Skip to main content
Tag

flyers

Interview for Solaris International

By UncategorizedNo Comments

In addition to making a guest mix for Solaris International some days ago, I answered a couple of questions regarding my past, present & future.

The full interview is pasted below, but feel free to check the original one at Solarstone forums

(If you’re more into reading an interview in Finnish, I recommend checking out Kehto interview.)

This week, we interview Juska Wendland, better known as DJ Orion. Hailing from Finland, he offers us some insight on blogging and ginger. Read on!

Solaris International: Go ahead and give us a little background info…How you got started, in music, then in DJing, and so on.

Orion: I went to my first raves in 1994 in the industrial city of Tampere, Finland. Big raves attracted thousands of youngsters every month there, but the warehouse culture was also very active. That was something totally new for a young kid like me and I got hooked in the music & techno culture relative early. I went out actively, got to know new people, helped my friends organizing and cleaning up the venues and later ended up organizing my own parties.

Now, 15 years later, I’m hosting a radio show on Finnish National Radio (YleX), working at Misc. Management which is the oldest DJ Booking Agency in Finland (www.misc.fi), producing events, DJing and writing chill-out tracks with my brother, J.Shore. It’s lots of work but I’m happy it still gives me the same kicks as when I was a youngster.

SI: I’ve noticed you have a pretty busy blog (www.djorion.fi) with all sorts of neat stuff! Care to give us a guided tour?

Orion: I’m happy I’ve lately seen several DJs and artists starting blogging. Sharing inspiring or fun stuff is often much more interesting than a monthly newsletter or an announcement of the upcoming gigs. After all, artists and DJs are the professionals of the scene – they find often the coolest music, videos and trends first. But why do so few share that stuff to everyone?
The blog @ www.djorion.fi has been running since 2002 and has given me a chance to express my ideas and opinions about the electronic music world, but also to share some entertaining videos & articles which I’ve run into. Some of my favourite topics are copyright, future of music business and flyer art (there’s my digital flyer collection of over 2000 items @ http://bit.ly/orionflyers). I’ve heard that also several people who aren’t that interested in my music still follow my blog, which is just great.

SI: Tell us about a particularly memorable gig.

Orion: Finland is the land of opposites – I’ve been playing at -20C outdoor events and +30C indoor events, but I think I choose the warmer memory here :)
There’s an annual event called Pacifique organized in Espoo, right next to Helsinki. Pacifique is organized in the biggest indoor waterpark in Scandinavia, with 4 different stages, dozens of artists, tropical climate and over 2000 clubbers going crazy in the huge pools. Here’s a nice photo gallery:

http://www.sessions2.com/galleries.php?gallery_id=295&pic_id=103

I’ve been playing there for 3 years in a row and I think it’s easily the most fantastic clubbing experience one can get.

SI: Why did you choose to start producing chill-out tunes?

Orion: For two reasons: I wanted to try something new as a music producer than what I’ve been going as a DJ and I wanted the results to be something which could stand the test of time.
Today the lifespan of an electronic music track is really really short. It’s kind of sad that many good tracks are being hyped only until they are released and after two weeks they are forgotten. I still remember running after some hard-to-find vinyls for months and once I got a copy, the tune stayed in my record bag for the next 6 months – that’s hard to imagine happening anymore. I want to make music which still sounds fresh after years and which doesn’t follow any trends.

I very rarely play chill-out when I DJ – both my radio shows as well as DJ gigs are more prog house / trance influenced. I don’t like being categorized by the music I play or produce. When I started in 1994, there were no “house DJs” or “trance DJs,” it was all about techno or electronic music. And still today, I think people who see themselves as electronic music artists have free hands, they don’t need to think “I’m a deep house producer, I can’t play or produce music like that.”

SI: Alright, now for some non-business questions:
Name one piece of technology you dislike.

Orion: Windows PCs.

SI: Name a vegetable you love or hate.

Orion: Does ginger count as a vegetable? I love it.

SI: You see a coin on the ground. Do you pick it up or shrug it off?

Orion: Pick it up.

SI: What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?

Orion: Psychology.

SI: Finally, what is the biggest influence in your life?

Orion: My son Nils.

SI: Alrighty, thanks for taking the time, and here’s to a great future!

Orion: Thanks a lot!

Tag a flyer.

By MainNo Comments

Probe, Helsinki, 1992

There’s a nice collection of Finnish Flyers and electronic music articles online on Flickr, say, over 1800 of them.

Now, we would need your help.

When you browse the collection, please add any describing tags to the flyers. Anything will do, names, years, cities, performers, designers etc…

That’s what makes the collection easier and more effective to browse and search. The more the tags, the better.

You need to be logged in in order to add tags.

And yeah, just searching is lot of fun. Try these or make your own searches:
Flyer oldskool Helsinki
Flyer miau
Flyer Turku
Flyer Labyrinth
Flyer Pussy

If you have any Finnish flyers or articles which you would like to be added to the collection, please let me know.

Gradu valmis :: Flyer – Valtamediaa marginaalikulttuurissa

By Civilian life, DJ, MusicNo Comments

Flyer – Valtamediaa marginaalikulttuurissa

Pro Gradu on valmis. Flyer – Valtamediaa flyerikulttuurissa on ensimmäinen suomalaiseen flyerikulttuuriin perehtynyt työ, joka tutkii flyeriä nimenomaa mediailmiön näkökulmasta. Gradu on nyt ladattavissa .pdf-formaatissa.

Mikä on flyerin historia? Entä tulevaisuus? Toimiiko flyereiden katujako? Mistä flyereitä löydetään? Millaista kuvakieltä flyereissä käytetään? Millainen on flyerin elinkaari? Miten Etelä- ja Pohjois-Suomen flyerikulttuurit eroavat toisistaan? Millainen on flyerin suhde muihin medioihin?

Read More

Flyers

By In English, LinksNo Comments

As this blog and the main page is getting more and more visitors from abroad (Spain, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, US, UK, Russia etc…), I started to think it would be a good idea to share some thoughts also in English.

I spent the Sunday afternoon in Flickr making it easier to browse the online flyer collection which I have there. First I uploaded over 50 new flyers and then tagged most of the flyers and sorted them by the city.

It means that now you can easily see some Finnish flyer art and compare the art of clubbing in different cities.
Try it: Flyers from Rovaniemi, Oulu, Haapavesi, Helsinki, Tampere, Turku , Kalajoki and Raahe. Or just see Flyers from Northern Finland or All Flyers. And my favourite: Oldskool flyers.

While searching for the new flyers to add, I found some nice pieces of art. Take a look:

Katharsis-event in Helsinki – really simple and quite unusual style. Only two colours on the front side and three on the back. If I remember right, their club Rauta had more or less the same style. I wish I’d see more of these.


Discomob in Helsinki. I’m always wondering is club Miau! really the only club in Finland brave enough to use humour on their flyers. This one is a good try – makes you at least read the flyer :) I can’t say whether all this “application”-stuff takes the focus away from the real content – the event information – but at least it’s different.


Aeroloft, Helsinki. This “arrival”/”departure” idea has been used a million times but somehow I like the simplicity of this. Mixing Finnish and English isn’t probably the best idea and this air hostess / nurse mixture is quite confusing, but still… OK, this might still need some improvement, but it succeeds to be relaxing. The logo reminds me of the Russian flag, though. Weird, eh?

Oldskool-flyereitä

By Photos & VideosNo Comments

Suuri kiitos Pi:lle – sain häneltä käsiini muutamia vanhoja flyereitä Helsingistä ja Rovaniemeltä. Vanhat flyerit Helsingin tapauksessa tarkoittavat vuosia 1992-1993 ja Rovaniemen tapauksessa oldskool on vuosissa 1996-1998. On hauska nähdä, miten flyeritaide on vuosien mittaan muuttunut – ja ennenkaikkea miten tapahtumia ja artisteja on markkinoitu aiemmin.

Jos siis flyeritaide kiinnostaa sellaisten klubien ja tapahtumien kohdalla kuin Destroit, Union, Airave, Temple, Members of Mayday tai Rovaniemen kohdalla House Delight, Sonic Warehouse, White House, Monttu, Flow jnejne, niin tsekkaa allaolevat linkit.

>>>Kaikki flyerit (vanhimmat löytyvät tällä hetkellä alimpaa)
>>>Vain Pohjois-Suomen alueen flyerit
>>>Oldskool-flyerit