360 records from 2000: 27. Jimi Tenor: Out of nowhere

Country: Finland
Artist: Male solo artist
Career: recording since 1994
Language: English
Genre: Psychedelic electronica


Tenor went out of his way to make what may be the ultimate freak record of the year. He hired the Polish Orchestra of the Great Theatre Lodz to fill in the colours of his nightmarish noir/lounge/’70s symphonic soul vision, which they do like rabid volunteers on a suicide mission. The record’s almost evenly divided between abstract, instrumental sound collages (that do work!) and great trips of songs called ‘Hypnotic drugstore’ and ‘Blood on Borscht’, which manage to sound exactly as mad as their titles make you hope. Not easy listening. ‘Nowhere’ sounds like a dangerous place to visit if these are the souvenirs.

At its best: Hypnotic drugstore, Blood on Borscht, Spell