Browse by Artist: UUSITALO

Artist:	UUSITALO
Title:	Tulenkantaja
Label:	HUUME RECORDINGS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	HUUME 007CD

Berlin-based Vladislav Delay (aka Sasu Ripatti, Luomo) releases a second techno album under his Uusitalo disguise. Each track is inspired by Finnish literature, and is a tribute to his author father and grandmother. The title of the album, Tulenkantaja (a flame bearer), is taken from the name of a radical literary group in Finland in the early '40s to which his grandmother was a part of. Delay takes the best parts of Cologne and Berlin and transforms them into a method of storytelling that incorporates organic beats and rhythms close to the heart. On Tulenkantaja, Delay plays around with strange time signatures so subtly that you wouldn't notice if it wasn't 4-to-the floor but maybe 5 or 6 or 9-and-a-half. He creates poems with beats, telling stories with those intricate rhythms and bass lines. He invites interesting sounds that include living elements, mistakes, drums and field recordings. He synthesizes the synthesizer, and says goodbye to the drum machine looping the same loop and instead plays the loop himself. A true rhythm fanatic, on this record he searches for the patterns and rhythms more than ever -- they might be more simple or at least more straightforward and direct than on his Vladislav Delay albums. On this record he demonstrates not only his unique studio and production skills, but also the ability to speak and express himself highly in musical terms. On Tulenkantaja, he makes techno which may not be techno at all. Except that it is for him. There are excerpts from his father and grandmother in the booklet included with the CD, as well as a beautiful graphic design to enhance the experience made by long-time collaborator Kaisa Kemikoski. This time techno has a story to tell.

Artist:	UUSITALO
Title:	Karhunainen
Label:	HUUME RECORDINGS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	HUUME 014CD

Berlin-based Vladislav Delay (aka Sasu Ripatti, Luomo) releases a third techno album under his Uusitalo disguise. Influenced by and named after his late father's well-known theatre play, Karhunainen (Bear Woman) Delay continues to search for his rhythmic roots. With his groove offerings from the past he often resembled an undertaker at a disco. This new album might change some of those impressions, with more up-front beats than he has ever created before. In spite of being noted for experimental sounds and compositions not yet heard, some of his warmest feelings are reserved for the drum beat. This deep-rooted loyalty to rhythms, even though hidden and strangled in most of his productions, is about to come to the surface again. And above all else, he is a rhythm passionista, a drum collector, a cymbal maker -- a true percussion freak. The new album consists of 10 songs, 8 of which are dedicated to the infamous bass drum. In an act of conspicuous non-consumption, he chose to only use analog equipment on this album and leave all digital sound processing out, which explains the warm and full sound of the album. His rhythmic fortune is used to great effect on Karhunainen -- he quite wonderfully replaces the drum machines on more than a few tracks with a drum stick and anything else he could hit, be it random metal surfaces or his young daughter's toys. To complete the album, there's hauntingly beautiful tracks with cinematic beginnings and endings. This is a mix of traditionalism and futurism, coming through in the song titles, artwork and design. The artwork is by Kaisa Kemikoski, but the booklet also introduces another aspect of the producer himself; he's a keen photographer and his private collection captures the world around him, making up the raw material for the 16-page booklet.

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page