Sound.

05.05.2020

Large parts of character is communicated through style – along with style, music has a significant role in shaping the beat of culture. Where you find groups of people in distinct uniforms you will find a music to go with it.

NOTE. has published two releases from Autiomaa , a music group of experimental nature. Along with the debut Animal Liberation released on tape (with download, respectfully), Autiomaa introduced more abstract sound work on Scandinavian Winter.

The group’s sound draws from the spirit of The Second Summer of Love – a time in history where depressing times were met with the idea on solidarity.

Autiomaa is set to play selected dates during 2020, adjusting the sound to communicate with the event and its nature. More about the group here.

2019 partially re-visited

05.05.2020

“I want toy tin soldiers that can push and shove.
I want gun boy rovers that’ll wreck this club.
I’ll build you up and level your heads.
We’ll run it my way, cold men and politics dead.”

The Germs – Lexicon Devil

NOTE. closed the year with a high note – most notably giving The Ultra Moderns an international flair. The 2019 Annual Report introduced our aesthetics in a wider spectrum while the shoots themselves maintained a grassroots level of working – you just do it.

The Ultra Moderns were presented in three separate Annual Report shoots internationally along with live action in Finland twice. Third live action was onstage at a rave in Berlin.

What is the Annual Report? It is a roughly year long theme which NOTE. carries out with rotating line-up in variety of modes – stills, video, live. The Annual Report seeks provide a platform that communicates with the times – and in occasions ahead of its time. Each Annual Report is given a name and a backdrop to its mentality – while style usually involves consuming, NOTE. clearly interprets style as a social thing.

The subversive element of The Ultra Moderns was that it was based fundamentally in historical events that have occurred and in return feeding them back in to the sphere of media. The story is the people, the passed time is the backdrop.

As 2020 progresses we hope to provide you with images with narrative that hold their value.

See you soon as the next Annual Report is about to come out – also have a dig at the playlist here: NOTE. aesthetics

19.8. Nothing Other Than Ethics.

27.08.2019

“I never imagine myself as anything.

I’ve never had a goal or any future vision at all. I just do what’s in front of me.”

Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Discord, Fugazi etc)

Do it yourself – a method of working that takes a lot of effort and is potentially highly rewarding. In a time and environment that is hectic and highly marketed, DIY mentality opens possibilities on how to structure your plans and at the same time calls for attention for every detail involved in the process.

The very beneficial aspect of doing it yourself is that 1. you get fresh information on your work processes – how they work and what can be changed, and 2. you can mobililize people with your information, pass it on and see what they make of it.  More than responsibility, this method of working calls for discpline -introducing the topic is fundamental as is information that everybody involved is part of the outcome equally. Combine the two and you are working for an environment that naturally reinvents itself and gives options on how to do things with people who are there to do something with you.

On mental level the method also broadens your perspective on things – hosting events and scouting for venues becomes easier as you have a clear idea what is needed to pull the event through. On wider scale it gives flexibility on choosing the venue from the ethical perspective: do you want to support the space for space alone?

Through NOTE.Open House we have steadily included more people in what we do, be it through photographing, making food in a group, facilitating the space etc, we seek to find the best possible ways of working within a system that already exists and then broadening the methods further. Giving direction is important as you start, but equally important is to take a step back and interfere as little as possible with these tasks.

Play from the heart!

17.7. “Slip inside this house as you pass by”

19.07.2019

What is NOTE.Open House?

While there is no fixed plan, there is a blueprint. The concept has largely been an outcome of NOTE.’s personal experience in the hair world, but even more influenced by the experiences of the people whose hair we have done during the years before we launched NOTE. As our craft revolves around the social nature of the appointment there is a lot of information going back and forth during that time. From that info and ideas we have been able to take in and process, we have introduced NOTE.Open House and look to evolve the event’s eclectic nature. As for as education goes, NOTE.Open House falls in that little piece of land that stands between technical education and pure fun.

Hair salons are wonderful venues – they host a huge number of people weekly and quite literally someone is either coming or going all the time. NOTE.Open House seeks to harness this to an extend where in turn of your own effort of bringing something in you get something in return. The salon as a venue and hair as media, we aim to bring hairdressing as a steady fixture of streetlife and personal style. Brands have had through history steady followers because people feel certain brands represent something that connects with their own style or ideology. As a salon you want to represent your own brand, it makes the work a lot more cohesive and creates a relaxed atmosphere – this is how your place is and this is what we do.

As NOTE.Open House started out as an open for all format, we were very anxious of what the experience would be and what would come out of that. Up until now, the format has gained us a reputation and vibe that in fact is largely based on experiencing NOTE. rather than us telling what we are. We are more than happy that we have been described as cool, stylish, provocative, smart and among other things – fun, since it is based on experience.

We mentioned in the previous post that instead of doing hairstyles we seek to give something to person’s own style. By keeping the quality of work on par you don’t really need to reinvent yourself all the time for the sake of it. Hosting events and clubs gives ample amount of info how people feel right now and what they are into. This again should point you to the direction where to look for inspiration and how to make it a part of your work. As change happens all the time, the work should fluxuate naturally along.

So, the most simple way of defining NOTE.Open House is to say that it functions as a tool that enables people to find like minded people. This in return gives way to something new that adds to the existing culture of, but gives more possibilities in whatever you want to do. Things happen and the vibe is there only if individuals contribute as one, but also as themselves to something collective that creates possibilities instead of pointing to old structures. Be the driving force and get some cool people to join in.

Remember our Berlin Diary playslist also – check it out!

12.7. “Don’t need permission for everything that you want”

12.07.2019

“Anything that you want to do, anyplace that you want to go,
don’t need permission for everything that you want.
Any taste that you feel is right,
wear any clothes just as long as they’re bright,
say what you want, ‘cos this is a new art school.
Do what you want if it takes your mind,
better do it now, ‘cos you won’t have time
and never worry if people laugh at you –
the fools only laugh ‘cos they envy you.”

The Jam – Art School

Dating back to 1977, the opening track from The Jam’s debut album In The City points out a certain philosophy of living – a new way of living. With this entry we touch the topic of why we are in Berlin, but also how did we end up here. Along with its informative content, we hope that it serves the function of inspiration as well.

NOTE.’s ethos has been quite simple – to look at history, dissect it into pieces, then look at the individual pieces and see what function they serve and how that falls back into the big picture. Simply put we are running a 24/7 critical history class in our heads where the possibility of learning never stops.

The communal aspect of working together functions in the same fashion – we’ve welcomed a number of people to be involved with NOTE’s projects and what is more important is that people have included themselves as parts of the process. You have to demand it to have it. NOTE’s aesthetics have a signature feel, but there’s no fixed plan – we do not represent a style – NOTE. represents people. Cult movement, hair underground, hippie mafia, a rock’n’roll band – all these definitions we accept, but do not carry them as badge of honours. To us NOTE. represents new culture. As modern culture is over saturated with buying and selling (products and lifestyles, respectively), it is also visible that we have reached some sort of an end.

What is new culture then? Understanding history and interpretating history are the tools, after that it gets a bit tricky :). To claim something as new is to understand that there has been an old way of the same thing. To incorporate new modes into the big picture takes effort, but more than anything it takes trust. All the people we have worked with, or hang out with face the same situation – we feel reluctant to tell you what to do, or how to do things.

To give an example:

As we decided to do The Ultra Moderns, two days prior to the shoot we missed among other things the following: location and some models. Bar Ö kindly helped with the location and we got the right people eventually. On the day of the shoot it turned out that we have very little to no light. We did have a photographer though. We asked Hilla to shoot The Ultra Moderns because we knew that she takes pictures – we hadn’t seen any, but she takes pictures so she was in. So back at the set with didn’t have any lights or equipment, not even a podium for the camera. But we did have the idea what we wanted to pass on and we had all the right people there. This is where the ideological side comes in – the nature of NOTE. is always visible, but through rather non-authoritarian lead we seek to serve the purpose of the complete picture rather than that of our own interests. It is helpful to have someone or some people who lead as leading requires responsibility. In return no one wants responsibility and control. Control is terrible, so how to rid control? Do not presents yourself as an authority, that is the easiest way. In practise it proves to be a hard task, but how we see it – through history of things, is that enabling people works. If you present yourself as someone who has an idea that needs the other person’s input, you have made yourself company. With The Ultra Moderns the aesthetics of the work set the tone, so basically whatever you bring in stylistically – way of taking the picture etc. can only enhance the experience what exactly is The Ultra Moderns. It does not change the foundation. The final pictures carried the atmosphere well into the live presentation mentioned in this article where it was noted that:

“… the Finnish hair industry has never been presented in such shocking manner while managing to be something new.”

The material used in the on-location shoot for The Ultra Moderns as a backdrop is archive material from disasters involving people – from oil spills to control. In the live presentation the vibe of the pictures lead us to use pure noise as music with jump cut style video including among other things Joan Jett being a total bad ass and the history of politics.

Still with us? Nice! The original shoot for The Ultra Moderns was done in three hours. As we have no product to sell, it is fundamental to give experiences and ideas through style and/or the ethos behind it.

Through NOTE.education we have worked to build an education system that is communal and includes information that can be perceived and used as tools. The task is to partially rework the mentality of the hair industry away from the context of buying and selling to one of experiencing and doing. The credibility comes from the quality of work, make no mistake, but who said that bringing profoundly humane elements into play somehow lessens the attraction? Do you work as a hairdresser and feel that all the effort you put in just barely breaks even? With NOTE. we want to maintain the commercial attention through quality and raise the spirit of people by simply pointing out that we can do this together, but everybody has to work for change – there is no space for free rides. NOTE.education has done their best to deliver quality seminars of their own and bring in international education to enable Finnish hairdressers to come to classes and seminars that improve skill. The venues have been chosen accordingly as we feel that in a material time we want to provide something that nurtures the spirit and again allows the vision to be broader.

Earlier this year NOTE. was granted an international funding, a project that had been in the works a long time. Through this project we simply seek to branch out – on the map, but also in the means of doing. This is the main reason we’ve landed to Berlin, the city has an extensive underground history with fairly troubled internal history to match that. It is a place where a lot is happening, but as we see it, we look at what should be happening and dive right in. Through relentless methods of planning we seek to make connections and make them pay off for everybody – this in a positive manner curates the immediate surroundings to have pleasant people and welcoming backdrop. NOTE. intents to host NOTE.Open House in Berlin that is, again something new and something very welcoming in it’s attitude towards people. That attitude hopefully becomes the new normal, until it reinvents itself again with a philosophy that matches the zeitgeist.

This is what we are and we are happy that we are all involved.

NOTE. is ____________

 

 

9.7. “The Point of It All”

08.07.2019

“What are you listening to?”

A guestion we quite often get and a topic we discuss with pleasure. With our playlists we’ve tried from the get go to give people an idea of how we are and what the vibe is. Pictures have played a huge part in history, we shape our tastes according to the visual material we get exposed to – to who or what brand we identify with, what we want to give away with our looks and what group we feel like we belong to. From books in our salon to the aesthetics we use as material in our education, there’s one thing that we highlight over anything else. This is sound.

Music,or quite simply sound as we say plays a key role in generating a feel, it’s a thing we respond to. With NOTE. we’ve aimed to incorporate craft again with art and bring something new to experince, something that is material, but has emotional value. Hairdressing has a peculiar trait in the modern world, it has a clear social element from start to finish. Between the client and the person doing their work, there is hardly a second lost.

We’ve experimented quite a lot with the stuff we listen to while practicing – from this to this and it works miracles. The ambient we use a lot in colours, with tone and depth. Noise is good because it has a solid feel and shape to it. Somewhere between the extremes exists the still emotional, but perhaps equally entertaining music that has good rhythm, nice tone and the right feel. This balance is something that we try to keep on par during the salon open hours and offer that something that makes the stay more personal. The comments have been outstanding: ” I don’t even want to read, I’ll just listen.” It’s a nice revelation, it is making feeling cool again.

So yes, we listen to variety of stuff that serves the mental and/or physical side of things, the playlists get curated through that process. We want to welcome people to a space that has ambience. Apart from that we do have rather good coffee as well.

Take care,

love –

NOTE.

6.7. The Last Week or So

06.07.2019

Starting with the Agnostic Front “Victim in Pain” 35th anniversary gig at SO36, we’ve managed to immerse ourselves in the overwhelming possibilities of live arts and music. What can be laconically labeled as underground or in wider spectrum subculture has one remarkable chararacteritic – it withstands the rabid change in mainstream culture. Underground cultures to this day leave a trail behind them and while it is possible to follow the trail back, the forward motion and cultivating into new regions is vital for survival.

With this blog in no means do we aim to appear as know it all people of all things brought up in here – parts of the content do come from the personal experience and life in the underground culture, and a big chunk comes with going and seeing things.

Before the big Techno/electronic music phenomenon in Berlin, the city was already under heavy foreign inspiration – among others The Birthday Party who not only musically, but aesthetically influenced the underground for good. Venues play a big part in subculture history and have a tendency to root the movements and ideologies presented in to something that can be a shared experience. Venues are vital in the big picture – first time arriving somewhere it is usually the first impression and dictates a big part of your exprerience from that point on. Urban Spree hosted an amazing night with gritty – dare I say, dance music. The music has apparently rediscovered itself and uses the tools of Throbbing Gristle to go deeper into the rabbit hole and define things once again – uniform, militant, unconventional, liberal and tons of fun.

With NOTE. we aim to be part of new culture, something that uses history as a tool while maintaining progressive outlook as we do not want to get caught up in old modes of living and thinking. Working as one is fundamental to our work and the communal aspect comes together with right people, right time and right place. To answer the guestion in a shortest possible manner, we are on the look out for a venue where the first international NOTE.Open House will be held. We are looking at a crossing of the hair world into the cultural sphere for good and aim to bring all of you an event that will be the “future in ten years”. Once the dates are locked, there will be an announcement on location and program – we wish to see many of you lovely people here in Berlin.

Take care,

love –

NOTE.

Kultti-Keskiviikko/Cult Wednesday: “With Extreme Prejudice.”

26.06.2019

Kultti-Keskiviikko/Cult Wednesday is a format NOTE. originally designed as a tool for staff training – along with technical work, we aim address the cultural element of the work as well. This enables us to simply be more professional in our field of work throughout the process.

We are experimenting with the format and will post some topics in this blog. Kultti-Keskiviikko (KuKe) / Cult Wednesday contains one solid topic each time – it can be anything.

Arts have played a big part in every social change, music in particular. Since there is a fair amount of attention given to the music we play at NOTE. – not only what it sounds like, but what it feels like. NOTE. salon has playlists currated by certain mood, tone, texture etc. to make the salon space to have just that – a feeling of a space. You can have a glimpse of these feels through our Spotify account and have look at the NOTE.shuffle lists. Shuffle’s consist of ten tracks compiled from the wider picture.

“The politics in music” can be taken in a way that takes us back to the rather visual late 60’s Haight-Ashbury world where the ideologies and hopes of the generation were portrayed through the singer-songwriters of the era. That eventually rocked and rolled itself into Woodstock and the association with an absolute peace movement is immortalised.

The general politics in music have existed in popular culture through it’s run, yes – but the personal, or internal politics are less seen in popular music. It is very easy to comment on the status quo, but very different to bring convention into limelight. If you read your way here, you might ask yourself is there a band we are gonna refer to? Yes – Sutcliffe Jugend. In NOTE.education we feel that Kevin Tomkins is to art what Miles Davis was to music.

Sutcliffe Jugend just recently announced to end their journey of over 35 years. Who are and what is Sutcliffe Jugend? Led by Kevin Tomkins, SJ existed in the category of their own that could land them somewhere between the experimental and extreme music. Staying totally away from the field of politics, SJ’s music is an absolute wall of first person narrative that is hard to swallow. Dealing with fundamental human issues SJ has managed to strike into the heart of things by not only challenging music, but also the concept of listening to music. Overdriven with Jungian archetypes in a soundscape that is a symbolic waste land, Sutcliffe Jugend enables you to experience the songs. It is everything and it is nothing at the same time.

Straying from conventional thought and commentary while gazing inwards, the content and context of Sutcliffe Jugend easily hold their timeless profile.

These posts are not to included in the general playlists, since they deal with topics outside of music also, but this Cult Wednesday playlist will serve the purpose of its own. The first entry into the multifaceted world of Cult Wednesday is Sutcliffe Jugend’s live clip from Paris performing Violence (upon the senses) late last year at Au-delá du Silence event – yes, we are in the front.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.

Love,

NOTE.

20.6. “I don’t have any lifestyle advice.”

26.06.2019

The cornerstones of a thing called Punk, John Cooper Clarke has carried over – and passed on the mentality of Punk through writing some of the most inspirational poems and delivering them live in a manner that just is everything.

Live poetry is a challenging task, but hearing and seeing the work spoken out it is very easy to understand the importance of rhythm, pace, timing and swag. What Jack Kerouac set out with his Spontaneous Prose, John Cooper Clarke carried the antagonism of writing into the new world.

As the title of this entry, a quote from JCC suggests, there’s no advice – but it has to have style.

To have a dig at who is John Cooper Clarke, please see his website.

Added to the Berlin Diary is the wonderful Beasley Street.

16.6. “One Step Forward”

19.06.2019

“Are you a commercialized,
grabbing at the cash-backs?
This is a time of decision –
tell me, what is your plan?”

Max Romeo – One Step Forward

Went to club Cassiopeia for their Sunday Selection Club, reggae and dancehall oriented stuff played by Djs. The vibe was nothing short of welcoming – a good handful of people experiencing music and hanging out. The club’s program can be viewed behind this link. Reggae plays an oddly distinct role in what we do, with NOTE. we aim for the narrative of work along with the aesthetic that gives us the signature style. There is much to look at in Reggae – uniform beat, distinctive air of coolness, just a right amount of toughness, re-occuring themes of class consciousness and documentary-like take on the state of things.

Culture can easily be summed up as the things you see, but there is a lot more info behind the immediate image – the reason and history of the phenomenon. In music, or perhaps through music we are able to tap into the ethical side of culture, in the case of this post food. As the discussion around food has launched itself as a stable topic, it can also be asked: “What is food actually for?” Have a look here and see a few thoughts on the issue.

Take care of yourselves and eat your greens, love –

NOTE.

Remember the Spotify list to accompany this blog, follow NOTE.Berlin Diary for a song-by-post playlist.

In the coming posts we predict graffiti, dogs and “getting into it”.