UNIKO! That's the name of the indeed unique project of 'accordion-tamer' Kimmo Pohjonen, 'sample guru' Samuli Kosminnen and (on the CD) the adventurous Kronos Quartet. This concert is a part of 'ARCTIC ACCENTS' - see below for details!
The New York Times already wrote of Uniko being: '...like an ocean tide coming in. Big waves of sound build in complexity, animation and sometimes sheer frenzy, then abruptly retreat into small lyrical moments, amplified pizzicatos or buzzings by some huge and imaginary insect. Mr. Pohjonen, a virtuoso on an accordion wired for sound, guided things along and became so excited at the end that one worried about his well-being.'
The Uniko project had its premiere during the 2004 Helsinki Festival. Now there is finally a CD too and the recordings took place under the direction of Icelander Valgeir Sigurdsson (see too: Björk). By the way, Uniko forms a natural extension of Kluster, Kosminnen & Pohjonen's exciting duo project encompassing accordion and sampling.
Please note: it is actually the Proton Quartet that provides the string parts when playing live.
Kimmo Pohjonen is a prominent Finnish musician with a predilection for experiment and exploration. After certainly six albums and countless concerts, he's still able to figure out further possibilities for (electrically amplified) accordion. Thus resulting in remarkable projects like 'Earth Music Machine' (with live local farmers and their agricultural equipment), or now 'Accordion Wrestling' (with ten Finnish wrestlers, video projection and, that's right, accordion playing.)
Samuli Kosminen is a very active percussionist and sample-artist, probably best known for his collaborations with Iceland's Mùm and his extremely personal mix of acoustic drums and electronic beats.
As Kluster, both musicians were also able to participate in a Meltdown Festival curated by David Bowie.