Interview: Beyond Retro & All That Plazz
For Access All Areas - The band edit, we teamed up with local record label and creative studio/shop All That Plazz. A tiny space in Helsinki, founded and run by Aleksi Pahkala and Pia Koskimaa.
All That Plazz is still a lovely small secret in Helsinki, and is only open once a month - although, friends of the space do hang out in the little studio/shop almost every office day.
Between the 23-25th of feb, Beyond Retro makes a guest appearance with All That Plazz, bringing a small selection of band tees and other key items to be displayed and sold in the shop.
Two handpicked records, “Bad Sauna - POTSLOJO” and “Gim Kordon - Ei ole helppoo” will be sold at Beyond Retro, FORUM.
Aleksi and Pia are amazing insider guides to not only the Helsinki music scene, but to up and coming independent brands and nice places to visit in the city.
Read full interview for their best tips on music, style and Helsinki spots!
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Tell us about All That Plazz! When did it start? How did you come up with the idea?
All That Plazz started as a record label when Aleksi decided to release music during the first Covid lockdown. Aleksi started to write music together with Mummypowder for our neighbour Harri Hertell’s poems. A few months later we found a wonderful shop space in Töölö, where we decided to build an office and an art space for ourselves. We initially used the space for kids schooling, zoom meetings and as a record label headquarters. Neighbours and friends started to stop by and hang out, things sort of started to spread in a good way. Friends demanded us to sell records and serve good coffee, so we did. Since then, we have been selling vinyl and other items we love, organic summer flowers for example. Our store is still a lovely small secret. All That Plazz is open once a month - although people still hang out at ”Pläts” almost every office day.
We sell vinyl, other items we love, organic summer flowers, coffee..
Best thing about Beyond Retro:
Beyond Retro is so much fun and inspires us to try new things. We love the unique clothes and wonderful curation. The best place for us indiekids (heh) to treasure hunt.
Best venues / go-to spots in Helsinki:
Rams serves perfect coffee
Nide for books and gossips
Daddy Greens for best pizza
Yes Yes Yes for romantic dinners
Common to buy small quality gifts
Kisahalli for sports - we often play ping pong with kids
We love evening walks on the shores of Helsinki, they are great for running too.
Do you see any specific trends? What does the customer of today ask for / desire?
The big picture shows sped-up songs as a trend, clipped music videos - and DJs playing only the highlights of the songs. There is also a counter-trend - our customers want to hang out, listen to one album at a time and want to discover new bands. We are describing this state of mind; "We love to sit on the side of the street on white plastic chairs, watching someone slowly change their car tires." Things can't be bad at a moment like that.
Any playlist you want to share with our Beyond Retro community?
Aleksi’s active and popular Päivän Biisit playlist. Aleksi updates his playlist everyday with fresh new music. It just turned 5 years old and has over 2000 followers on Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal
ALEKSI
Your style in three words: Smart indierock casual
Best band tee: There are so many I have almost loved to death. At the moment I still use a Dead Moon shirt I bought at their Helsinki concert in the 90’s and a Lemonheads shirt from ’92.
Want: Somebody stole my yellow Karkkiautomaatti t-shirt once, since Karkkiautomaatti is one of my all time Finnish favourites, I wish I find a new used one someday.
MIX OF HIS REFERENCE IMAGES
Band or music icon that has influenced your way of dressing?
Teenage Fanclub 90’s style | Royal Trux | The Sonics | Sonic Youth | Beastie Boys | Sebastien Tellier
Favorite record right now: Knife Girl’s debut album Uniform, just an amazing and fresh mix of indie rock, bedroom pop and electronic brilliance. Kinda like The 1975 with fresh slacker vibes. Also the first transgender artist nominated for the Finnish Grammys, Emmas.
PIA
Your style in three words: effortless, simple, relaxed
Best band tee: Rat Boy, or what is left of it - a treasured memory from a perfect night out in London.
Want: Vanessa Paradis band tee and nice boots to wear in the garden.
Band or music icon that has influenced your way of dressing?
Music videos have influenced me a lot since I was a child and when I was dancing - the essence of dancers basically. Among the new favourites, I could mention Christine and the Queens. Relaxed suit can make you feel like dancing too.
Favorite record right now: John Coltrane - Blue Train: The Complete Masters vinyl
Go-to record / all time favourite: Always jazz, anything from John Coltrane