Muscular’s sound is a mixture of electronic music with grooves of Funk, harmonies of Soul, synthesizer sounds from the future i.e. deep basses, vocoded singing and sparkling arpeggios stirred with organic instruments such as pianos, guitars, horns and percussion. It has been compared to Daft Punk, Franc Moody, Kavinsky and Prince.
“Electronic funk is the supporting element of Muscular, against which both soul and r’n’b as well as retro-futuristic synthesizers go tonally. The tension arises from the meeting point of the rousing rhythmicity and the streamlined synthetics, where there is a surprise every time you think the sound is going to be too streamlined.” – Jukka Kittilä / TS
The brain behind this Muscular project is Finnish keyboard player and pianist Ilmari Aitoaho (b.1988). He has surrounded himself with super talented musicians (and good friends) who give their own brilliant add to this Muscular tissue.
Muscular’s debut album “On The One” was released in September 2022. Stand Still Ep (2024) is available at bandcamp and the latest single Super Macarena was released with music video 30th of may 2024.

Band Contest

In honour of the 70th anniversary of the traditional and world’s largest music store Thomann, the company has teamed up with the world-renowned audio manufacturer and technical partner of the Montreux Jazz Festival Shure to host a European Online Band Contest. 

Both brands were looking for talented artists via the Thomann blog who had what it takes to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival. At the heart of the application was a particularly convincing song from an ouevre as well as a recording in which the live qualities of the bands could be recognised. In a subsequent voting on the Thomann blog, the community selected the three best artists from the top 10 applicants. A jury then selected the act from the three best artists who was allowed to play at the Montreux Festival. But that’s not all – the top three also received high-quality Shure equipment, which they could choose according to their own requirements.