Eclipse music

1 min read

HAVE A CIGAR

Saluting the scene’s supporting crew

Finland’s Tapio Ylinen on the label that’s been home to artists making “weird, marginal” music since 2007.

Shadow leader: Eclipse’s Tapio Ylinen.
PRESS/RAMI MARJÄMAKI

“The Finnish music scene is tightly knit,” asserts Eclipse Music founder Tapio Ylinen, “and there are a lot of world-class musicians here.”

Based in Tampere, Finland’s second biggest city after Helsinki, the 41-year-old has an ear for talent, and is a highly proficient guitarist himself.

In his 20s his own band, Eclipse, did well before petering out, and by 2007 he’d earned a Masters degree in Musicology (his thesis delved into the musical theory behind prog rock chord structures). He’s since eked out a living on the local theatre scene as a musician, composer and director, and on radio and TV as both a writer, presenter and voiceover artist.

He founded Eclipse Music in ’07, and the first release was avant-garde band Kauhukakara’s Taistelu Pahoja Kelloja Vastaan (in English, ‘The Battle Against Evil Clocks’). “It was weird, jazzy stuff,” Ylinen recalls, “and I thought, ‘Okay, maybe we can try to find our little niche with this kind of weird, marginal music.’”

The label began to attract artists into prog, fusion and progressive jazz. Pianist Kari Ikonen’s innovative 2011 album The Helsinski Suite won the prestigious Teosto Prize, an annual award from Finland’s copyright body. Eclipse has also had nine nominations at the Emma-gaala, the country’s Grammys equivalent. Their signing Elifantree is up for Best Jazz Album at this year’s ceremony, for their very left-field LP, Hachi.

Other current releases include Arc by fusion guitarist Ossi Maristo, Delusions Of Grandeur from quirky collective Talambo, and Cake Walk From A Spaceship, from brass virtuosos Sylvain Rifflet and Verneri Pohjola.

As an artist himself, Ylinen’s part of Eclipse-signed ‘supergroup’ Mortality. His new project, 5th Season, features long-time Pink Floyd backing vocalist Durga McBroom. The pair met through Pulse, the successful Floyd tribute band for which Ylinen still plays guitar.

“We perform once or twice a year,” he says.

“The last gig was a full performance of The Wall at a stadium in Tampere for 4,000 people, and it was awesome!”

Check out the Eclipse roster at www.eclipsemusic.fi.

This article is from...
Read this article and 8000+ more magazines and newspapers on Readly
Readly Logo

Your Site Experience

We want to ensure your time on our site is enjoyable. That’s why we and our service providers gather visitor information with help from cookies. Cookies are used to analyze the use of the website, to communicate relevant marketing information and provide enhanced functionality. Of course, you can control what we collect. Find out more including how to reject cookies by pressing Adjust Settings.

Read our Cookie Policy for more information on our use of cookies.

Read our Privacy Policy for more information on our use of personal data.