Pastacas

20014 release ** "Estonian pop music is relatively rare to find north of the Gulf of Finland. In fact, Ramo Teder, who performs under the name Pastacas, also moved to Finland after making his album Tsaca Tsap. But more than the Finnish rural landscape that opens out of Teder's window, the songs on Pastacas' third album have been influenced by his musical background. A childhood spent in music schools and the influence of a jazz guitarist father clearly belong to Tsaca Tsap, which Ramo has mainly worked on in his home studio. Synthesizers and rhythm machines are part of Teder's music, but they don't steal the show, as he uses a lot of real instruments. In most songs, an acoustic guitar, flute or keyboards carry the melody forward. The instruments, playing in a quiet jazzy way, create an intimate and innocent atmosphere that sometimes resembles the little songs of Pekka Streng. The Estonian language may sound harsh to the unaccustomed ear, but that's not a big deal. Most of the song is run through a vocoder, and at that point the words become part of the melody."