Staedtizism

Seminal nu-dub vs. clicks 'n' cuts compilation by Stefan Betke aka Pole's ~scape label (see *,*). Everyone here is a star (just check the tracklist) and all tracks are more than just good backdrop for smoking. For those who don't have it already, just don't miss it.

VA - 2000 Staedtizism
Info here.

Anima - Naima

The following two CDs are actually one piece of work, the original and a live performance. They signify one of the peaks of Mr. Ripatti's fame, while he was still enjoying the world's general wonderment and critics' ramblings about releasing in the same year (2000) the great 'Multila' in Chain Reaction and three albums in Mille Plateaux, ForceInc. and ForceTracks ('Entain' as Vladislav Delay, 'Vapaa Muurari' as Uusitalo and 'Vocal City' as Luomo). The volume of releases was not surprising as such (especially for an 'experimental' artist). The big surprise was the quality and originality of the material, as well as the chameleon-like way he overruled genres' stereotypes and norms, whether he chose to play techno, vocal house or just glitchy reverb noise.

The next album (out 2001) was a daring release in Mille Plateaux. Although there was also a 3x12'' release, it works best in the CD format as it's one solid ambient track, to my ears an improvisational smocky piece based on excellent quality raw material and tons of effects. It's obviously the closest he ever came to gallery 'art' music, still he manages to preserve all these qualities that make him that good in what he does as a musician and without the academic stench of most of the already mentioned 'art' works.
Not surprisingly, he performed that work in Ars Electronica 2001 in a more clear and a bit more abstract form, with a female beautifully accented voice on top giving a different meaning in this sea of reverberations. The recording of this version was later (2002) printed as a limited release in Staubgold, named 'Naima'.

P.S.: Both links were erased without notice. 'Anima' is reprinted through Huume (with an extra track), but 'Naima' remains in obscurity so I re-upped it. Original post 2008-03-30.


Vladislav Delay - 2001 Anima LINKS OFF
Info here.


Vladislav Delay - 2002 Naima
Info here.

Für Dich

You know my love for the Cologne scene. Well, here's the CD that established Kompakt in my mind as a fixation to love and cherish and Tobias Thomas (*) as a DJ to watch (eventually I had the chance to open for him during a beautiful night in Athens, but that's another story).

I had bought it without knowing anything about it or himself. I recognized only a few of the artists involved, I remember it was really expensive and I had no way of listening to it beforehand, but I took my chance - turned out to be a turning point for me, an epiphany and an example to look up to. From post-pop to hard club techno, from abstract synthetic tool tracks to jazzy vocal house, Tobias builds a rollercoaster of emotions, trippy ideas and bold proposals that stands the test of time, beyond hypes and cliches. For you.

Contains rare Gamat3000 original gem 'Feeling Love', Various Artists' Autechre remix (*), some early Kompakt classics ('Puma', 'Nachschub', etc.), subtle paean 'Check Your Buddah' from Ford/Melchior (*), Lali Puna's heavenly 'Superlotado', an uncredited intro, etc. etc. etc. And of course Vladislav Delay's monumental 'Huone', mixed so subtly that it took me a couple of years to understand how he did it.

It won't stay up for long, for the reasons stated here. Makes a good couple with this Mayer mix, yet this one is far more effective. And I hate cliches, but occasionally I have to use them: I cannot recommend it strong enough.

VA - 1999 Tobias Thomas _ Für Dich
Info here.

P.S. Link removed; you had your time. Go to any shop and buy it, it's worth 100%.

Vlad linkz dead

Some Vladislav Delay and assorted links are dead (*,*), I guess by Huume intervention. Which I consider to be fair for some, like 'Vocalcity' and 'Anima', which were re-issued after all (I had similar thoughts of my own about them). Still, The 'Naima' album is really difficult to find, so I'll re-up it separately - unless I get a direct notice from them, that is.

The old Uusitalo 'Vaapa Muurari' live and the 'Sistol' album are still there.

Electric Ladyland Clickhop Version 1.0

Mille Plateaux had the advantage of having some legendary names in its roster right from the beginning (Heckmann, Alec Empire, Oval, Khan and co.), not to mention the support from the european and british IDM scene as well as from the Cologne scene later on. Thus, through releasing compilations that included works from all the above and some more usual suspects, it had the greatest impact possible on the scene during the '90s, defining german electronics and effortlessly breeding a few new genres. Most important were the archetypal 'Modulation & Transformation' series (mostly experimental electronics and cutting edge techno), the 'Electric Ladyland' series (post hip-hop ultra twisted breaks) and finally the 'Clicks & Cuts' series (* + *).

Somewhere between the cut-up sensibilities of the Ladyland series and the clicks 'n' cuts craftsmanship stands this one. You 'll hear a lot of weird hip-hop, post-dub illbient and IDMish US breaks, though a lot of the old Mille Plateaux posse stick to the abstract glitch thing they know how to do best, with the addition of a loop or two. Click Hop they called it, trying to define a new hybrid style. Time tells us they were wrong (it didn't exactly make it as a genre), yet the success of artists like Funkstörung, Prefuse 73, the BPitch Control's and Shitkatapult's breaks departments, as well as the evolution of mainstream hip hop techniques (adopting a lot of ideas proposed here) show that they were totally on the right track.

Also included is the first (and best) collaborative track between Vladislav Delay and AGF.

VA - 2001 Electric Ladyland Clickhop Version 1.0
CD1 - CD2
Info here.

Vapaa Muurari

Uusitalo is once more Sasu Ripatti.

Out through Force Inc., this is a live recording in four parts. It's part experiment, part dub, part groovy nord techno. And most of all it's timeless.

Uusitalo - 2000 Vapaa Muurari live
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Sistol

This is one of the early releases of the Finn boy wonder Vladislav Delay released in the same year with the 'Ele' album, 1999. Out in Phthalo, the label of Phthalocyanine, weird-breaks artist relatively known through early Plug Research and with releases and compilation appearances in Planet Mu, Klangkrieg and Mille Plateaux.

Here dear Sasu follows the Panasonic path of techno - old equipment, minimal attitude, experimentation. This one-record project in a way set the ground for the future Uusitalo outputs, yet without the (later developed) sense of groove. Definitely a cerebral project. In my opinion, despite some brilliant moments it doesn't reach the heights of later albums. Still it's interesting to hear and curiously has more similarities to today's music than, say, the incredible 'Multila'.

Sistol - 1999, selftitled
Here.
Info here.

VocalCity

A lot of people I talk to lately haven't even heard this album. How can this be I don't really know. This is the record that alongside Motorbass' 'Pansoul' and Daft Punk's 'Homework' changed the course of modern House music in general. And bred a few sub-styles (like Micro- or Mini-House, you know) in particular, as DeepHouse or TechHouse seem too poor a tag for a work like this. Also it put Northern Europe on the map again (at last...), long before the Viking disco wave or the Trentemoeller-Martinez-etc invasion (which incidentally owes a lot of credit to this one).
Out in Forcetracks label (the older incarnation) in 2000, it's a collection of three 12"s that impacted on dancefloors and chill couches alike from the one and only (tah-daaah) Luomo aka Uusitalo aka Sistol aka Conoco, named Sasu Ripatti yet mostly known as Vladislav Delay, the prodigy child that managed to stand out even in labels like Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux. And he's a great guy too from the little I've got, friendly and sort of low-profile. Luomo is the more accessible project, Uusitalo goes towards experimental Techno territory, all other stuff is mostly pure and good listening music, minimalistic deep and spacious excursions into the unknown, with a sentimental anchor here and there to keep the balance.
Right now he's putting out some new stuff and reprinting his discography and stuff with AGF and others in his own label Huume, so go there and buy everything. Even in MP3 it's worth it and it's for a good cause, trust me.

Just listen to 'Synkro' or 'Tessio'. A true classic.

Luomo - 2000 VocalCity
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

P.S. Links were erased without notice, probably by Huume. Well, go there and buy it.