Nieminen & Litmanen

Cool isn’t what it used to be.
Nowadays everyone just tries to be cool, hardly ever succeeding at it. The thing is that if you are truly cool, you don’t need to try.
Nieminen & Litmanen don’t try. They are COOL.
This duo with only Hammond organs and drums, have just released their long awaited debut album, filled with music that they call Scandinavian Action Jazz. Their music is very hard to categorise but it’s definitely Scandinavian, it’s Action and it surely is Jazz. If you want to learn more about this band, read on.
Nieminen & Litmanen was formed on a dark autumn night in Helsinki on the year 2001. The first song they ever rehearsed was Lasse Mårtenson’s ????? which they performed at a legendary club Mocambo as a side show to the band Hypnomen.
Even though Lasse Mårtenson was they’re first choise of music to play, their greatest inspiration for the band was the Swedish Hansson & Karlsson – a similar duo from the 60’s which was loved, among others, by no other than Jimi Hendrix himself. The simple thought behind this all was: “well, if they do it, why can’t we, as well?!”. Forming a band is no rocket science…
It’s hard to put their music in traditional boxes; they rock, they roll and they do the boogaloo, but that’s only a part of the story. There’s psychedelia, groove and strong melodies as well. The single most defining factor is, of course, the sound. The sound of Hammond organs and a beaten up Gretch drum set . Less is more, which of course is something one cannot say about them organs that weigh over 200 pounds.
Even though the membership account in this club is not many, their sound is by no means anything comparable to the small size of the band. The big sound of the mighty Hammond and the drums leaves the listener in awe as it’s hard to believe all this sound comes from only two men and their instruments. Especially live, this set up opens up many opportunities for improvisation and unexpected happenings. The most important thing of course being that not a single person in the room cannot NOT dance when this duo is doing their thang, ‘cause it’s a butt swinging thang - that’s a promise!
Nieminen & Litmanen’s first release was a split 7” with The Mutants in 2002. At the end of the 2003 they recorded their debut album directly to 2-track tape machine in a classic style that paid respect to the jazz greats. It was released in May 2004 by Grandpop Records to massive critical acclaim and impressive sales.
This band is a regular live attraction in their home country and they also played at Popkomm 2004 in Berlin to an audience that experienced that “love at first sight” thing we always want to discover over and over again. Nieminen & Litmanen have also done gigs with the Finland’s best female singer, Jonna Tervomaa, singing traditional songs arranged bare and beautiful.

Nieminen & Litmanen webpage