No one can doubt that Finland is on fire musically at the moment! The last couple of years have seen the likes of Carbon Based, Proteus (Worlds No, 1 hard dance DJ) and Alek Szahala all become regular faces at dance events all over the world, including Australia. Well, the next cab off the Finnish ranks so to speak is a man called Ville Sorsa, aka DJ RX.
You haven’t heard of him you say! Well, don’t worry, because after this weekend, he’ll be the talk of old Melbourne town! Just like Proteus and Szahala before him, Sorsa was brought up on the metal/punk culture that seems to be so popular with the Fin’s – and just like Proteus and Szahala, RX also crossed over to the finrg sound. “It’s because the two different music styles are actually still so much the same,” explains Sorsa on the similarities. “They are very different, but there is a crossover between them that makes it an easy path for people from the subcultures.” Both styles also share the same gothic look that every Finnish artist seems to embrace also. “Yeah, I reckon the whole goth culture is very popular at the moment in Finland, and it’s not only the hard dance scene that uses the goth look, it’s also the metal scene and it’s a popular look through most music genres in Finland right now. I do get into the look a bit myself,” says Sorsa. “Not as much as Alek Szahala or Lab 4 say, but it’s within our scene and it’s a very easy way to fall into it.”
And it’s not just the outfits that have a dark feel to the Fins, as anyone who’s ever heard a Finnish DJ will attest to. It’s the music as well, that combines the dark and evil with the uplifting and euphoric at the same time. “I reckon it’s because of the texture and the culture, the long dark nights during the winter and the 24/7 bright time during the summer time,” explains Sorsa on the combination of the two sounds. “I think that this reflects the music. We have two very different seasons and feelings that come with this ... it produces different sounds and emotions when we’re making our tracks. It just felt right to do it this way. I mean, why do just dark, or uplifting, when you can embrace both styles and do them within your sounds … all styles of electronica!”
RX has been producing tunes for a while now, with his track, Frozen Flame – arguably his breakthrough tune - having appeared on several compilations including his very own hugely successful Codex series. I’m informed that more releases are imminent this year too. “There is going to be a new release coming out very soon called Hellfire,” confirms Sorsa. “And it will find its first release by the man himself, DJ Proteus. There will be another coming out, Code of Silence, by the end of this year too. I have also made collaborations with Carbon Based and Ephexis … I reckon they will be released by the end of the year.”
As an outlet for all this new Finish music, FiNRG Recordings was created … little did they know back then just how big their sound was to become, as we’re told. “We started off about five years ago,” says Sorsa. “I was roughly 22 when we started the actual FiNRG Recordings partnership … we had no fucking idea how to run a label, but we saw that it was important to release this kind of music, as there was no one else doing anything like it. We really wanted to make sure our sound was heard and that we got Finland on the map as hard dance and freeform producers with our own unique sound.”
And it’s that unique sound that has been going down very well with the Australian audiences; a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by RX and the rest of the Finnish crew. “It’s taken years to build up the whole thing, but suddenly the whole Finish sound has hit really big in Australia and the UK, and it’s just exploded,” says Sorsa. “We didn’t expect that our sound would be so popular, especially in Australia, the other side of the world. We really want to thank you - the Australian audience for the support and embracing our music in such a good way, which has brought us here! It’s amazing to be here, and we’re just hoping that everyone who is interested in our music will make it to our gig and see us play live. It’s gonna be annihilation! We’re gonna do some serious dance floor damage, expect a stage show that you have not yet seen!”
Catch RX along with Organ Donors, Chris Liberator, Energy Dai at Pharmacy vs Hard Kandy this Friday July 7 at The Metro.
