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Vladislav Delay (Sasu Ripatti) is a techno producer from Finland who
writes lengthy ambient pieces that employ
slow-motion, icey dub-like reverbs and jazz-like improvisations cast in a
digital landscape of samples, glitches, analog waves, and complex bass lines.
His cubism of melodic and rhythmic fragments first appeared on
the EP The Kind of Blue (Huume, 1997).
The live
Ele (Sigma Editions, 1999) already contained two of his masterpieces,
Kohde and Ele .
Entain (Mille Plateaux, 2000) reprises those two tracks from
Ele,
Kohde (21 minutes) and Ele (17 minutes),
and adds
Poiko (19 minutes) and Notke (17 minutes).
The psychological aspect of Delay's art is embodied in
Kohde's minimalist pulsation of subdued, watery, organic patterns
that slowly begin to interact and refract each other, while the background
of glitches becomes more visible and slowly moves to the foreground.
The ambient calm of Ele is swept by swampy beats, like the sounds of
someone rowing a boat.
Poiko feels like a distant tremor of breezes and solar flares that picks up debris along the way, as it circles and radiates and vanishes.
Notke concocts industrial polyrhythms and quasi-dub steps
out of specks of dust.
Multila (Chain Reaction, 2000 - Huume, 2007) veered towards a more
dynamic (even melodramatic) kind of music. For example,
Ranta could be a horror soundtrack (a horde of rodents chewing on a
corpse); Raamat evokes some kind of decomposing organism; and
the dense revolving tapestry of Karha feels like an asteroid traveling
through empty space.
Huone is even a majestic 22-minute techno juggernaut, finally shaking
the groundfloor instead of drilling into the psyche, and a seven minute
intermezzo of pure noise does not damage the catchy pulsation at all.
Viite, instead, returns to Ele's swampy theme, and
the magnificent, incendiary turbulence of Pietola has a repetitive and undulating undercurrent that is reminiscent of Terry Riley's minimalism (like most
of Ele).
Luomo is Delay's lighter, fun, childish, disco project.
Vocalcity (Forcetracks, 2000) collects all of the house EPs:
Market (12 minutes),
Class (12 minutes),
Synkro (14 minutes,
The Right Wing (16 minutes),
Tessio (12 minutes),
She-Center (10 minutes).
Uusitalo is yet another moniker for Onnekas. This time, on the double album
Vapaa Muurari Live (Force, 2000), he performs four lengthy techno (or,
at least, "groove-oriented") suites
(Notke 2, Terra, Serti, Lunni)
that recall Terry Riley's Persian Surgery Dervishes, minus the
spirituality and plus the beats.
Anima (Mille Plateaux, 2001 - Huume, 2008)
is a 61-minute electronic poem, a prime
example of digital soundscaping that draws inspiration from both
musique concrete and industrial music. Its structure is fundamentally the
structure of a collage. There is a logic, though, in the way the collage is
assembled. Delay tries consistently to maintain a grip on his listener's
psyche. Melodic fragments and disjointed noises coexist and blend into each
other in a sort of "call and response" format: for each languid chord there is
a "choir" of tiny dissonances. The contrast creates waves of meaning. The music
"talks", at times frantically. But mostly it talks in a subliminal way, through
a stream of consciousness of cryptic sounds. The piece is as much a
philosophical meditation as a sonic exploration.
Naima (Staubgold, 2002) documents Delay's live performance at Ars Electronica Klangpark 2001, and by far his most experimental album (with references to Morton Subotnick's free-form electronica and Robert Ashley-ian conversational operas).
Demo(n)tracks (Huume, 2004) is a meandering (although certainly soothing)
ambient-dub symphony.
Explode (AGF, 2005) is a collaboration with spoken-word artist AGF.
The Four Quarters (Huume, 2005) finally returned Delay to his ambient
dub/glitch aesthetic, and did so with cold, surgical precision.
Whistleblower (Huume, 2007) exhibited the same meticulous production and
cryptic coldness. Recovery Idea sounds like Multila seen through
the eyes of a wiser, calmer man.
Uusitalo's Tulenkantaja (2006) and Karhunainen (2007)
did to techno what Luomo did to house.
Vladislav Delay's limited-edition double-LP Tummaa (Leaf, 2009) documents a collaboration with Lucio Capece on clarinet and saxophone, and Scottish soundtrack composer and arranger Craig Armstrong on keyboards.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Sara Montefiori)
Vladislav Delay (Luukas Onnekas) è un produttore techno finlandese che scrive lunghi pezzi ambient,
impiegando effetti al rallentatore, gelide vibrazioni dub e improvvisazioni di stile jazz fuse in un
paesaggio digitale fatto di campionamenti, impulsi, onde analogiche e complesse linee di basso. Il suo
cubismo dai frammenti melodici e ritmici è apparso per la prima volta nell' EP The Kind of Blue (Huume,1997).
Ele (Sigma Editions, 1999) contiene già due dei suoi capolavori, Kohde e Ele.
Entain (Mille Plateaux, 2000) riprende quelle due tracce e aggiunge Poiko (19 minuti) e Notke (17 minuti).
Multila (Chain Reaction, 2000) continua il programma avvicinandosi al minimalismo di Terry Riley in Pietola.
Luomo è il progetto più leggero, gaio e infantile di Vladislav Delay. Vocalcity (Forcetracks,2000) raccoglie tutti i suoi EP house: Market (12 minuti), Class (12 minuti), Synkro (14 minuti), The Right Wing (16 minuti), Tessio (12 minuti), She Center (10 minuti).
Uusitalo è un altro alias usato da Onnekas. Questa volta, nel doppio album Vapaa Muurari Live
(Force, 2000), effettua quattro lunghe suites (o, almeno, di orientazione groove) techno (Notke 2, Terra, Serti, Lunni) che richiamano al Persian Surgery Dervishes di Terry Riley, meno la spiritualità ma con in più i beats.
Anima (Mille Plateaux, 2001) è una singola traccia di 62 minuti.
Naima (Staubgold, 2002) è la performance dal vivo di Delay all' Ars Electronica Klangpark 2001, e di gran lunga il suo album più sperimentale (con riferimenti all' elettronica di forma libera di Morton Subotnick e alle opere colloquiali di Robert Ashley).
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