November 2011:  Musta Köksä are on the road, trying out their new Kuuro Kana CD material with live audiences. The audiences seem to like the songs quite a lot, and we are certainly having a good time gigging. Check out footage from Hertta, a very nice local club, and our lively audience in Alakulaus, Seinäjoki, with songs  Musta Köksä (Black Koksa) and Ruusunen.

October 2011: Schbert does so much sound for corporate video these days that he decided to set up a new company for the purpose. Welcome Bsoniq.com, now ramping up operations, several client projects completed, more to come soon. This is getting really exciting!

September 2011:  Schbert is busy editing Musta Köksä’s upcoming album tracks in his basement studio. He has the privilege to appreciate the silky voice of Milla, the band’s new female vocalist, in their sessions where they rehearse, improvise, compose, arrange and edit vocals. They can manage two songs max per session before burning out. Rewarding work!

August 2011: Had the honour of doing the multichannel field recordings for Esko Marjamäki’s gig to celebrate his new album. It was an incredibly cool gig, thee gifted musicians jamming away in an old barn that was converted to a show venue. My mate Tero and friends show the event in glorious HD video. Let’s see how the concert will reproduce in Blu-ray surround.

July 2011: Usvakone are planning an EP release. Time to dive into my cellar studio for some heavy track editing, mixing, etc. Stay tuned to upcoming gigs thru Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Usvakone/135609706482267

June 2011: Usvakone gigged in the fine bar O’Hara’s in Tampere. Great place for nice people and good beer, highly recommended. Had lots of fun with some new songs. Again shared the gig with the fabulous Jane8. Check out their awesome skillfully crafted beautiful electronica: Jane8

April 2011: Musta Köksä are recording more material for their upcoming CD. Looks like  resurrected wooden harmoniums will be a major contributor to the sounds. I am also hopelessly in love with the sound of Honecker, our harmophon. It’s pretty much like this beauty.

February 2011:  After some time in hospital, recovering from a bad leg infection, it was cool to rock in Rymy-klubi with Musta Köksä. The act is definitely coming together.

December 2011: Had very little time to learn the Musta Köksä set list. First gig appeared in something like two weeks from starting. It was cool though. Nice gig! Among other songs we did a fave of mine, Käärme.

November 2010: Schbert gets more busy, joining the great band Musta Köksä as their keyboard player. This eclectic Finnish group serves rather alternative rock with sophisticated naïveté, light yet uplifting tunes, and (for Finns) enchanting lyrics. It is an honor be member of Musta Köksä! Check out their CD RanRan.

September 2010: Usvakone did bar and party gigs with good success. It is always challenging to try to make machine-based music sound live and fresh. Our fans tell us we succeeded. This has to be to a great extent thanks to wonderful visuals by VJ Usva. See our videos: Matkamies and Armahda.

August 2010: Schbert is setting up a new exciting band called USVAKONE, busy creating their music, planning the live stage hardware, programming the synths and sequences. Will be cool to share the stage with VJ Usva. See their gig site: Usvakone

June 2010: The 100 Films project with Hannu is halfway, 50+ films done, more to come. Schbert has a couple of files ready for the next weird movie where strange ambient or ethereal soundscapes are needed. Some call it “noise”. Fair enough.

April 2010: Slowly looking at ways to play guitar live as a one man band. Would be acid jazz, drums and bass sequenced on the fly, guitar loops improvised on top. Lounge noodling may even be unavoidable. The audiences might get bored but who cares, this is for self therapeutic purposes only. Or for the sake of Art? Awww c’mon.

Feb 2010: Schbert & Arto & Arto had loads of fun live as the Kazoo, a disposable band. They played classic 80’s and 90’s disco pop Midi tunes at a private event. As usual, VJ Usva kindly provided the stunning visuals. It was fun to play synths live to a click track. More of this to come, but with less gear please. 

Jan 2010: Schbert returned to his guitar roots, playing live in their company’s internal band contest. Their band Bot.Tom did very well, getting the 2nd place and honorable mentions for their mashing up of ZZ Top with Nylon Beat with Michael Jackson with Matti Nykänen. The audience loved it too, we heard. Wow.