Advanced Art was one of the pioneers of Finnish

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

founded in 1985 by Pasi Janhunen (aka Jana), Petri Huttunen (aka Pete), and Petja Valasvaara (aka Vince) in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The band themselves opened their shows claiming "we play pop", but others described their music as

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

, EBM and

electro-industrial Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...

. Advanced Art were one of the very few Finnish bands at the time to appear on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

. The band never toured extensively but concentrated on one-off

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

s, sometimes in unusual locations.

History

In 1985, Pasi Janhunen, Petri Huttunen, and Petja Valasvaara formed a music project named Authorized Version in Tampere, Finland. After producing a couple of demos, the band changed their name in 1988 to "Advanced Art" when it became apparent that local media could not spell the English name "Authorized Version" correctly. The band's early sound was decidedly synthpop in nature, but by the 90s the band honed a style of EBM that was characterized by fast sequences and "unpolished" percussion. The band brought on additional members during live shows for percussion using various metal objects specifically to achieve a "harsher" sound. After the band's

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

and indie vinyl stage

Poko Rekords Poko Rekords was a Finland, Finnish record label. It was established in 1977, but ceased operations in 2009. In the early years, Poko Rekords focused mainly on Punk rock, punk and rockabilly music and later expanded its artist range to Heavy meta ...

signed Advanced Art in 1991. The collaboration resulted in two maxi

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s and two albums. After the release of their second CD, ''Force'', the band embarked on a limited promotional tour in Sweden. Prior to that tour the band had played more than 50 shows, but not as part of an organized tour. In 1995, VUZ Records released a retrospective compilation including early demo material alongside material from fellow Finnish band

Two Witches Two Witches is a gothic rock band from Finland, formed in 1987. As with several other late 1980s bands (like Dream Theater and Nosferatu), Two Witches started basing the main part of their appearances and lyrics on vampiric imagery. The group wa ...

. The band effectively ceased activity thereafter. In 2015, the band released a pair of anthologies: ''Darkhive - The Tape And Vinyl Years'' containing demo material from their pre-Poko Records releases as well as their first 12" "Scar", and a 2 CD set entitled ''Archive'' containing 37 live and demo tracks dating back as far as 1987. ''Archive'' was released by the EK Product label, which had signed Vince & PW's band, Impackt!, in the 2010s. In 2021, Ville Brusi of Neuroactive requested an Advanced Art remix for his Aeronaut V project, resulting in Valasvaara and Janhunen reuniting in the studio to produce a remix for the track "Into Two."

Personnel

* Jana -

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

* Vince - machines, music

Past Members & Live Support

* Petri Huttunen (aka Pete) - machines, live

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Otto Kuusinen (aka Auten, Otto A) - machines, live sound engineering * Reeta-Maria Hällilä (aka Reeta) - machines, voice * Jarkko Tuohimaa (aka Factor) - machines, live percussion * P.W. - live percussion Petri Huttunen later worked with

Shade Factory Shade, Shades or Shading may refer to: * Shade (color), a mixture of a color with black (often generalized as any variety of a color) * Shade (shadow), the blocking of sunlight * Shades or sunglasses * Shading, a process used in art and graphic d ...

and

Active Media Disease Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

. Jarkko Tuohimaa was as a founding member of Finnish electronic band

Neuroactive Neuroactive is a Synthpop, Futurepop, EBM music group from Finland founded by Jarkko Tuohimaa, Ville Brusi, and Vesa Rainne. History Neuroactive was formed in 1991 by Jarkko Tuohimaa (after he left the band Advanced Art), Ville Brusi, and Vesa ...

Discography

* 1987 CS ''Abstract'' * 1987 CS ''Act now Abstr later'' * 1988 CS ''Advanced Art'' * 1988 7" "Black roses" / "No answers no solutions" (Darklands) * 1989 7" "From nothing to nothing" / "Steel" (Darklands) * 1990 CS ''Clandestine'' * 1991 CS ''Clandestine (mis)take two'' * 1991 12" "Scar" (Poko) * 1992 EP ''Time'' (Poko) * 1993 CD ''Product'' (Poko) * 1994 CD ''Force'' (Poko) * 1995 CD ''Into the Darklands - Early years 1987-89'' (VUZ) * 2015 LP/Digital ''Darkhive - The Tape And Vinyl Years'' (

Artoffact Records Artoffact Records is a Canadian/ Icelandic record label that concentrates on industrial, postpunk, heavy metal, and electronic music. The label was founded in 1999. History In 1997, Jacek Kozlowski laid the groundwork for Artoffact Records. I ...

) * 2015 2xCD ''Archive'' (EK Product)

References

External links

Artist information/discography page at CyberNoise

Advanced Art
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{Authority control Finnish electronic music groups