ENG To mark his 60th birthday, Micke Bjorklof is looking back and releasing two albums at once. “Outtakes” reflects on the past two decades of his band Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip, and with the double CD “Live On Air”, the Finn focuses on his acoustic trio Micke & Lefty Featuring Chef, which - another birthday - was launched 25 years ago. The singer and harmonica player founded his blues band Micke Biorklof & Blue Strip back in 1991. “Outtakes” contains nine songs, all of which were recorded in the early 2000s and were not included on the previous CDs. Originally intended as backup tracks for emergencies, they now form an album in their own right, which can logically also be seen as a kind of chronicle documenting the group's development over the years. Surprisingly, the outtakes fit together very well. Despite the divergent recording dates, there is no break. The material doesn't have to hide behind the content of Bjorklof's regular albums at all, but develops a character of its own. It would have been a shame if the musician had with held these pieces from his many fans, who now also exist in this country. The second production, the Finn presents himself as part of the acoustic trio Micke & Lefty Featuring Chef. The double album contains a live session recorded in the studio for the Deutschlandfunk program “On Stage” from the year 2000 and a concert recording from the 2023 BluesBaltica Festival in Eutin on the second disc. Raw, rough, unpolished and without any overdubs, the three musicians provide a thoroughly honest insight into their musical cosmos, in which everything revolves around a historical guitar, Dobros, a semi-acoustic bass and an old suitcase converted into a bass drum. Handmade roots blues, the occasional jug band feel, band numbers and classics with a rustic sound are the result. The trio, which was once only intended as a side project to Bjorklof's main band The Blue Strip, has developed a highly individual life of its own over the years. Live, Micke, Lefty and Chef seem to be real vocal grenades, as you can hear especially on the second CD. SUOMI 60-vuotissyntymäpäivänsä kunniaksi Micke Bjorklof katsoo taaksepäin ja julkaisee kaksi albumia kerralla. ”Outtakes” peilaa hänen yhtyeensä Micke Bjorklof & Blue Stripin kahta viime vuosikymmentä, ja tupla-cd:llä ”Live On Air” suomalainen keskittyy akustiseen trioonsa Micke & Lefty Featuring Chef, jolla on myös juhlavuosi koska sai alkunsa 25 vuotta sitten. Laulaja harpisti perusti Micke Biorklof & Blue Strip bluesbändin jo vuonna 1991. ”Outtakes” sisältää yhdeksän kappaletta, jotka kaikki on äänitetty 2000-luvun alussa ja jotka eivät ole olleet mukana aiemmilla CD-levyillä. Alun perin sessioista ylijääneet kappaleet muodostavat nyt oman albuminsa, jota voi loogisesti pitää myös eräänlaisena kronikkana, joka dokumentoi yhtyeen kehitystä vuosien varrella. Yllättävää kyllä, Outtakesin kappaleet sopivat hyvin yhteen. Eri äänitysajankohdista huolimatta katkosta ei ole. Materiaalin ei tarvitse lainkaan piiloutua Bjorklofin varsinaisten albumijulkaisujen sisällön taakse, vaan se on oma kokonaisuus omalla luonteella. Olisi ollut sääli, jos nämä kappaleet olisivat pysyneet piilossa lukuisilta faneiltaan, joita on nyt myös tässä maassa. Toisessa tuotannossa suomalainen esiintyy osana akustista trioa Micke & Lefty Featuring Chef. Tuplalevy sisältää studiossa Deutschlandfunkin On Stage -ohjelmaa varten äänitetyn live-session vuodelta 2000 ja toisella levyllä konserttitallenteen Eutinissa 2023 järjestetyltä BluesBaltica-festivaalilta. Raakana, karheana, kiillottamattomana ja ilman mitään päällekkäisäänityksiä kolme muusikkoa antavat läpikotaisin rehellisen katsauksen musiikilliseen kosmokseensa, jossa kaikki pyörii historiallisen resonaattorikitaran, Dobron, puoliakustisen basson ja bassorummuksi muunnetun vanhan matkalaukun ympärillä. Tuloksena on käsintehdyn oloista roots-bluesia, satunnaisesti jopa jug band -tunnelmaa, countryblues henkisiä bluesklassikoita. Trio, joka aikoinaan lähti liikkeelle Bjorklofin pääbändin, Blue Stripin sivuprojektina, on vuosien varrella kehittänyt hyvin persoonallisen oman tyylinsä. Livenä Micke, Lefty ja Chef tuntuvat olevan todellisia ”äänikranaatteja”, kuten varsinkin toisella cd:llä kuulee.

EN: A key artist on the European blues scene, Micke Bjorklof performs mainly with his two bands, the trio Micke & Lefty feat. Chef and the band Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip, both of which have enjoyed success far beyond the borders of his native Finland. Celebrating his sixtieth birthday this year, the multi-instrumentalist looks back on his past and offers us, in addition to the double live effort recorded in Germany with his trio, a collection made up of various studio scraps as well as alternative versions of tracks featured on his various albums. We follow the quintet, featuring Lefty Leppänen on guitars, Seppo Nuolikoski on bass, Teemu Vuorela on drums and Timo Roiko-Jokela on percussion and vibraphone, on an adventure that took place between 2002 and 2022 in various studios and in the company of a host of guests on ivories, brass and backing vocals. From the sessions for “Three Times Seven Is...” and “Colors Of Jealousy” to those for “Nutha' Thang”, “After The Flood” and “Ain't Bad Yet”. We find ourselves confronted not only with previously unreleased tracks, but also with original arrangements that remind us that Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip is a band that doesn't cheat, and that gives its all every time, as if its survival and dignity were at stake. Tracks such as “On Vacation”, “Runnin' Shoes”, “Bedtime Bomber” and “Spooky Ride” are sure to be a welcome addition to the discotheque of fans of this engaging musician, who has already released a dozen works. A good investment!

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