculation tells me it must be close to 2000 now), producing and writing songs for the likes of Tiga (whom I created in the first place), and having a reputation as a producer who can make an 808 kickdrum sound like a jazzy flute, you'd expect that there was a time when I was The Shit. But I never was!
Sure enough there's a lot people who never were "big", but are they still working? Releasing albums, singles, getting remix requests and DJing all over after 15 years? No. But I am. And this I see as my greatest achievement and there's a lesson to be learned everyone: If you never become trendy it's impossible for you to become untrendy.
Will all this change now though with my hotter than hot new album on Turbo, or the buzz around my Acid Symphony Orchestra (a piece I wrote for ten tb-303's and a 707, conducted by me)? Or the rumoured collaboration with Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys?
It remains to be seen but I'm dedicated to give my best shot to not let it happen.
Tongue firmly in cheek? Or, a fascinatingly truthful moment behind the curtain of Hulkkonen's psyche? Either way, the record is full of dance floor fodder, eschewing what Hulkkonen claims are his trademark "atmospheric synthpads, 'Scandinavian mood design' and social commentary" and replacing it with "catchy basslines, sizzling hihats and semi-danceable tracks," which we'll all be able to apparently ignore properly in October.
Tracklist
01. I Am Dead feat. Jerry Valuri
02. Boying in the Smokeroom
03. Dancerous
04. The Other Side of Time
05. Re Last Year feat. Villa Nah
06. Ridge Over Trouble Forrester
07. Musta Gunilla
08. Undercover feat. The Dove
09. I Dance to Your Bass My Friend
10. Bend Over Beethoven
11. My Brother Went to Space and All I Got Was This Lousy Vacuum
12. Man from Earth
Turbo will release Jori Hulkkonen's Man from Earth in October.