Jori TJ Kemppi

Hailing from the coastal town of Pori, Finland, his chosen method and instrument - the home computer - set Jori TJ Kemppi slightly aside from the innovative alternative rock bands his home town is well known for. However, he finds these practitioners of more traditional instrumentation far closer to himself in spirit than the great majority of the DSP generation. IDM, glitch, microsound; anything with the suffix "core"; none of these apply to Jori's compositions. Rather, he aims for grandeur - visceral images and powerful emotions - things that many jaded people of today would label "pretentious".
Taking cues from such renowned soundtrack masters as Badalamenti, Carpenter and Goblin, as well as such central figures in contemporary moody electronic music as Amon Tobin and Ulver, Jori's work does have a certain cinematic element to it at times. However, he refuses to describe his work as "soundtracks for imaginary films" - a label that is too often these days attached to all sorts of music with any kind of atmosphere or drama without giving a second thought. His pieces are musical compositions in their own right, and should work as such. Simple as that. Any further associations shall be left, as they say, as an exercise to the listener.