AAVIKON KONE JA MOOTTORI
IKBAL-Theme / Karavaani / Rakkaudella Sinulle

TERVEET KÄDET
Minä haluaisin paljon rahaa / Joutukaa sielut / Vapaa pohjola / TK-pop / Mull on liian lyhyt sänky / Ei enää koskaan sotaa / Kaks' vihreää polkupyörää / Tornio Blues

BILLY BOYS
Mystery Train / Get It On

Tornio, a town less than 20,000 inhabitants in northern Finland, a snowball's throw away from the Swedish border. It's 1979, the aftermath of the first punk wave, but not many D-I-Y records have been released in the whole country. A loose group of three grown men, overdosed on Dada, Throbbing Gristle and Stockhausen, manage to buy their first WASP synthetisizer, and suddenly find themselves inspired enough to put anything they ever feel like on their own record. For some/any reason, the band is christened Aavikon Kone ja Moottori (word-for-word "Desert's Machine and Motor") and the label IKBAL, for Ismon Karkean Brutaalit Aavikko Levyt ("Ismo's Crudely Brutal Desert Records"). To save in cutting and mastering costs, the single has only one side. And the music? Suffice to say it is the weirdest and most experimental ever released in Finland thus far, and the band's two singles plant an unsettling seed in many a young geek's brain (including the various future Bad Vugum people...)

In early 1980 Läjä forms a punk band called Terveet Kädet ("Healthy Hands") with some other friends, and after being awakened by the first Discharge 7", TK speed their things up to virtually invent hardcore in Finland, with a distinct, more garagey style. Naturally, IKBAL is quick to recognise the budding talent, and proceed to release TK's first two one-sided EPs - even keeping Läjä himself so busy recording with TK that he misses the sessions for the second AKJM single...

The two TK EPs duly cause a lot of amazement in the Finnish "alternative" music scene, and after travelling to the south to do some live shows with likes of Lama and Rattus, TK become a household name. In 1982 they reach what is probably their artistic pinnacle with the release of the "Ääretön Joulu" EP on a bigger label, and the first two 7"s are compiled for a double sided EP called "Kädet suojelee" by P. Tuotanto. They are also universally acclaimed as "one of the world's best hardcore bands" (frequent quote from Maximum Rock'n'Roll) - even with song titles that translate as "My Bed is Too Short", "Two Green Bicycles", and "I Want Lots of Money" ... Many best selling albums follow both home and abroad.

AKJM having faded away by now, Läjä wants to keep the electronics things alive, and forms Billy Boys with his older brother. Intense sessions in their bedroom result in IKBAL's fifth single, for some reason named "Mystery Train -84" despite the fact it is recorded and released in '83. More bewilderment ensues - or as one of the leading rock papers in Finland puts it: " I don't get it at all. There must be some misunderstanding here" - and Läjä himself later recognises the project as "the coolest and heaviest thing I've been involved in".

The golden era of IKBAL draws to close: Billy Boys is to lose some of the magic with an expanded line-up; other, somewhat more generic HC bands appear under the IKBAL logo; and TK themselves return home at their laziest ('87-'88) for a couple of EPs. In 1995 Bad Vugum is proud to bring the early, small-but-influential gems (original editions of 200-300) to a modern audience.

Out on Bad Vugum:

Passions Of Läjä Äijälä
CD (Bad-50X)
2004

To celebrate www.avantofestival.com 's feature on Läjä Äijälä's life work, Bad Vugum updated, turboboosted and basically quadrupled the sold out "Golden Greats of IKBAL" compilation to include not only the original 7"s by Aavikon kone ja moottori, Terveet Kädet and Billy Boys but also more sold out and/or previously unreleased gems from >Terveet Kädet, Billy Boy, The Kolmas, Death Trip, Sultans, The Leo Bugariloves and Veli-Matti Äijälä's latest solo electronics.

juttua: 1

The Golden Greats of IKBAL CD-EP (Bad-50)

Mr. Läjä Äijälä ­among other things the singer of Death Trip and The Leo Bugariloves­ is something of a modern renaissance man, and IKBAL was / is his own 7" label. He is also starring in all of the three bands featured on this retrospective collection: AAVIKON KONE JA MOOTTORI (two singles worth of primitive electronics and general duo weirdness), TERVEET KÄDET (the first two EPs from Finland's biggest hardcore legends and world-wide pioneers, from the time ­ '80-'81 ­ when HC could be fresh and inspiring), and BILLY BOYS (a true synth-noise gem, from when BB was just Läjä and his older brother making a small slice of history in their garage). The original, first five, IKBAL 7"s were released 1979-83 in editions of 200-300. This CD has a bonus track from each of the three acts, to boot.