HEART OF THE PLATTER
Muzik, March 1998
Normally he's JORI HULKKONEN, but as his alias BOBBY FORESTER he's just recorded an album called "Love You Forever". Here's how he managed it.
The album was actually recorded in 1995. I sampled some of my favourite artists. and the title "Love You Forever" is a tribute to them. I recorded the first track "I know I Shouldn't" late at night. I was monitoring real low and that's why it came out so mellow and laidback. I got the title for "The Day The World Stood Still" from the old sci-fi movie. It's a crap film, but a great title. The idea of the whole world stopping for house music makes me laugh. With "Pressure Control" I nicked this vocal, I can't really say where from, and put some funky shuffle beats and lush strings around it. I'm a Glenn Underground fan and that's where the inspiration came from. The next track "West Side Girls" is basically a tribute to the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" which is one of my all time favourite tracks and the main reason I started making music in the late Eighties. I did "Nites Of Iguana" a few days after I'd been out at this club where the DJ had played Mr Fingers' "Can You Feel It?" and I think you can hear the old school influence in there. The title comes from the name of an old Finnish rock band. They weren't very good, but I always found their name really funny. With "Ceep Kumming" I took the vocal from Innocence's "Natural Thing" and even though it's got a disco bassline, it's still kind of laid-back. In fact the whole album's kind of mellow, and that's why I put "Git Wat She Wonz" on next. It's very pumpy with a shuffly groove. I wanted at least one party track on there. "Juk 2 My Rooz" is a remix of one of my first tracks. It's a bit trancey, but it's got really Chicago-jacking beats. On "She Loxx Different" I sampled Howard Jones. Remember him? I was a huge New Romantic fan and I loved his first album. The last track "In The Year 2000" was made to finish the album, the idea is to make you feel good. I also think it's quite funny because the year 2000 has been so mystified, but it's only two years away, so it's a little joke as well.
Bobby Forester's "Love You Forever" is out now on Plumphouse.
Review:Copyright © 1998 Muzik"If I sampled U, I'm sorry, but I'm yer fan. And I love U Forever!" say the sleeve notes. And sample the boy Forester does. Probably no more so than many other artists out there, just that Bobby's a lot more honest about it. In Forester's case, though, it's the samples that set him apart from the crowd.
Forester, (actually Finnish producer Jori Hulkkonen -- you may already have seen his stuff released on F Communications) is influenced as much by the early Eighties synth-pop of the likes of Pet Shop Boys and Howard Jones (!) as he is by the pioneers and navigators of American house and techno. It's this unorthodox mix of influences which gives him his unique style.
"She Loxx Different" subtly juxtaposes warm strings and Chicago-style beats with a vocal from, yes, Howard Jones, while "West Side Girls" is an obvious tribute to Messrs Tennant and Lowe, but comes via the celestial soundscapes of Detroit.
Love it forever.8/10
Dave Mothersole
Back to Jori Hulkkonen page.