Uton "Solar Spells" cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Recordings 2008)

"This one combines distant music box/ethnic melodies with sandpaper coarse shortwave tones, bursts of analogue electricity and some almost Takayanagi-esque feedback/noise constructs." - Volcanic Tongue

"Dense electric squalls, squealing tape loop compositions and spooked-out collages." - Boa Melody Bar

Uton "Tales From The Ancient Fire" cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Recordings 2008)

"This one features two complete live shows, from Copenhagen and Berlin in 2008. The sound is wilder and little more pro-Industrial than recent Uton white-outs, with monolithic machine noise, infernal drones and the vibrations of distant factories charging the air with forms and shadows somewhere between Throbbing Gristle and the original Dream Syndicate." - Volcanic Tongue

"Two live recordings, one from Copenhagen 2008 and the other Berlin, also 2008. Uton's smog and smolder at its most electric. Nice hand-made packaging." - Boa Melody Bar

Uton "Holy Burn" cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Recordings 2008)

"Edition of 60 copies self-released album from this Finnish ethnic psych/jam outfit. Five tracks that move from screaming automatic-music Fluxus-style instants to protesting post-Conrad/Cale violin noise and psychoactive small instrument trance." - Volcanic Tongue

"Recorded in 2008 in Finland using electric guitar, violin and electronics. Uton on very fine form with acid hillbilly violin, dense walls of feedback and damaged electronic chatter." - Boa Melody Bar

Uton "Attack of the Aether Sun" cs (Housecraft 2008)

"Another excellent Uton release. Side A is mostly electronics-based to begin with, exuding a poisonous cloud of drone & hum. Flute and plucked piano strings join forces later for a spooked ritual. On side B Henry Flynt-esque violin squalls away under an ear-shredding wall of high end feedback." - Boa Melody Bar

Uton "We're Only In It for the Spirit" CD (Digitalis 2008)

""We're Only in it for the Spirit" continues to trek through new worlds of sound, polishing off the once-rough edges of Uton's sound into something that acts as a beacon in the void. Dark, brooding drones for guitar and electronics flicker and fade like a distant, stellar horizon. Hirvonen is a master craftsman, and Koho is his perfect foil. The two play off each other's every move and produce an end result that rivals anything Uton has released previously. "We're Only in it for the Spirit" is a magickal piece of work." - Digitalis

Uton & Valerio Cosi - KÄÄRMEENKÄÄNTÖPIIRI cd (Fire Museum, 2007)

"Perhaps this collaboration was destined to happen, and we're overjoyed that it is happening here! Tampere, Finland's Uton (Jani Hirvonen) and Taranto, Italy's Valerio Cosi (who is ½ of Pulga after all) are two of the most creative and most prolific musicians working in experimental music at the moment, and on Käärmeenkääntopiiri, Uton and Valerio have mastered a sound that combines elements of psychedelia, free jazz, krautrock, environmental sounds, drones and more for an ecstatic listening experience.
A mélange of electronic and acoustic instrumentation, sounds here collide and join together as naturally as the coming of the tides. By turns meditative and forceful, introspective and extroverted, all the while commanding undivided attention from the listener. This is experimentation that remains inviting even in its darker passages.
2007 has been a banner year for both of these musicians, and this release finds them in top form, creating a work that shows exactly why they are in such high demand. Käärmeenkääntopiiri will leave you hoping this is the beginning of many more collaborations between these two" - Fire Museum

"Long-distance duo collaborations seem to be the flavor of the day in the Italian underground. This time we find Italy's Valerio Cosi teaming up with Jani Hirvonen in musical circles best know as Uton. Käärmeenkääntöpiiri is a gloriously soft-spoken soundbath installation based around all things droning, but this is so much more than just another timeless drone so don't let that scare you away. Exploratory and glacial, but ever-changing, soundscapes constructed from guitars, saxophone, electronics, organs, effects, strings, field recordings, percussion and all sorts of noises move like dark cosmic clouds across a dense galactic plane. It's strange that these sounds somehow make me think both of some cosmic whirlpool and the unconditional love of a hidden valley. I guess what I am trying to say is that this disc manages to stand with both feet on the leaf covered forest floors but also aim for the stars. Blend all this with elements of psychedelia and distant traces of free jazz and you get yourself a release that touches deeper than most recordings ever will" - Mats Gustafsson / Broken Face

"If you are looking for a soundtrack to meditate to, and then to help you return to the temporal plane with a burst of renewed frenzy, here ya go. Experimental music veterans Jani Hirovnen (Uton) and Valerio Cosi have collaborated here on a grand scale. "Kaarmeenkaantopiiri" is a humble but at times majestic and noisy affair, that incorporates found sounds and minimal drone with psych and krautrock hubris.
The centerpiece of the record is the fifteen minute opener, "Silmaympyrakolmio," which introduces many of the themes to be explored, and then explores them with the most passion to be found on the four song set. Yet "Hetken Aika (Kolmessa Maailmassa)", "Kiertoilmakristalli," and the final track, another fifteen plus epic, "Yhdentekeva," hold their own and deepen the colors assembled on the palate by the first tune.
What does it all mean? "Kaarmeenkaantopiiri" is a powerful release, and like most of life, the fact that the road map here is presented in incomprehensible words--at least for Western adepts-does not detract from the mood that urges one on to higher planes. Uton and Cosi bring a bag of magic tricks to these improvs and drones, and we are wise for digging in and giving them some of our space. 7/10" - Mike Wood / Foxy Digitalis

AMEBA ILLUSIONS - cdr (American Grizzly, 2007)

"New seven track album from this European avant/trance unit with the kind of weirdly synthesized melody lines and dunting micro-percussion that might make you think of the whole Cluster/Harmonia family given a more mind-phasing, occult make-over. Totally eerie and the perfect late night soundtrack." - Volcanic Tongue

BACKGROUD MUSIC FOR SILENCE - cdr (RuralFaune, 2006)

"Latest missive from these Finnish forest freaks, who continue to churn out, utterly mesmerizing otherworldly murk, every record as weird and wonderful as the last.
Background For Silence is two tracks, nearly fifty minutes, of Uton at their most subtle and understated, a muddy ambient swirl of sound, simple strummed guitars smeared into streaks of grey and brown, draped over a strange mechanical whirring, the sounds eventually blending into a warm droning shimmer, while over the top drift little crackles of feedback, crumbling clatter, various creaks and thumps, and barely audible voices. None of those extraneous sounds detract from the static mesmer though, with the drone eventually taking on more of an electronic vibe, with the guitar and whir being joined by layers of static and glitchy hiss, all blurred into a single slow shifting expanse of dark ambience.
The second track is even more minimal, with the same sound somehow muted into a mumbled low end drift, while a minimal melody is played out over the top by an oscillating tone that buzzes in and out like a tiny swarm of electronic insects. Before too long however, the track becomes more lively, as the sound expands to include bits of clatter, chimes and percussion, low end guitar thrum, wheezing keyboard, skronking horns, fluttering flutes, bits of FX and processed voices, the sound becoming distinctly more 'free folk' than strictly dreamy and droney." - Aquarius Records

LIVE IN DEATH - cs (Bread & Animals, 2007)

"Everything I had heard by this band previously was deeply vague, hushed, Finnish intimacy. So I wasn't prepared for this. A paint-soaked 1-sided CS collecting 3 wild live recordings from shows in France and...somewhere else (the writing/info is mainly illegible), Live In Death finds Uton in a far more fucked and confrontational headspace. The "Live in Paris" jam builds from standard Fonal-style post-folk clatter into a racing, ritual frenzy dense with electric menace and group death focus. Easily the single most powerful Uton recording I've ever heard. The second piece, "Live in Reims," is even more fried and wigged-out, with freaky exorcism vocal convulsions and shuddering tonal meltdowns. In person, this must've KILLED. Senselessly, the insert is covered with elementary school squirrels nibbling on nuts. Oh, Lieven" - Cassette Gods Reviews

HIGHWAY NATION - cdr (Barl Fire, 2006)

"Quite possibly the most haunting and lovely record yet from these mysterious Finnish free drone explorers. While on other records, Uton have dabbled in more cacophonous noise rock and clattery free folk, Highway Nation is purely a dreamy drone record, deep, dark and utterly sublime. Each track a mysterious sonic drift through a slow shifting soundscape of barely shifting shimmer, Like sitting on a mist enshrouded mountain top, watching a huge freighter drift by, way out at sea, the churning sound of the water, and the thrum of the freighter's engines reduced to a murky murmur. Elsewhere, bits of bowed metal spread out into glistening sheets of upper register whir, dense with subtle overtones and buried melodies. So serene and delicate, abstract and ethereal. The sort of perfect ambient dronemusic that should most definitely appeal to fans of Coleclough, Chalk, Wright (Peter AND Nigel), Mirror, Seht, and similar minded sound sculptors..." - Aquarius Records

LIVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD - cs (Black Horizons, 2007)

"Attention FINNISH music FREEKS!!! Maybe most Finnish bands are crazy prolific, but one of our favorites keeps a much lower profile, the mighty Uton. It's been a little while since we heard from these guys, but as always, well worth the wait. Expansive and abstract, Uton create baffling alien universes of sound, minimal, but somehow dense and alive. Here's it's distant skree and mysterious scrapes, hissy clouds of static, reverb drenched melodies sent careening into the black void, rhythmic crunch and deep cavernous swells, subtle rumblings and washed out ambience. Gorgeous and haunting, creepy and amazing, of all the Finnish groups, we're still a little surprised that more folks aren't freaking out more about these guys.
As if that weren't enough, the flipside is just the A side in reverse, a glorious gorgeous dizzying warbly backwards world of sound, and you know how much we love backwards sound!! Way recommended." - Aquarius Records

PSEUDOHUMANOID - cdr (PseudoArcana, 2004)

"From the wilds of Finland, via the wilds of New Zealand, comes this burbling cauldron of pagan-free-folk-noise from the mysterious outfit known as Uton. Jewelled Antler released a three inch cd a while back, but this full length really allows Uton to do what they do best, spread waaaaay out, and unfurl a thick spiky carpet of jangle and shimmer, amplifier grit and instrument buzz, clumsy primitive percussion, and creepy ambience. Finnophiles are probably already hip to these guys, but for all of you into No Neck, Thuja, Sunburned Hand and all things drone-y and Krautrocky, check this out!" - Aquarius Records

WHISPERS FROM THE WOODS - triple cd (Last Visible Dog, 2005)

"Once again, the very patient prevail. Or at least the folks who weren't lucky enough to catch any of these super limited cd-r's first time around. A massive triple disc collection that gathers about three hours of early releases from Finland's Uton. Sonically similar to their Finnish free folk brethren (Avarus, Anaksimandros, Kemialliset Ystavat, etc.), Uton specialize in wild and wooly, primitive free forest jams. Clattery rhythms, music box melodies, spaced out guitar echo, minimal vocalization, skronking horns and plenty of droning and rattling and scraping and thumping. Like a krautrock band that was left in the forest by it's parents and raised by wild woodland creatures. Epic and expansive sonic explorations, as spaced out as they are earthbound, soaring otherworldly freakouts collide with centuries old primal sound, to create a totally organic, totally alien wonderful world of sonic experimentation, sometimes percussive and propulsive, sometimes shimmery and dreamlike, sometimes crashing and pounding, sometimes gentle and mysterious but always completely mesmerizing and amazing! Quite possibly one of our Finnish faves! And that's saying a lot!" - Aquarius Records

"Imagine for a moment... you are walking through a dense forest, the day is coming to an end and soon it will be dark. Around you strange animal calls howl through the trees as the sun slips behind the horizon you can barely glimpse. Warmth from the sun is evaporating quickly and a chill now occupies the air. As the light fades a wind starts to build, slowly at first but with ferocious intent. You are lost, hopelessly and impossibly lost. Every branch looks the same, the path worn out and indistinguishable in the night. Repressed fear starts to grip you, fear turning to unacknowledged terror, the prickles on your skin merging with the shivers from the increasing cold. A blanket of darkness slowly descends from the tree tops rolling down towards you. As each layer of trees become dark they become alive with dancing fireflies, calls across the treetops and the creak of movement. Soon it will be black, not dark, but all enveloping blackness with even the stars removed from sight. Then you become aware, aware of lights that are not stars, lights that are eyes, eyes of slit yellow, of the infernal looking intently towards you. The calls of these infernal manifestations, the forest children chatter out in exultation for this is their domain and humanity has no meaning here anymore.

Thunder rips apart the sky but comes as a brief respite until little cracks down and for a second reveals the full abominable physical horror surrounding you, until this terror filled sight is mercifully ended. You try to run but immediately hit a tree, fall down in sharp pain and brush against something furry squirming in excitement. Over a period of seconds, things begin to move across your skin, your primal screams of stark dread useless and lost in a second. Tongues begin to lick the pores and hairs of your limbs. Soon you will be theirs and thankfully this will be over until you wake again...knowing the forest children wait again as you drift to the disturbed sleep of the dark woods...your hands gripping the bed you are lulled to sleep by a feral music coming from unseen speakers. You cannot resist any more and hear the calls of the forest in your ears. As you fade away the last sight is the word 'Uton'......

Over the last few years the term 'forest folk' was coined to describe a kind of unrestricted improvised music which felt as though it came from and belonged to the forest. This music had little structure to speak off and was formed from soundscapes using acoustic instruments, hand drums, reeds, blown pipes, stones and whatever else seemed appropriate. In particular this music was to be associated with the plethora of musicians coming out of Finland. Whilst a cliché it is perhaps an understandable one, the majority of Finland's landscape is unchanged forest. It is true that many of these musicians come from the cities with little exposure to this but still there does seem to be an intuitive connection. It is not the literal forest that matters, but the idea of forest as preserved, unchanged places, of imagination and freedom that is more important. This is especially true in the case of Finnish musician 'Uton'.

This 3 CD retrospective covers Cdrs issued on labels such as Haamumaa, Hammasratas and Jewelled Antler between 2002 and 2004, the formative years of the artist's emergence. These obscure Cdrs and compilation inclusions document a music that is further out than almost any other artist. There is no sense of restriction here and the use of the forest in imagery and album title is deliberate. Inside the booklet are pictures of empty woods, almost seen creatures, lonely humans and arcane symbols made from twisted wood. This immediately links back to the original 'Blair Witch Project' film and it is that building dread and realisation of being utterly out of civilisation that is so powerful to Uton. The pieces will quite honestly send many people screaming, so stark are they. But they document a head clearing, an ability to mentally leave behind the compliance and conformity of society and even musical structure. Instead they occupy that space in the woods and in truth aren't all dread filled, many are soft evocations with moments of delightful melody. But let us not deny how strange and alien to our culture much of this music sounds.

It is as though someone has written symphonies to the animals, the unseen, the noises at the edge of our perception, the thickets where thorns tear at the skin, where birds fly just out of vision. That is why I started this review as I did, it is easier to describe this music in terms of the writing of Algernon Blackwood than it is in terms of The Incredible String Band or Espers. Describing individual music pieces would be both impossible and pointless as they merge into the air and change like the weather in slow movements. Over the course of three Cds, left on as you go about your life the Cds almost merge with the atmosphere and become unnoticed but with an altering of the air around you. On this page the closest comparison would be Thuja and it is therefore not surprising that one of the Cdrs included was issued on their 'Jewelled Antler' imprint. Both artists work broadly in improvised acoustic music. Of the two Thuja's is a lighter, slightly more accessible music but for most that will be like talking about degrees of pain.

There are those like myself who are drawn to this music, for whom it feels as much a compulsion as a choice. There is a physicality to the imagined forests Uton conjours. Indeed this does not feel like music composition and sounds like the outcome of aural alchemy, working with the air and trees themselves. Some of the recent releases have decidedly softened the music, taken it into calming even pastoral areas and these are beautiful essential releases. As 'Sunmilk' he has also gone even further out and with his children made a free folk music of bark licking, demented yellow eyed children.

However here the story begins and what an unsettling one it is. Whether liked or loathed it will not be forgotten. You may think this a strange or pretentious review, which reflects the difficulty of describing a music which has no structure or genre and for which we have no language. The question is not whether it will take you to these dark woods, the question is can you leave again when you want to? " - Unbroken Circle

"It takes a certain kind of label to release a massive triple CD set with a relatively unknown Finnish experimentalist. Providence, RI-based Last Visible Dog is such a label and I love them for that very reason. That pretty much every single thing they choose to put out is sonically amazing is almost beside the point. What's important is that there are no visible or invisible barriers, no restrictions about Last Visible Dog, just passion for peripheral sounds and a willingness to spread the gospel about artists that are incredibly talented but somehow remains criminally overlooked. All this is very much the case with Uton, the home for Jani Hirvonen's solo music. Whispers from the Woods is despite its magnitude, a perfect introduction to this overlooked sound champion as it beautifully displays the different aspects and sides of his solemn but somewhat claustrophobic drones, meandering electronic soundscapes, clattery rhythms and plucked acoustic instrumentation.

This collection contains everything from 'Taman Sanan Jalkeen' (CD-R released on Haamumaa in 2002), all of 'Mika Kasvaa Maan Sisalla' (CD-R released on Hammasratas in 2003), all of the Jewelled Antler-released 'Ay Um Au Lam,' five rare compilation tracks and six previously unreleased tracks. Over the span of more than three hours of recordings Uton turns on a pretty fantastic ancient drone machine that conjures spacious yet occasionally harsh sounds, which land somewhere between the thermal pools of southern New Zealand and the Finnish woodlands. Hirvonen doesn't turn the machine off until your mind is transported to down under, or at least to some sort of unknown and mysterious realm. In its best moments this is just as good as the crown jewels from Flies Inside the Sun's repertoire and its various off-shots, but you're as likely to hear Coil or the organic sound textures of some of the early Krautrock explorers when listening to this. Vibracathedral Orchestra-like droning strings wrestle with minimal guitar scratchings and flutes, and although remaining on the difficult side of fringe music, this still works like balsam for the warped mind, and its organic qualities are as mesmerizing as they are surprising. - Mats Gustafsson / Terrascope

ZWUIJ - 3"cdr (Jewelled Antler, 2004)

"The Jewelled Antler collective offers another record outside their immediate ranks of Thuja and company. Although they've had a couple of CD-R releases popping up from tiny labels around the globe, this is our introduction to Uton. This anonymous, acoustic-noise-drone band hails from Finland, although they seem far more at home within the New Zealand community of Birchville Cat Motel, Anthony Milton, and Handful of Dust. "Zwuiji" is the 7th in the continuously impressive "Library Series" of 3" CD-Rs from Jewelled Antler, but is a bit more grating than most from the collective which typically opiates themselves with hazy improvised psychedelia and obtuse folk renderings. Rather Uton revels in mistreating their electric gear in order to fill up the audio specturm with buzzing drones that swarm out of their amplifiers like angry wasps. Scratchy violins and atonally shifting wind instruments hover behind these gritty walls of vibrating feedback which comes across more as a misaligned engine block rattling all of those tones inside your head than as a typical trick with a couple of effects boxes." - Aquarius Records