Radio
Banana
by Aki
Peltonen
ReR Megacorp, Thornton Heath, Surrey,
UK/Denver CO USA, 2005
CD. $13
Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher
Saginaw Valley, State University, University
Center MI 48710 USA
mosher@svsu.edu
In the first cut on this jolly, likeable
album, Petri Hisses' drums set up a New
Orleans march beat. Atop that Aki Peltonen's
accordion is plaintive, calling up the
instruments inevitable Gallic or
Parisian associations. They are met with
horn blasts, and wrap it up Brazilian-style.
The second cut, "Accordion and Drums"
(track names are merely descriptive),
evokes lazy boats on the Seine and sunny
afternoons like the September weekend
on which I write this,
The third piece speeds in like a 1970s
TV soundtrack, big band jazz underscoring
a raid by police in plaid blazers, Afro
hairstyles, and big sideburns. No, now
its a Mexican or Latin American
television dance show. Peltonen's accordion
is skillful, like Hammond organ, in the
way it keeps up gamely with the "orchestra",
and inevitably sounds European. Listed
among the CDs instrumental ingredients
as "MW-radio", a radio dial (one more
20th century anachronism) is turned, skipping
over static and near and distant channels.
This trope of electroacoustic music, Peltonen's
musique concrete tomfoolery, barely distracts
from the festive mood.
The solo accordion "Finnish Waltz" would
serve a sad and lonely Emmett Kelly clown
performance, dodging a curious dream that
threatens to subvert the accordionist,
who maintains his balance against winds
of upset and the risk of tumbling into
cacophony. Here the instrument is both
virtuoso and slightly tipsy. When we hear
an alleyful of honking brass, we expect
it to end, but Aki Peltonens plucky,
valiant accordion roller skates back in
and around the squabbling horns.