INFO

Tundra boogie unit from Finland. Est. 1998.
6 albums, 4 x 7″, thousands of kilometers.

CJBM 2018 by Sami Jaamala
Marko, Pekka, Teemu, Timo and Pentti shot 2018 in Helsinki by Sami Jaamala. Klik for hi-rez version.

From the wwww:

Skeleton Elevator reviews 2021!!

Blues News: https://www.bluesnews.fi/levyarvio_cosmojonesbeatmachine/

Sleeping Shaman: https://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/cosmo-jones-beat-machine-skeleton-elevator

Dargedik:https://www.dargedik.com/2021/05/cosmo-jones-beat-machine-skeleton.html

The Midland Rocks: https://www.themidlandsrocks.com/cosmo-james-beat-machine-skeleton-elevator/?fbclid=IwAR2LZhRzzmCf9HnZe0wJc0DjXT1XRMCjyNBCOH4eewThvWivIuM3a6FRVtM

Nousu: https://www.nousu.net/cosmo-jones-beat-machine-skeleton-elevator/?fbclid=IwAR18WVAesP0cWUgNYqWsvp8okxbNOU6UorjZT_-iq0UZIAyByL6cpNqTiag

Grind On The Road: https://grindontheroad.com/2021/05/05/cosmo-jones-beat-machine-skeleton-elevator/?fbclid=IwAR0nfBLdjnmQ-8tV1zvyRK2oB7MgJ05OTkq56UqZscxdyw8jL9wz0VdBzt0

Kulttuuritoimitus: https://kulttuuritoimitus.fi/kritiikit/kritiikit-levyt/cosmo-jones-beat-machine-vatkaa-ja-sheikkaa-tundraboogieta-tutussa-etukenossa/?fbclid=IwAR0Xps0ShdFpAF9SG2e5Yp6diDL1DqhR1ZHs280M39xaEIKZpC4YUlYAAxc

Kaaoszine: https://kaaoszine.fi/hullu-trumpetisti-arvostelussa-cosmo-jones-beat-machinen-skeleton-elevator/

Blues News 2/2015 haastattelu skannattuna (PDF / 6MB) Cosmo-bluesnews2015

“Hämmentävä yhdistelmä äärimmäisen juurevaa bluesia ja suomalaista pystymetsä-hulluutta …. hyvällä tavalla vinksahtanutta ja todella kierosti groovaavaa.” desibeli.net / 2006


BIO:

Mid 1990’s:
Pekka Pirttikangas enjoyed sitting and listening at the practice place of finnish pioneers Chop Suey. His kin Marko Lukkarinen was on guitar. Soon Pekka and Paul Staufenbiel started developing “a new band with a raw blues-spirited sound”. Marko, Torsti Tuovinen and JP Hautalampi joined soon. In 1999 Bad Vugum released the debut album “My Style Is Eurostyle” of the original CJBM line-up:

Marko Lukkarinen – backing vox, guitar
JP Hautalampi – drums
Pekka Pirttikangas – vox, guitar
Torsti Tuovinen – junk percussion
Paul Staufenbiel – keys, harmonica

The sound was unique: no bass, but fuzzy keyboards, lots of percussions, and a twisted vision of african mutant nuclear turbo-rythmh-n-b.

Denmark’s Bad Afro records released the 7″ EP “Interplanetary Cosmobile”, which sold out quickly. In 2002 the band played in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Estonia. Hot Igloo records released the scorching “Negrospiritualized” album to reap praising reviews in 2003. By 2004 JP left, and soon Paul left too. From the close galaxy of Astro Can Caravan came the musical experimentalists Arvi Hasu, Otto Eskelinen and Niko Votkin to continue the trip. In 2005 the moody album “No Matter How You Pray” came out via underground labels Zerga and Autotehtaat joining forces. More gigs came alongside the “NYC Fire / Jitterbug Swing” 7″ on Sporting Life Records. Arvi left in late 2005 and Pentti started on bass after considering for 2 seconds. Summer 2008 saw the release of “Belzeboogie” and more kilometers on the road. Then the personnel was:

Pekka Pirttikangas – vox, guitar
Marko Lukkarinen – backing vox, guitar
Torsti Tuovinen – junk percussion
Niko Votkin – drums
Otto Eskelinen – keys, sax, bass clarinet, sampler, noises
Pentti Dassum – bass, slide guitar, noises

In summer 2008 Niko handed the drumsticks back to JP. More gigs and weirdness from losing a practice space followed.

Around these times Pekka started to play some solo gigs as Pharaoh Pirttikangas. Soon there were some familiar faces backing him up, the project grew into a full band, the lyrics changed to Finnish, the Pharaoh morphed into Faarao and so started Faarao Pirttikangas & Kuhmalahden Nubialaiset.

Also Marko and JP and Torsti were constantly more active with The Country Dark, a filthy punkabilly unit led by Sonninen. Yeah, the same guy who navigated Chop Suey, and thus influenced Pekka and Paul to start CJBM. So the circle closes.

In autumn 2012 it was time for Torsti to hand over the percussion bones to Teemu Mäenpää, who was an easy choice from Astro Can Caravan times. Also Otto concentrated more on his family and his new solar jazz unit New Garden Orchestra.

So in 2013 this unit entered Pyramidi Studios for the Skunkadelicatess tapes:

Pekka Pirttikangas – vox, guitar
Marko Lukkarinen – backing vox, guitar
Teemu Mäenpää – junk percussion
JP Hautalampi – drums
Pentti Dassum – bass, noises

Skunkadelicatess was released in spring 2015 via Karkia Mistika Records and since the first pressing sold out quickly, to everyone’s joy, the second pressing is on neon-yellow vinyl.

In 2016 a cool 7″ came out with two live set regulars, “Married Woman” by Frankie Lee Sims, and “Safe As Milk” by Cpt. Beefheart And The Magic Band, honoring the masters. Once again Karkia Mistika delivers, and none other than Pertti Jarla made the cover.

In November 2016 JP decided to do other stuff, and Timo Kinnunen got the contract. You might remember him from such machines as Cleaning Women and Kometa. The bulk of their 6th album was recorded during 24-hour session in the August of 2018.

In 2019 Teemu Mäenpää moved over and T.V.O. Vänttinen (Cleaning Women, Kometa) stepped in to handle the junk percussion T.V.O. also got on with it and mixed the long hanging recordings for the forthcoming Skeleton Elevator release. The first digi-single (Mad Trumpeter) from the album was released in the beginning of 2021 by Svart Records.

More line-up changes came to be when Pentti called it quits and Paul Staufenbiel from the original CJBM line-up arrived to do the bass with his moog synthesizer.

Cosmo Jones Beat Machine 2021:

Pekka Pirttikangas – Vocals & Guitar
Marko Lukkarinen – Guitar
Paul Staufenbiel – Keyboard
Timo Kinnunen – Drums
T.V.O. Vänttinen – Percussion

Skeleton Elevator will be out on 7th of May via Svart Records.

Crank it to blow your top like a Fukushima Papa!

Emil Gibovic / NY 2021