Tahmela Six, Hatka and Oresme media mentions
Recent press round-up: reviews and features for Mustik Motel artists across print various media.
UK Vibe – Steve Williams
- Tahmela Six: Alight – UK Vibe
- 4/5 stars
“The band, the album and the label are creating something worth keeping.”
“This is jazz — it is simply their way of exciting us, and nothing about it is typical.”
“No studio walls, no isolation: wind, insects and sheer distance are part of the record, and with nothing to bounce the sound back, the six are audibly listening to one another across open ground.”
Valon Kuvia – Jukka Piiroinen
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Valon Kuvia (in Finnish)
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Valon Kuvia (in English – google translate)
“Birdsong, insect buzz and the hum of wind become part of a shared, open soundscape.”
“The beautiful free jazz of the Tahmela sextet absolutely belongs on Valon kuvia’s 2026 listening recommendations list.”
Jazzrytmit – Osku Rajala
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Jazzrytmit (in Finnish)
- Tahmela Six: Alifht – Jazzrytmit (in English – google translate)
“Altogether a fine, tasteful serving of free jazz — made without ‘limits’, in a healthy rural landscape.”
“Check it out!”
Lux – DJ Bunuel
North Star Sounds
- Tahmela Six: Ground VI – North Star Sounds
- Listen around 2h 10mins
One Man’s Jazz
- Tahmela Six: Alight – One Man’s Jazz
- Listen around 51min 38 seconds
The Free Jazz Collective – Charlie Watkings
“Quartet feels like a good old-fashioned free jazz album, in the best sense. Start to finish it is imbued with that 60s viscerality, creative and raw, moving ever-forwards with driving force.”
“It feels like the second they entered the studio, something must have clicked: this sounds like a group who have been playing together for years.”
“The three musicians together achieve that holy grail of psychic connection where they seem able to turn corners and move the music on with almost simultaneous decision making.”
North Star Sounds
- Mika Kallio & Janne Tuomi: Oresme – North Star Sounds
- Listen around 1h 18mins.
Latest Mustik Motel features in Media
Recent press round-up: reviews and features for Mustik Motel artists across print various media.
SuomiJazz — Pentti Ronkanen
- Tahmela Six: Mount – SuomiJazz
- 4.5/5 stars
- English translation by google: here
“It doesn’t take many minutes of listening before the feeling arrives: this is my kind of music.”
“They know how to build compelling musical narratives — the tension holds throughout these stories.”
Happy to receive review of Tahmela Six debut album review just before the second one is coming! Here’s another by Pentti who been busy listening to our releases.
- Eero Savela: Way To – SuomiJazz
- 4/5 stars
- English translation by google: here
“This quartet has its own sound — and it’s a good one.”
“Savela and his partners have crafted a record’s worth of really excellent contemporary jazz.”
“Clear structures and catchy melodic elements blend enjoyably with the music’s freer currents.”
UK Vibe — Andy Hazell
“Oresme is a triumph of close listening.”
“The music prioritises the extension of tone over the moment of impact.”
“Percussion that feels richer and more melodic as a consequence.”
One Man’s Jazz — Maurice Hogue
One Man’s Jazz featuring Mika Kallio & Janne Tuomi around 1h 44mins time.
Mika Kallio & Janne Tuomi – Oresme Is Released Today
Two drummers exploring inner and outer space.
Oresme takes its name from a 14th-century philosopher who argued that a rotating Earth and a rotating cosmos would look identical from the inside. All perceived motion depends on where you stand. Kallio and Tuomi take that as their starting point: nine tracks built from drums, cymbals, gongs, vibraphone, and a lot of open space.
Today the record is yours to hear.
Featured Musicians
Mika Kallio – drums, percussion, Paiste cymbals & gongs
Janne Tuomi – drums, cymbals, gongs, percussion, vibraphone
Let us know where the music lands! We’re always happy to hear your thoughts and share your support across our channels and celebrate the music together.
STREAM
Also available on all other major streaming services.
VINYL
Record store distribution has started!
Oresme is a co-release with Roku Records. The idea behind it belongs to Ville Vuorjoki — punk bassist, DIY legend, and the mogul running Roku Records. Inspired by Sandy Nelson‘s prolific drumming output, Vuorjoki had nursed an ambition for a record built entirely around percussion for over 20 years. When he caught Janne Tuomi playing live, the missing piece fell into place. After two decades, it was finally time to make the call. Tuomi said yes almost immediately — and then suggested Mika Kallio join him. It is the first release in Roku Records‘ catalogue that was, in a sense, commissioned from the artist.
Album: Mika Kallio & Janne Tuomi – Oresme
Mika Kallio and Janne Tuomi are two of the most restlessly searching percussionists in Finnish improvised music. Across separate but frequently intersecting careers, both have worked consistently at the outer edge of what rhythm and texture can mean. Their debut duo album Oresme (MMM009) takes its name from Nicole Oresme, the 14th-century French philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who theorised about the daily rotation of the Earth and the motion of celestial bodies well before the instruments existed to prove him right. In his Livre du ciel et du monde he argued that a rotating Earth and a rotating cosmos would appear identical from the inside: that all perceived motion depends entirely on where you stand. Kallio and Tuomi are asking the same questions here. Through sound.
“It’s about exploring inner and outer space,” says Tuomi. The nine tracks navigate that double territory openly. Several reach outward and deep: Bok Globules (the dense interstellar clouds that precede star formation), Eagle Nebula, Eeta Carinae, Moon-Tides. Hadein, Juwugo and Odys carry a more interior weight, untranslated and personal. Puut, the Finnish word for trees, sits near the record’s centre, grounding it. Odys closes the B side at nearly ten minutes. The album opens with a 95-second sketch and ends in open space.
Two percussion setups, one vibraphone, and the space between them. The music is patient, close-listening, and unafraid of silence.
Mika Kallio: drums, percussion, Paiste cymbals & gongs
Janne Tuomi: drums, cymbals, gongs, percussion, vibraphone
Listen at: SPOTIFY, TIDAL and all other major streaming services
Buy digital & vinyl at: Bandcamp