Before moving to Finland last year Justin Steele lived in London, where he worked in the music industry and wrote for various music websites.

When people discuss the Finnish music scene it seems that 80 per cent of the conversations revolve around one genre: Heavy Metal. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; Finland’s embracement and subsequent output of the genre, in all of its forms, has helped push metal from sub-culture status into a dominant mainstream force – this certainly provides a nice alternative to the latest crop of X-Factor acts that would be ruling the radio playlists otherwise. But the global image of Finnish music culture consisting exclusively of leather-clad goths and extreme-metal fans is a tad inaccurate, to say the least.

Before moving to Espoo last summer I had spent the last ten years of my life working in the British music industry. Half of that time was spent behind the counter of an independent record store in Soho, which is not only where I met my future half-Finnish wife (hence the reason I am here), but also where I first came to really appreciate Finnish music.

With an output that stretches way beyond metal, blues-rock and rockabilly (the other two staples of Finnish music discussions) and deep into the realms of jazz, folk, indie and electronic music, there is so much more on offer that Finland should be recognised for – but for some reason isn’t.

When not meticulously replicating established genres like the aforementioned blues-rock, Finnish musicians tend to go in the opposite direction, coming far out of the left-field with styles and sounds completely of their own creation, and hitherto unknown. This results in some brilliant music that, while criminally overlooked (even in Finland), is still influential.

Take the Dance scene for example. Renowned record label Sähkö Recordings (home to Pan Sonic/Mika Vainio, Jimi Tenor and Villa Nah) was pioneering the minimal house and techno sound that is so prevalent today, way back in 1993. It’s only relatively recently that they have been getting the kind of kudos that they deserve. In fact, there’s tonnes of maverick electronic acts from Finland: Sasu Ripatti (Vladislav Delay/Luomo), Brothomstates, Aleksi Perälä (Ovuca/Astrobotnia) and Jori Hulkkonen are some of the bigger names, and that’s only scratching the surface – we haven’t even got on to the Skweee scene...

Fonal Records also deserves a mention – although labelled as ‘Forest Folk’ by the media, that term doesn’t do them justice. Acts like Paavoharju, Es and Kiila create music that is unmistakably Finnish yet sounds like nothing else gone before it. Then there’s always the futuristic easy-listening jazz of Jimi Te-
nor, or the reliable indie roster of Fullsteam Records – needless to say, there’s so much interesting, forward-thinking music in Finland that it’s impossible go into it all here.

For such a creative and influential hotbed, it seems a shame that Finland is only revered for one aspect of its vast musical output – it’s certainly not through want of trying. Perhaps, if all of these musicians were based in London or Berlin it would be another story – but that’s an even bigger shame.