F-Communications Party at the Parъ.spb club

He grew up in the northernmost part of Finland in the tiny town of Kemi. It all started with Swedish radio and programs of early electronic music, as well as traditional Finnish pop and rock music. The first music styles that impressed him were new wave, synthpop, and the new romantics of the early 80s. Anything synthetic, distant, dark, cold, thoughtful, but at the same time inexplicably mesmerizing and beautiful in sound attracted the young Jori - from Visage to The Cure, from Pet Shop Boys to John Foxx. Consequently, at the age of just under 16, Jori decided to buy sound equipment and start writing music...In 1988, Jori acquired a sampler and a cheap drum machine. His early experiments were mainly influenced by his favorite Pet Shop Boys, early Italian disco-house, and Detroit's techno Derrick May. Jori himself recalls: 'I think that the fact that I had no musical education at all was my advantage. Because of this, making music was a pleasure, as I was constantly learning something new. This is one of the reasons why I constantly change my studio equipment.' To most of the people surrounding Jori, including his closest friends, his passion for modern dance music was completely incomprehensible. Jori could have easily remained in creative isolation if not for his old school friend Tuomas Salmela. Through their close collaboration, starting in the early 90s, a circle of musicians and DJs emerged in Finland, elevating this northern country to a new level of music perception and production. From this circle, talents such as Orkidea, Ender, and Mr. A later emerged...Meanwhile, another close friend of Jori, DJ Kapa, introduced Jori to the producer Ari Ruokamo. They immediately decided that they needed to record a track together. Thus, in 1993, the independent label LUMI was born, one of the first releases of which was the compilation of twelve-inch vinyl records Under Northern Ground - a mix of Detroit techno, experimental electronica, and German trance. Soon, two more compilations followed - Phosphore Phlake (1994) and The Jake Is Out There (1995). Jori recalls: 'Those early days were very exciting - holding my first vinyl in my hands and realizing that for everyone we appeared practically out of nowhere, just like the whole of Finland to the rest of the world. It was very nice to show everyone that techno and house were not just the music of big cities.' In 1994, Jori moved to the city of Oulu, where he struggled to reconcile the impossible - studying English philology at the university and overseeing a music label, while also engaging in DJing. The label was soon abandoned - despite the success of LUMI, Jori prefers to release his tracks on various foreign labels. As a result, his first releases followed on the Cari Lekebusch Hybrid label. Moreover, Cari was so impressed by the tracks from Jori, Toumas, and Ari that he decided to create a separate label specifically for 'Oulu Sound' - thus the Trainspotter's Nightmare label was born...The next step was to search for a more significant foreign label that would release not only singles aimed exclusively at DJs but also album material for a broader audience. Jori received a response from the legendary French label F communications of the well-known musician Laurent Garnier. From the 30 tracks sent by Jori, the material for the debut album 'Selkäsaari Tracks' (1996) was selected, which represented a unique combination of Detroit techno and Chicago house. At the same time, Jori began to perform live and DJ across all European countries as part of F communications promotional tours. During these tours, he was a guest at clubs such as The Rex (Paris), The End (London), Cream (Manchester), E-Werk (Berlin), Kadoc (Portugal), and Paradiso (Amsterdam)...Two more albums by Jori were released on F communications - 'The Spirits Inside Me' (1998) and his most popular album of all, 'When No One Is Watching We Are Invisible' (2000). In 2002, Jori released his last album titled 'Different' on F communications...Today, Jori Hulkkonen is one of the most active international DJs, playing every weekend in his native Finland or abroad. He is also a resident at the number one club in Helsinki, Kerma, and hosts two shows on Finland's national radio, Radio Mafia...In 2002, Jori returned to northern Finland, leaving Helsinki after two and a half years of living there. 'I'm a guy from a small town, I need peace and quiet,' he explains this move. We can expect new, even more melodic albums from this master of northern melancholy.