I had a very eccentric friend in high school from Finland. I haven’t spoken to him in years, but he was the greatest artist I personally knew, going on to be accepted by Cooper Union in New York City. Seriously, he was a mad genius, and I’m starting to think there might be something in the water supply of the country after stumbling upon another Finnish mad art genius. From my lurking and journeys on the Internet, I’ve happened upon a beat maker from Helsinki who goes by the username "tomppabeats" whose work makes me feel like I’ve struck aural gold. I have little experience in sound design and musical classification myself, I’ve got a terrible case of music dyslexia, but tomppabeats has fashioned a fantastic, enveloping lo-fi sound that makes one fully, peacefully feel the word “simple.”
How I happened upon this guy is in no way, shape, or form a straight line. If you’ve read other articles by me, you might have picked up that Vine is my favorite app on my phone, and it was while diving deep into the popular section of vines uploaded under the “Art” category that I found my new favorite musician. I remember seeing three or four videos that all featured his music, and the sounds haunted my ears as I let these most-viewed selections loop several times over. I was not about to be dissuaded by a long list of videos with the same audio mix, and I proceeded to dive deep into several rabbit holes to find the point of this sound’s inception. Eventually, I found an attribution to a soundcloud nom de plume and the rest is history. There was a ways of weaving in and out of six second montages, but I found a treasured gem.
The music of his four albums, two of which are discographies, the other two being the "Harbor LP"and the "tyttö ep", is extremely comforting.
This is the kind of music that plays when a camera focuses on a shot of one holding their significant other in bed on a lazy Sunday, panning back to highlight the rainy, cloudy afternoon. It’s the kind of music that plays when you’re riding the raised lines of a metro. Bandcamp user Austin1251 said, “this album makes me feel like the entire world is cold, and the only thing keeping me warm is my blanket and tomppabeats tracks” and I don’t think it can be stated any better. If you’re still here, you should give him a listen. His Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages feature all of his music, and his "Harbor LP" is actually up on Spotify. In no particular order, I’d recommend the songs “Beautiful Love,” “Monday loop,” “Being in Love with U,” “You’re Cute,” and finally, “The Way She.” Most of his songs clock in at a play time of just over a minute, so you should be able to develop a first impression between subway stops.
I give this Finn my highest recommendations. Finding anything about the man himself other than his location has proven to be incredibly elusive, so I hope this spotlight in my little corner of the world is not against his wishes. This is my way of giving credit where credit is due, and my only goal is to show off such a fantastic set of musical projects.
