Isthmus is a new small label and archive for experimental sonic practices, which operates on the basis of collaboration. The first set of releases will be released to support Toinen kerros, a community driven diy sonic art space. Join us for celebrating the modest beginnings of Isthmus!

https://isthmusrec.bandcamp.com/

Koho/Koskenlahti

Koho/Koskenlahti on laaja-alaisesti äänen parissa työskentelevän J. Kohon ja perkussionisti Minna Koskenlahden muodostama duo. Duon kiinnostuksen kohteina on tutkiskella erilaisiin tiloihin, tavanomaisiin soittimiin ja epätyypillisiin äänilähteisiin säilöttyä soivaa potentiaalia ja etsiä erilaisia keinoja sen vapauttamiseksi.

Minerva Juolahti

Minerva Juolahti is a sound and performance artist working with body, sound, space, and paper. Their works are performative and conceptual spatial gestures that evolve around the sonic. 

Sirpa Jokinen

The sound performances of Sirpa Jokinen are layered polyphonic experiments with electronic instruments and synthesizers she built, field recordings, objects and traditional instruments. She plays synthesizers in the duo Brutou Dou, Helsinki Improvisation Orchestra and Synthestra. She also makes acousmatic pieces using field recordings made with self-built equipment but also combine these using standard recording equipment, found sounds and played sounds. She is painter by education. Conceptually her work deal with the surrounding space.

ミス (misu)

ミス is a duo that performs sounds with loosely flapping strings and springs. The produced vibrations are then channeled through a gooey heap of electronics before bursting out of the speaker cones leaving a faint stench of doom metal in their wake. The cycle is completed when it all folds back on itself, fed back like the proverbial tail of Ouroboros. The chaos is further exacerbated by the partially Savonian lineup.

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Saturday 23.5 from 18.00 to 22.00

MENTAL ALASKA presents: AN EVENING WITH ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO

Live:

Arrington De Dionyso (USA)

Hur Hur

3rd Encounter – Schweizer / Halme / Inkilä

Toinen Kerros, Nokiantie 2-4 Helsinki

Wed 20th May 19-22

Tickets: 15/10e

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An uncompromising voice in contemporary music, ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO integrates ancient soundmaking techniques with trans-modernist inquiries into the nature of consciousness. His propulsive improvisations utilize voice and reeds as multiphonic tools blazing through the liminal spaces between shamanic seance and rock and roll ecstasy. In 1995 he founded the genre destroying No Wave Gospel band Old Time Relijun, releasing albums on K Records. In 2009 he created Malaikat dan Singa (“Angels and Lions”), a powerful new project integrating aggressive dancehall rhythms with gamelan scales, using the Indonesian language to interpret the mystic poetry of William Blake.

HUR HUR is the solo project started in 2012 by multidisciplinary artist Timo Viialainen. It is based on the experimental use of an electroacoustic alto hurdy gurdy. This drone based instrument is mostly used in folk music, but used here to create an immersive wall of sound that also contains hints of melodic repetitive parts and rhythms. The live performances are an intense mix of slowly building compositional pieces and improvisation. Hur Hur has performed at various festivals and events in Europe and North America.

3RD ENCOUNTER is the trio of Livia Schweizer, Hepa Halme & Turkka Inkilä. They explore the frequencies of flutes and different wind instruments, sometimes augmented with electronics.

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Playrec – build and play recycled materials!

Come and explore how different material can be turned in musical sounds.

In this workshop we build musical instruments (chordophones, idiophones, membranophones, aerophones) from all kinds of recycled materials. Some basic designs are proposed with the materials and tools provided. Other materials include recycled items, plastic tubes, strings, tuning pegs. You can also bring your own materials and designs, but you can also leave some space for chance.

We will then perform an improvised piece at the end of the workshop on Saturday at 19:30.

The workshop is run by Henna Tahvanainen, who is a researcher, lecturer, and amateur luthier of musical instruments. www.kantelista.wordpress.com

There is a material fee of 10 euros. Maximum number of participants is 10. 

Workshop time:

Friday 14.5. 17-21 and  Saturday 15.5. 9-18

Concert 19:30-21.00

ANOTHER LAYER #2
13.5.2026

RITUAL EXTRA (FR/FI)
Julien Chamla – percussion
Tuukka Haapakorpi – vocals
Lauri Hyvärinen – electric guitar

ANNA-SOFIA ANTTONEN
Saxophones, ceramic flutes, electronics

Toinen Kerros, Nokiantie 2-4, Helsinki
19-22, 5-10€

Supported by: Helsingin kaupunki, Creative Europe

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Inner Journey is an electroacoustic accordion concert exploring the accordion as a physical, expressive, and electronic sound world. The program brings together contemporary works, electronics, and improvisation, moving between fragile textures, intense rhythms, and immersive soundscapes.

Accordion: Mantas Leonardo Lizzi
Electronics: Lauri Marjakangas

Music by: P. Jodlowski, A. Edler-Copes, G. Ledoux, J.G. Garcia and improvisation.

7 May, 20:00
Toinen Kerros – NEW SPACE FOR SONIC ARTS
Nokiantie 2-4, Helsinki

Free entrance! 

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CHIK WHITE (CA)

SLICE / LISA HOLMÉN / MONIA KIMARA

AMON DÜDE

ARTSY AFTERNOON – Artsy Records presents:

CHIK WHITE (CA)

SLICE / LISA HOLMÉN / MONIA KIMARA

AMON DÜDE

Toinen Kerros, Nokiantie 2-4 HKI

Tiistaina 28.4. klo 19-22

Liput 15 / 10e (varallisuuden mukaan / pay-what-you-can)

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chik white is the alias of Nova Scotia-based artist and improviser Darcy Spidle. While best known for his work with the jew’s harp, his practice has expanded to include voice, nose flutes, horns, harmonica, guitar, and video. He has released numerous albums on international labels such as Kraak, Notice, Feeding Tube, Full Spectrum, Chocolate Monk, and Sound Holes. His collaborators include Bill Nace, Xuan Ye, Colin Fisher, Daniel Tapper, Naomi McCarroll-Butler, Chad VanGaalen, Sam Shalabi, and Bekah Simms.

Slice, Lisa Holmén and Monia Kimara play noise together with various instruments, languages, improvised voice, good food and fresh spring spirit. Expect madness, hilarity and boisterous tones. The group assembles for the first time together in the form of the triangle with their backgrounds from multiple musical groups, visual arts, performance art and dance.

Amon Düde‘s music used to be high-tempo cut-up tape collage. He utilizes collapsing cassette players, carefully crafted tape collages and obsolete effect devices. He is a kind of a full body theremin, as every vibration of the body has a direct effect on the music. The same goes also the other way, the sounds in turn guiding the body movements. With tapes, coincidence always has a huge role. The decaying equipment and aging human body also play a key role. Amon Düde manages to create a unique balance of razorsharp dynamics and slapstick humour.

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Chambers is a group sound art exhibition that contemplates the porous architecture of bodies. These works engage with the concept and matter of bodies as permeable and even fragmentable structures that hold, change, transmit, and transform.

Featuring artists Mira Laine, Una Seppälä, Ava Imogen Grayson, and Andre Vicentini, the exhibition brings together sculptural, sonic, and spatial practices that attune to interiority, fragility, and emergence.

Opening hours:

Tuesday, April 21st

15:00–20:00

Wednesday, April 22nd

15:00–20:00

Listening workshop by Ava Imogen Grayson @ 19:00–20:00

Thursday, April 23rd

15:00–20:00

Vernissage from 18:00–20:00

Movement performance by Andre Vicentini @ 19:00–19:30

Friday, April 24th

15:00–19:00

Place: Toinen Kerros (Nokiantie 2-4, Helsinki)

Suhina Klubi is a periodic concert series focused on improvised sound art. The club has been organized in Helsinki since 2018, with the aim of creating an intersection between artists searching for new modes of expression and a curious, open-minded audience. Suhina Klubi presents both established Finnish and international artists and also provides performance opportunities for previously unheard-of ensembles.

Place: Toinen Kerros | Nokiantie 2-4, Helsinki

Time: 16.4.2026 at 19.00

Tickets: 15/8€

Annika Fuhrmann, Livia Schweizer & Annika Johanna Sirkiä

two Annikas and one Livia,

two wind instruments and one voice,

two high-pitched and one low,

two dual citizens and one mono,

two countries of residence and one common language,

two salmiac lovers and one chocolate,

three individual sounds and one band.

ANNIKA FUHRMANN (she/her) is a German-Finnish singer, musician, and sound artist who thrives in the fields of experimental music theatre, sound art, and improvisation. She has been described as “a vocal artist who pushes the boundaries of singing” and is “captivating the audience with her intense performance.” (Rondo) Fuhrmann has performed at festivals such as Tokyo Wonder Site Experimental, London Grimeborn Festival of New Opera, Musica Nova, Helsinki Contemporary Opera Festival and Helsinki Festival and is currently supported by the Kordelin foundation.

LIVIA SCHWEIZER (she/her) is a Italian-Swiss flutist, improvisor, educator and artistic researcher based in Helsinki, known for her interest in improvisation and non-conventional music notation as a tool of bringing together creative souls from different background and cultures. A member of the European Composers Improvisers Orchestra and a founding member of the Earth Ears Ensemble, she has performed at festivals such as Luosto Soi, Hiljaisuus Festival and Musica Nova Helsinki, Jauna Muzika, Suoni Inauditi and SoundScapes Berlin and has been part of the music group for the Kjelvikspillet 2024 in Norway.

ANNIKA JOHANNA SIRKIÄ (she/her) is a Finnish tuba player, performer, improviser and composer who is based in Lucerne (CH) and Helsinki (FI). Annika is a versatile musician who actively searches for different styles and formats. She plays in various projects throughout Switzerland, in bands such as L’Orage Overload, Insub Meta Orchestra, Superband, onvoi exceptionnel and Duo gundw. In Finland, Annika plays in various experimental and free improvisation ensembles and has performed at festivals such as Outsider Art Festival, Telakka Jazz, B-Sides Festival, unerhört and Liechtensteiner Jazztage.

Event is supported by Kone Foundation.

Time: Sunday 12.4. at 19.00 in Toinen Kerros (Nokiantie 2-4 Helsinki)

Tammikuussa 2025 Eero Savela lähti pohjoisen talvesta tekemään Atmosfärg Travelogue -äänitaideprojektia (kuunneltavissa myös Areenassa). Ajatus oli yksinkertainen: matkustaa, tavata muusikoita ja äänittää ensimmäiset yhteiset äänet ilman suunnitelmaa.

Le Havressa syntyi spontaani sessio kitaristi Guillaume Gargaudin, klarinetisti François Lebèguen ja pianisti Jean-Paul Buissonin kanssa. Ei yhteistä kieltä, ei valmiita kappaleita — pelkkä tila, sointi ja kuunteleminen. Musiikki alkaa ensimmäisestä äänestä ja menee sinne minne menee.

Tästä sessiosta syntynyt levy ‘Puu Maatuu’ julkaistaan nyt yhdysvaltalaisen Right Brain Recordsin kautta, ja kvartetti tulee Suomeen soittamaan levynjulkaisukeikat.

Musiikki on eurooppalaisen vapaan musiikin perinteestä ammentavaa akustista soittoa, jossa tärkeintä on soundi, tila ja reagointi. Jokainen keikka tehdään alusta — eri huone, eri akustiikka, eri suunta.

François Lebègue – clarinet / bass clarinet

Jean-Paul Buisson – piano / prepared piano

Guillaume Gargaud – acoustic guitar

Eero Savela – trumpet

Khôra & Eero Savela – Album Release Tour in Finland

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In January 2025, Eero Savela left the Nordic winter behind to work on the Atmosfärg Travelogue sound art project (also available on Yle Areena). The idea was simple: to travel, meet musicians, and record the very first sounds together without a plan.

In Le Havre, a spontaneous session took place with guitarist Guillaume Gargaud, clarinetist François Lebègue, and pianist Jean-Paul Buisson. No shared language, no pre-written material — just space, sound, and listening. The music begins with the first note and goes wherever it goes.

The album that emerged from this session, Puu Maatuu, is now released by the US-based Right Brain Records, and the quartet will tour Finland with a series of album release concerts.

The music draws from the European free music tradition: acoustic, open, and based on sound, space, and interaction. Each concert starts from zero — a different room, a different acoustic, a different direction.

François Lebègue – clarinet / bass clarinet

Jean-Paul Buisson – piano / prepared piano

Guillaume Gargaud – acoustic guitar

Eero Savela – trumpet

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Another Layer 
Concert #1

3.4.2026
Daniel M Karlsson & Lauri Hyvärinen
Haiyun Yu

Toinen Kerros, Nokiantie 2-4, Helsinki
Doors 19.00
Admission 5-10€

Daniel M Karlsson is a long standing fixture of Stockholm’s experimental electronic music scene. He’s been an important part of its key infrastructure including Fylkingen, Norberg Festival and the fabled Elektronmuskstudion EMS where he now teaches various courses. As a composer, he works extensively with algorithmic composition to organize sound in a way that brings texture and timbre to the fore.

Lauri Hyvärinen is a Helsinki-based artist working at the intersection of improvisation and electroacoustic composition. His music has been released on labels including Ftarri, NUNC., Dinzu Artefacts and Intonema, and he has performed across Europe, Japan, South Korea and USA at venues and festivals such as Wien Modern, Cafe Oto and Fylkingen.

Haiyun Yu is an artistic researcher and performer from Suzhou, China. Her work explores cultural heritage, ecology, and identity through sound, language, and performance. A Finland Scholarship recipient, she holds a master’s degree from the Sibelius Academy in Arts Management, with studies in Music Technology and Sound Art.

Supported by: Helsingin kaupunki

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