| RinneRadio | |
|---|---|
RinneRadio are (from left) Juuso Hannukainen, Tapani Rinne and Verneri Lumi |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Helsinki, Finland |
| Genres | jazz, electronic, techno |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | Rockadillo Records |
| Associated acts | SlowHill |
| Website | http://www.rinneradio.com |
| Members | |
| Tapani Rinne Juusonik Verneri Lumi |
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RinneRadio is group of electro jazz pioneers from Finland. Operating on the boundaries of jazz and electronic music, the output of RinneRadio has been described as "some jazz, plenty of techno and ambient influences, a few poppy melodies, and hints of world music" [1]. The biography on the band's website provides this description of the music they produce: "RinneRadio fuses electronic underground beats with progressive jazz. As the rhythms of drum’n’bass and hip hop are fermented with dark dub, lush ambient soundscapes and timeless soprano sax textures, the resulting brew becomes equal parts sexy trance jazz and surreal dance music." [2] RinneRadio currently consists of Tapani Rinne (reeds), Verneri Lumi (electronics), and Juuso Hannukainen (percussion).
Contents |
The band was formed in 1988 by saxophone player/reedsman and composer Tapani Rinne, who still leads the band. Rinne participated in the composer and drummer Edward Vesala's legendary Sound & Fury workshops in Helsinki, and during these workshops the band started to form.
RinneRadio's eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and it featured a stellar cast of Finland's current jazz elite, including Raoul Björkenheim and Iro Haarla.
The second album Dance and Visions was released in 1990 and the album featured the Sami yoik singer Wimme Saari for the first time in RinneRadio's history. Dance and Visions also introduced Jari Kokkonen as a member of RinneRadio. He continued in the group until 2001.
In 1992 RinneRadio released the album Joik, where another long-time collaborator of Rinne, Kimmo Kajasto appeared for the first time. The same year Tapani Rinne garnered the Finnish Yrjö award for Jazz Musician of the Year, given by the Finnish Jazz Federation.
The group's fourth album, Unik was released in 1994 which followed an EP titled DiorInNera, released in 1993. Unik received one of the highest record industry accolades in Finland, the Jazz Emma Award, which could be called the Finnish equivalent of the Grammy. By this time, word had spread about the new concoction of jazz, techno and ambient sounds played by RinneRadio, and the band toured extensively in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Japan, Spain and Sweden.
The band's core group was now Rinne, Kajasto and Kokkkonen and this trio continued to develop the sound further during the next two releases, EP Joulu which featured new interpretations of famous Christmas carols and particularly RinneRadio's fifth album RoK (1996) . Their sound consisted of influences from hip hop, drum & bass and jazz.
In 1997 they released another EP, called pfft which was a collaboration with Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio, based on an earlier live remix project where Vainio remixed one of RinneRadio's live shows. In 1997 they also played a show at Knitting Factory in New York from where the audio signal was sent live to Finland and Pori Jazz Festival where DJ Spooky made a live interpretation of the concert for the festival audience.
After this, two more smaller releases, EP Osaka and single Juju, were on the plate, before RinneRadio started to work on a new full-length album, G. The album was released in 1998 and was important milestone because programmer Kimmo Kajasto had been replaced with DJ Ken-One (aka Jean Johansson).
Their collaborations with various DJ's culminated in the 1999 release B, which features RinneRadio tracks remixed by Finland's top DJs and remixers, including Jori Hulkkonen, JS16 and Slow.
Work with Hulkkonen continued, as he was largely responsible for the producing the next RinneRadio album, Nao, along with Veikka Erkola in 2001. Nao became the group's most commercially successful album after RoK, reaching no. 32 on the Official Finnish Album Chart.
Next year Rinne worked with DJ Slow on their Slowhill project which resulted in an album called Finndisc, released by Blue Note Records as well as his solo album Nectic.
DJ Ken-One was now replaced by percussionist Zarkus Poussa and later by Abdissa Assefa in the live performances. In 2002 Verneri Lumi and Juusonik (known also from Don Johnson Big Band joined the band with Tapani Rinne and RinneRadio was again a trio. The new line-up has been together ever since. Their first joint effort was the new album, Lumix (2003). This album was followed by Pan in 2004. Pan features again interesting range of guests, Pekka Kuusisto on violins and Siiri Nordin of Killer fame, among others.
In 2005 RinneRadio concentrated on touring and performed with Herbie Hancock at Barbican Arts Centre in London as well as in the Dutch North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2006 they were invited to play at the 40th anniversary opening night of Midem in Cannes. After Midem the band was ready to release their thirteenth album, simply called +. Acclaimed violinist Pekka Kuusisto returns as a guest, as well as well-known Finnish rapper Tommy Lindgren from Don Johnson Big Band.
In September 2007 RinneRadio released album On. It features Sanni Orasmaa, Icelander Kira Kira, and Siiri Nordin in vocals. The music video for the track untitled was nominated for Best Music Video Award at the AFIA Film Festival in Denmark in 2008.
In 2008, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing a compilation album, titled "20" which features 20 tracks throughout their career. The tracks were chosen by radio and club DJ's who were asked to give a list of tracks of their personal dream RinneRadio album.[1] The result was a two-CD album with tracks categorized into Side A(mbient) and Side B(eat).
In 2009, RinneRadio released again material in the form of the album "Pole Stars".