AVARUS (Finland) and Manbeard (Providence) - JULY 2007 Tour

In April 2006, Secret Eye Records brought the fabulous Finnish free noise collective AVARUS to the USA for the first time. They performed at the Terrastock Six festival that we hosted in Providence, RI. Aside from that festival, they played an Olneyville warehouse party and also live on Brian Turner's WFMU radio show, but that was it -- they went straight back to Finland. But, lo - FEAR NOT, for here, now, in the glorious hot Summer of 2007, we bring you AVARUS for their first, proper, American tour!

website: Secret Eye

last updated June 24, 2007

NEW AVARUS LP on Secret Eye in July 2007!
ALSO: Exclusive split AVARUS/MANBEARD tour-only CDR available only at these shows.

AVARUS 2007 USA Tour

JUNE
  • 29 Ridgewood, NY - Silent Barn with Manbeard, Fursaxa, Watersports, Vanishing Voice
  • 30 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's with Manbeard, Bardo Pond - BUY TICKETS
    • JULY
  • 1 Baltimore, MD - Floristree with Manbeard, Jack Rose, Sri Aurobindo
  • 2 Asheville, NC - Harvest Records with Manbeard
  • 3 Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light with Manbeard
  • 5 Nashville, TN - Springwater with Manbeard, Taiwan Deth, The Cherry Blossoms
  • 6 Louisville, KY - Lisa's Oak Street Lounge with Manbeard, Caboladies, Deep Pockets
  • 7 Cleveland, OH - Parish Hall with Manbeard, Thee Scarcity Of Tanks, Terminal Lovers
  • 8 Chicago, IL - The Hideout with Manbeard, Spires That in the Sunset Rise - BUY TICKETS
  • 9 Cincinnati, OH - Skull Lab with Manbeard, Wasteland Jazz Unit, P.ANDA.
  • 10 Pittsburgh, PA - Belvedere's with Manbeard, Hackles, Evil Twin, Chance-On
  • 11 Washington, DC - Velvet Lounge with Manbeard, Kohoutek, The Cutest Puppy in the World
  • 12 Point Pleasant Beach, NJ - Om Baby Yoga Studio with Manbeard, Phasmida
  • 13 North Adams, MA - Robot Mansion at Contemporary Artist Center with Manbeard, Spires That in the Sunset Rise, Aethr Myth'D , Sunburned Hand Of The Man
  • 14 Providence, RI - Foo Festival at AS220 - Annual FREE street festival with 25+ bands on two stages (inside and outside), artist booths, games, craft/record/book vendors and more more more. FREE FREE FREE all day/night from 12pm to 1am. Other artists include Sage Francis, Neptune, Stinking Lizaveta, Aa, Spires That in the Sunset Rise, Pwrfl Power, Lazy Magnet, Alec K Redfearn + The Eyesores, etc...((NO MANBEARD SET - they will be partying and enjoying AVARUS))
  • 15 Olneyville, RI - NEW! END OF TOUR BBQ PARTY !! at the Maniac Space, behind the Price Rite outta site.
    Live music from Manbeard, Abe Vigoda, Crude Hillz Summer Stunner...((NO AVARUS SET - they will be partying and enjoying MANBEARD))



    • BIO

    Avarus was formed in Tampere, Finland in 2001 by members of bands The Anaksimandros and Pylon. The group has gotten larger and looser (including folks from Kiila, Munuaissymposium 1960 and Kemialliset Ystävät), but the spirit is still the same. There are about 10 core members in Avarus in three different cities, and the number of occasional members is 5-20. But it's not at all important to know who's playing and when. It's about a collective sound, a play or a game. Avarus's sound is primitive, child-like, joyous and free.

    "Using a muse found deep in the woods this collective base their sound on fumbling lurches of folk-rock drug groove, interspersed with weevilly keyboard stuff and quite extraordinary, persistent yowling." - The Wire

    Avarus record for the Secret Eye record label, as well as their own Finnish imprint, Lal Lal Lal. There are also releases on HP Cycle (Canada), tUMULT and more.


    SECRET EYE DISCOGRAPHY
    AVARUS
     Vesikansi
    Secret Eye [AB-OC-25] CD (2006)
    AVARUS
     Jättiläisrotta
    Secret Eye [AB-OC-13] CD (2004)
    V/A - TERRASTOCK SIX COMPILATION
     with exclusive Avarus track
    Secret Eye [AB-OC-26] CD (2006)
    AVARUS
     Rasvaaja
    Secret Eye [AB-OC-35] LP (2007)
    AVARUS/MANBEARD
     split tour CD-R
    Secret Eye [AB-OC-34] CD-R (2007)



    PHOTOS


    NEW 2007 pimped out Avarus hype machine tour press pic!
    DOWNLOAD 300dpi color photo



    DOWNLOAD 300dpi color photo


    MP3s

  • Amurin Hiuskolmio from Jättiläisrotta, Secret Eye CD [AB-OC-13]

  • Ahdistava Haisemisen Loordi from Jättiläisrotta, Secret Eye CD [AB-OC-13]

  • Löylyvesi from Vesikansi, Secret Eye CD [AB-OC-25]


    • TOUR POSTERS


    DOWNLOAD 300dpi greyscale - 11x17"

    ALSO - sweet hand-silkscreened 4-color posters available NOW (15x18")...image at the top of this page.
    Designed and printed by Mike Taylor.
    VENUES: get in touch with Jeffrey (info below)
    YES, THERE WILL BE COPIES OF THESE FOR SALE ON TOUR...



    SELECTED REVIEWS

    "AVARUS, VESIKANSI, SECRET EYE CD. Avarus are one of the cornerstone groups of modern Finnish psychedelia, trailblazers for the recombinant aesthetic pioneered by a small gaggle of artists whose self-released, subterranean music is as baffling and crude as it is celebratory and hilarious. As with compatriots Kemialliset Ystavat, Avarus's line up is often in flux, though it appears to revolve around Roope Eronen and Arttu Partinen, and, on Vesikansi, Fursaxa's Tara Burke joins them on two lengthy live improvisations. Though Avarus often achieve a heightened, concentrated group-mind, they are natural jokers, and this goofy-but-not-dumb sense of humour is reflected by some of their artwork (in this case, an ice cream sundae set adrift on a world map, and a hand-drawn moustachioed octopus) that humour works its way into the music too: the overheated amp noise of "Loylyvesi" is undercut with slurring that sounds as though it's being played back through a tape machine running on low batteries, and around a third of the way through "Vissyvesi", a gloriously idiotic five-note synth riff farts through the murk. Those moments serve to lighten the listening experience, but "Vissyvesi" also detours into an extended wash of beatific hum, and the degraded scour of "Lapsivesi" is brittle and fragile, the magnetic tape about to disintegrate under the recording heads. The real joy in Avarus's music is their ability to negotiate this balancing act, essaying surprising moments of beauty and humour." - Jon Dale, The Wire issue 269

    "...Vesikansi (Secret Eye) taps into the freak-out essence of the band: keyboard swooshes go nuts, small percussion instruments litter the floor and everyone has a go at them, but mostly, the group is working as a unit to build instant anthems with more of a rock edge than before. Don't be mistaken, they are not turning into an underground psychedelic rock outfit. The music remains resolutely in the free-folk underground vein, but on this release, Avarus sound closer to Jackie-O Motherfucker than to the No-Neck Blues Band." - François Couture, All Music Guide

    "Jättiläisrotta (Secret Eye) cycles between rumbling free jazz, airy tribalism, and spaced-out Day of Niagara sessions. They manage also to slip the lovely underwater, near-folk strum-a-long "Ahoistava Haisemisen Loordi" into the mix. "Prinssihalonen" kicks up a chiming psychedelic vortex as powerful as anything Avarus has done to date. The strings are skyrockets and the boom-crash chugga-chugga drums are a treat. Throughout, think Sunburned Hand of the Man, perhaps the collective's best, kindred analogue." - Pitchforkmedia.com

    "Avarus have reached new heights on Jättiläisrotta (Secret Eye). This is fun music. It's about sitting down with friends with a few drinks and having a good time. Now if only every such encounter would produce such fantastic aural results. Avarus are definitely one-of-a-kind". - Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis

    "The wide-eyed forest dwellers of Avarus come from the pool of Finnish musicians that spawned the magnificent Kemialliset Ystävät. They play a brand of music on the outer extremes of the free-folk movement. A spirit of drugged-out frenzy drives this relentlessly changing music, resulting in songs that evolve like a species: not on an obvious linear path, but in fits and starts, obeying a strange logic inaccessible to the players themselves. Avarus conjures a gorgeous and frightening musical object, and they capture the feeling of mystery of music on acid." - Bryan Berge in Stylus Magazine



    Previous dates - AVARUS 2006 European Tour

    AUGUST
  • 18 Stockholm, Sweden - Ugglan
  • 19 Goteborg, Sweden - Koloni at Kulturhuset Underjorden
  • 20 Malmo, Sweden - På Besök
  • 22 Copenhagen, Denmark - Subotnick
  • 25 Den Haag, Netherlands - Huishoudschool
  • 26 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
  • 27 Antwerp, Belgium - Rotkot
  • 28 Brussells, Belgium - 42, Quai De Mariemont
  • 29 Paris, France - La Generale
  • 30 Geneva, Switzerland - L'Usine
    • SEPTEMBER
  • 1 Trento, Italy - Oltrasuoni Festival
  • 2 Tarcento, Italy - Hybrida
  • 3 Mogliano Veneto, Italy - Filanda Motta
  • 6 Opava, Czech Republic - Bludný Kámen
  • 8-9 Riga, Latvia - Sound Forest Festival - Annual festival on an island on the river Daugava in Riga. Alongside Baltic artists, international participants include Avarus, BJ Nilsen, Circle, Eliane Radigue & Charles Curtis, Evan Parker, Jamie Lidell & Pablo Fiasco, Keiji Haino, Liars, MoHa!, Peter Rehberg, Volcano The Bear and Wolf Eyes. Plus sound installations by Christina Kubisch and Evelina Deicmane & Lucinda Dayhew, and films about Reynols, Nihilist Spasm Band, John Cage and Pauline Oliveros. Riga Andrejsala, 8-9 September, 00371 2946 4264


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