Vladislav Delay

Vladislav Delay
Kuopio
CD/Digital Album
Raster-Noton 2012
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With “Kuopio”, Raster-Noton releases the second full length album by Vladislav Delay aka Sasu Ripatti. The record features eight new songs which allow the listener to dive into Delay’s cosmos of deep and likewise organic sounds. Subtle yet complex electronic manipulations are used, resulting in a high degree of variation within every single track and a nearly imperceptible intensification of their density. Progressive and energetic rhythms play an important role as already indicated in his recent release “Espoo” (r-n141), the EP which forms a bridge between his former album “Vantaa” (r-n136) and “Kuopio”, best illustrated by the track “Kulkee”, meaning ‘to move forward’. “Kuopio” clearly represents a further attempt to depict the finnish landscape as well as its isolated charm, which is also obvious from its design and conceptional approach by referring to the city of Kuopio.

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Tracklisting

01. Vastaa 6:33 min
02. Hetkonen 9:36 min
03. Avanne 8:05 min
04. Kellute 6:32 min
05. Osottava 7:54 min
06. Kulkee 7:14 min
07. Marsila 7:40 min
08. Hitto 6:06 min
09. Kuuluuko 5:34 min (Download only)

Review by Jake H., www.sputnikmusic.com

Finnish electronic producer, Sasu Ripatti, is a man of many aliases and side projects such as, Luomo, Uuisitalo, Moritz Von Oswald Trio and more. Out of everything that he’s contributed to the music world, Vladislav Delay is the most interesting, intriguing and atmospheric project he has to offer. While his other side projects, Luomo, Uusitalo, etc. are driven by minimal, but groovy house beats – examples of this can be heard on the album Vocalcity – Vladislav Delay takes a different approach and makes music that sinks in deep within ones consciousness; regardless if beats are present or not. This is a project that requires a great deal of attention because once the melodies and rhythms have started up, there is no escaping its tangled, puzzling and disjointed nature.

Vladislav Delay’s 2011 album Vantaa was quite a different approach than what the producer usually created. Like most of Vladislav Delay’s albums, they are extremely interesting, atmospheric and minimal journeys, but what was really interesting about Vantaa was – besides the hypnotic melodies – that he introduced very odd but encapsulating rhythms in his tracks like Lauma. This is exactly where Sasu Ripatti picks up from and takes one step further on this album, Kuopio.

Kuopio picks up from where Vantaa, and the early 2012 EP Espoo ended off and goes further into a new direction. The rhythms from his previous album, Vantaa, are present on this album, but unlike the previous album, the rhythms are on every track of this album and on most tracks even cancel out the melody, and the presence of rhythms on this release are even influenced from the earlier stuff that he did as Luomo. The entire album is almost like being in an elevator that is continuously going past one floor in particular and you don’t know if the elevator will ever pass the floor, but for some reason don’t care and wish it would stay like this forever.

The first song on the album Vastaa starts up and melodies are barely heard as the jittery and distracting rhythms jump in and engulf the track. In fact, most songs on this album have mostly similar characteristics including jitterbug minimal beats that seem to stream inside the mind as if it were a sound slideshow constantly flipping the slide and then repeating over and over again. Hetkonen, Osottava, and Marsila are three of the more random tracks that seem to spiral into oblivion with their hazey and punchy rhythms and have that hypnotizing effect. Avanne is an extremely beautiful dub techno track with a bass drum booming in the background showering your mind with its charm and it is one of the strongest tracks on the album. Marsila, the seventh song on the album, in particular, has a melody that – while it is fairly prominent and dainty – can be annoying over the span of seven and a half minutes. In contrast, the eighth song on the album Hitto has a fairly prominent and dainty melody, but it is executed much more gracefully and blissfully with a rhythm that sounds like a marching band than the song Marsila. The final song on the album Kuuluuko is the best track and the perfect closer to the album as it portrays an image of what Sasu Ripatti once was. Its return to the sound of deep, minimal ambiance and bliss, much like what Multila was, really shows that Vladislav Delay has never really departed us.

The important aspect of Vladislav Delay’s music is patience. The sounds that this artist will present will probably not have an impact on the typical listener, but for those who are willing to sit down and be patient for it to click in will have a grand time, as this music is absolute hypnotizing, brain expanding genius. Those who are familiar with Vladislav Delay and are more comfortable with the ultra-ambient and deep minimal soundscapes on his previous records might be disappointed to hear the inclusion of every single track having rhythms present. It’s more welcoming and accessible than anything that he’s ever done, and there is a lot more going on in these songs, but sometimes it’s quality over quantity. It certain is a deep and intriguing album that will take a while to fully explore. Once it is fully explored, it is so worth it and it is still a very consistent release in this artist’s discography. Vladislav Delay is one artist who is willing to have you drooling in hypnotism by the end.

Review by Magnus Molin, www.impulsmagazine.com

Sasu Ripatti continues his journey through experimental electronic music with his latest album ‘Kuopio’. There really is no reason to write any history about Sassu Rippati, because over the years he has become a legend within the electronic culture. The first track on this CD is Vastaa. This dramatic track creates an intense, driving and dominating approach, which is just the beginning of this album. This track would undoubtedly grab everyone’s attention on the dancefloor and make them want to move.

The next songs are a delight to the ears. Sasu has in a ingenious way worked with echo and reverb, and created different forms consisting of sound in a way that plays with the mind. Hetkonen, which is the second track on Kuopio, has a profound experimental feel about it with it’s substantial bassline and light, repetitive futuristic chords. Similar to Hetkonen follows Avanne, which is the third track on the album. Avanne gives a feeling about slow, dark minimal techno but still brings this feeling and emphasis which retains the listener on the same type of music. It could be said that it is a mixture where the focus is on the more experimental electronic part. Sasu has in an excellent way bound together the various parts into a unique song, which in a way only Sasu can achieve.

What initially appears to be a calm and harmonious track turns at an astonishing way over to a fast-paced and energetic song. This is Kellute, the fourth track on Kuopio. The subtle, complex beat-driven introduction plays an important role, and later progress towards a song that is reminiscent of how the album started. Further on in this album are the tracks Osottava and Kulkee (which means ‘To move forward‘ in Finnish) and that’s exacly what Sasu have done. Osottava begins in a repeatable manner mostly, but gradually being built up with percussions, noises and various background sounds which is perfectly edited and highlighted. The song changes drastically with a transition to a more mysterious, atmospheric focus with an almost vibrant bass sound in the background interacting with the continued, but now subdued repetitive, low frequency kick.

Marsila starts off with a slightly off-beat type of track with glitched fragments of background drones and noises. This is all about to change when the hihat, kickdrum and the morse code-like sound enters with, later on, an almost tension influenced melodic pattern. Hitto, which is the final track on the CD Kuopio, are introduced with an ever increasing flow of percussion, sounds and chords in a perfectionist manner. Through most of the track rolls a snare drum-like sound with a playful combination of, an almost psychedelic, variation of the chords we heard in the beginning of the song.

Review by boomkat.com

Sasu Ripatti returns to Raster Noton, further engaging a world of fluid yet knotty rhythm experiments and spectral dub. It’s a logical step forward, unzipping the breathless concatenations of ‘Vantaa’ and greasing his unfathomably sequenced beats until they slyp, slyde, glyde and roll in stunningly fluid, freeform syncopation. The emphasis of ‘Kuopio’ is corporeal, teasing and seducing the body with patterns that envelope, playfully calibrate and gratify the nervous system in a manner recalling Merce Cunningham’s comments on the compatibility of electronic music and expressive dance. Of course, we don’t expect to see people flying through the air at a Vladislav Delay show, but the lithe, unimpeded viscosity of his live and organic programming offers so many more options to the body than the rigidity and banality of so much dance music. Like SND/Mark Fell, he can straddle the fine line between obtuse and ultra funky, best heard on the industrial fibrillations of opener ‘Vastaa’ and in the strobing multiplicities of ‘Osottava’, ‘Hitto”s martial snares or the epic aquatic tech-stepper ‘Hetkonen’. And even when he’s working more conventionally, say on the dub techno of ‘Avanne’ or ‘Kulkee’, everything’s been knocked off its axis to abstract, compelling degrees.

Review by Gordon Bruce, inverted-audio.com

Sasu Rippatti has channeled a dizzying number of personas across a vast musical terrain. He’s dabbled in vocal-driven minimal as Luomo, in soulful techno as Uusitalo and in rough basement house as Sistol. All of these projects have been intriguing and often inspired expositions of form, yet they have always felt like flights of fancy, experiments for Rippatti to dabble in before returning to his uniquely styled comfort zone as Vladislav Delay.

In contrast to Rippatti’s other fleeting interests, Vladislav Delay has moved at a slow, meditative pace. The core elements of these compositions have remained almost obsessively concrete: glacial synths swell up to meet with collapsing rhythms to create a dubbed-out interpretation of the Clicks & Cuts micro-genre. The difference between one release and the next is therefore marked by devilishly subtle alterations and refinements, all carefully calculated and coolly executed. If this makes Vladislav Delay sound offensively clinical, the music testifies against such judgements. Yes, it requires patience, but the reward is total immersion in a rich sound scape that has its curve balls at exactly the right moments.

Take Rippatti’s most recent release on Raster-Notion, The Espoo EP, which subtly developed the restraint of previous efforts to new extremes. Across four songs, a handful of elements are threaded together as the songs mutate through a series of deceptive rhythmic changes, recalling the scalpel precision of SND. These ultra-minimalist songs took a single idea and refused to lay it to rest until its possibilities had been utterly exhausted. Espoo’s sonic palette was also a subtle development , migrating away from icy clean synth sounds to embrace a more roughened-up, altogether noisier production.

Espoo was an entrancing half hour, yet the prospect of an album which maintains such a pious sense of restraint is more than a little daunting. This is perhaps why Kuopio feels like the logical step for Rippatti to take. Across its nine tracks, Rippatti has maintained the ruggedness of Espoo, but shunned the obsessive repetition. The tracks dance around common themes but are unafraid to toss in a dose of crispy percussion, a depth charge of reverb or even (shock horror!) a chord change. Some songs, such as Kellute, transform themselves throughout as they develop new rhythmic patterns and tempos. And, reassuringly, elements of glitch are still present and correct, as in the collapsing patterns of Marsila.

In short, Kuopio is an exciting and immersive development in the Vladislav delay canon that isn’t afraid to step away from an artistic straight jacket to show itself off. This isn’t to say that Rippatti has presented a series of blinding showstoppers – that clearly isn’t the Vladislav Delay way. Yet in his own nonchalant way, Rippatti has ingeniously avoided recycling himself.

Review by Tony Bernardo, bassdress.com

It feels like a long time since Vladislav released some new material. In reality it’s only been just over a year since his last full length album “Vantaa” was issued, and only a few months ago we got the small, two-track EP “Espoo” – a quick taster of what was to come. At first, Vantaa seemed like Vladislav going through the motions in a new studio. It was a strange mix of high tempo and no tempo. Espoo on the other hand, was in unusual quarter note beats that wriggled and refused to remain still. Upon hearing the new Kuopio album, it’s pretty clear that the previous two releases were testing ground for a new direction, a new aesthetic. People can’t read any more, that’s why I need pictures in articles.

The opening track Vastaa is a fast pulsating, dubby piece that breaks and declines from and into identifiable rhythms. Its a breathless mix of extremely processed synthesis, and near-unprocessed drums and works as an excellent and chaotic opening piece. Percussion rattles and shifts from background to foreground, and patters shift and evolve with a subtlety that I’ve not heard since “Multila”. I can almost see this track as a decomposition and re imagining of a modern Sistol track. Changed in focus, yes, but a very clear relationship I think.

The second track, Hetkonen (that means ‘moment’ to you and I) is what I’ve waited to hear a long time. Ever since V dropped the sampler for the album I’ve been desperate to hear the integral version of this. Syncopation plays a large part in the entire album, but it’s certainly most of all evident here. The bassline plays with casual disregard to the tempo and the drums, snapping back into focus whenever it pleases. A stab resonates again and again, like a sonar desperately searching in the night, desperately trying to make sense of the disarray but slowly fracturing and faulting. Hetkonen features the most effective, most subdued and well executed chord progression I’ve ever heard. The whole track is a chaotic free-for-all, beats, chords and percussion landing where ever they fall – but it’s somehow all controlled and sculpted into something no less than a masterpiece of contemporary music. I genuinely believe this is a significant piece of work, and more than reason enough to pick up the album. Amazing.

Avanne is a grove focused piece, a little unlike anything I’ve heard before. In fact, a little unlike anything else Vladislav has released before. Gritty, but groovy, and all the time managing to keep a serious and straight façade. The best analogy I can come up with is Multila does house music. It’s like listening to a jazz record, through your neighbour wall, all while they’re having building work done. Is it noise in music, or music in noise? Does it matter? The groove stays the main focus right until the end, giving way only into an atmosphere of haze and noise. It doesn’t envelope you, it plods until exhaustion, until there’s nothing left but rubble.

Kellute is something only Vladislav Delay can do – make interesting semi-ambient music. Do you remember tracks like Pisa, Ele, Karha, Kohde? Kellute lines up well with almost any of those, which is quite a compliment considering most of those were ground breaking pieces. The rhythms in Kellute pulse and sway in mechanical harmony, like a two-stroke engine spluttering in a shipyard. In fact at this point, Kullute actually draws more aesthetic similarity with the Conoco EP. However, at the three and a half minute mark, everything is sharply snapped into perspective. A heavy rhythms devours everything in sight, consuming all the delicate elements one by one, until all that’s left is the looping broken fragments of a chord and a one note bassline.

I don’t know what Vladislav is using for sequencing, but it’s not from this world. Osottava is composed of the same jittering, fidgeting rhythms as Kolari was on the Esopp EP. It’s essentially written in 4/4, but it’s very difficult to hear that at first glance. Where Osottava differentiates itself from the Espoo EP is in it’s final crescendo, where the entire track devolves into what sounds like a techno interpretation of hell. Swarming evil and impending ruin quickly engulf everything they touch. You can feel the size an weight of the track pressing down on you. Inevitability.

Kulkee is the damaged and broken remains of the destruction. Lone chords ring out hoping for a reply amongst the ruins, only to be answered by a staggering bass. Dysfunctional rhythms and melodies begin to rumble and clunk unevenly. The track begins to build, but in a very literal sense. Elements assemble cautiously, but with a little optimism. You hear the individual elements bond and work together to form the workings of a contraption from another world, another time. Kulkee works so beautifully as an album track, it should be used as a device to teach aspiring musicians. When I first heard the preview of Kulkee, I didn’t think much of it, but in the context of the album, it really is a masterpiece. And if you’ll permit me to use one more cliché, it truly is an inspired work.

The penultimate track, Marsila, is a showcase of the new sound and new technique. Lots of untamed energy the track presses forward into a not yet defined concept. Sparkling and unusually glee, it brings everything back to life with a tom pulse. It’s a glimpse into the new world and the unknown. An optimistic look at an uncertain future. The album closes with Hitto. Crackling and snapping drums fold and roll. Those trademark Delay pads are captured in a digital tape loop, being wound faster and faster, squealing and stretching into something au courant. Finally the tape snaps, the twisting ends, and the drums loop mechanically ad infinitum. The sound fades quickly into the distance, leaving only the memory of the scale of the journey.

The entire Kuopio album is something very special indeed. It has layers of depth that only the most perceptive listener will find (I doubt I have even scratched the surface yet). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Vladislav Delay demonstrates why we love music. It’s evolving, emotional, unique. It’s art, not product. It’s well thought out, not rushed. It’s a beautiful thing.

Before Kuopio, if I’d been asked to name my favourite V.D. albums, I’d have said “The Four Quarters” “Multila” “Anima” “Entain”. Now, Kuopio so confidently and completely eclipses everything in terms of quality that there is no other answer. That’s not to downplay the significance of his other works, but Kuopio is such a perfect album I begin to doubt if anyone will, or indeed, can do better. Kuopio is absolutely remarkable. Buy it now .

Review by IJ.Biermann, www.nordische-musik.de

Vor einem Jahr stand hier noch: »Mehr davon!« Doch hätte man sich nicht träumen lassen, dass der Meister sich noch einmal steigert. Auf der Stelle getreten ist er ja ohnehin selten, doch nun darf unumwunden eingestanden werden, dass Sasu Ripatti alias Vladislav Delay sein bestes Album aufgenommen hat und sich auf der Höhe seiner Kunst befindet. Der (nord-)europäische Techno hat in letzter Zeit wenig Innovation hervorgebracht, doch »KUOPIO« begeistert vom ersten Moment an durch Fantasie und Originalität. Während »VANTAA« ein starkes, aber recht gleichförmiges und zumeist ruhiges Raster-Noton-Debüt war, tanzen auf »KUOPIO« die Rhythmen oft so wild und eindrucksvoll, dass einem die Ohren schlackern. Die Minimal-EP »Espoo« vor ein paar Wochen war gerade mal eine (wenn auch tolle) Vorstudie zu dem, womit »KUOPIO« nun aufwartet. Mit sperrigen, dabei immer eingängigen Rhythmen und superb und detailreich gestalteten Sounds zaubert Delay eine durchweg spannende, in jedem Moment präzise und Aufmerksamkeit erweckende Stunde elektronischer Musik.

Als einen sich unablässig voranentwickelnden Fluss von Stimmungen, Ideen, Emotionen, feinen Verästelungen aus Rhythmuspartikeln oder treibenden Beats und reichen Soundwelten, die oft wie vollkommen ungehört erscheinen, bestreitet Delay acht so abwechslungsreiche wie dichte Varationen von Techno 2012. Dabei arrangiert er nur die besten Einflüsse aus seinem eigenen Werk, aus Dubtechno, Basic Channel, Elektro und Abstract/Minimal in einer Weise, dass man das Gefühl hat, elektronische Musik ganz neu zu erleben. Keine Spur von Retro. State of the Art.

Review by www.ondarock.it

C’è da chiedersi come diamine faccia. Hailuoto a Sasu ha fatto bene, un anno esatto fa “Vantaa”, ora “Kuopio”, nome anche di una cittadina finlandese che volge lo sguardo al mare. E’ così che me la immagino, che Delay me la fa immaginare. Senza spazio per umidità o nebbie, anche se leggere. Ma immagini terse, cristalli in movimento. Con gli abeti che tentano di allungarsi, e ghiaccio a immobilizzarli. Questo sole che picchia dannatamente forte, ma è un calore che rimane crializzato, che è apparente. Si vede, ma non si sente. A chi verrà a obiettare che è il solito disco di Delay, calma e sangue freddo. Così non è. “Kuopio” ha struttura, le ossa sono saldissime. Con le solite fantastiche scie che avvolgono. Ma non sono pannelli e drappeggi lasciati free – come negli ultimi due lavori – quanto funzionali a vestire queste colonne vertebrali, questi puntelli che lavorano di fino. Dio è ridisceso in terra, e mostra al mondo come si fanno le cose belle. Un suono di una morbidezza impressionante vive e si eleva, viaggia, sovrasta, illumina. Mai si è sciolto così tanto Sasu, che quel sole che ci illumina lo comanda. E’ un processo di scioglimento dei ghiacci che è tanto lieve e costante, quanto energico e dirompente.

Si illuminano, brillano le stalattiti, mentre distillano man mano gocce d’acqua. Gli zampilli e i clip clop si fanno sempre più insistenti. “Osottava” si apre come un Alva Noto passato sotto una coltre di zucchero, e si risolve in un rivolo in un loop che arriva da una galassia altra: un mantra sinistro quasi orrifico (witch) di una bellezza cosmica. Il calore distillato di “Kulkee”, l’andirivieni telegrafico col beat pressante in sottofondo di “Marsila”, caramelle gommose immerse nel glitch per “Hitto”. Tutto questo per dire come l’universo di Delay sia diventato pura struttura, colta nella sua essenza più liquida. Il piglio aggressivo di “Vastaa” difficilmente in Delay lo si è mai sentito prima: ruggiti. Se “Hektonen” ricorda vagamente il capolavoro “Huone”, il dub immerso nella neve di “Avanne” o gli spasmi di “Kellute” tracciano un filo che unisce il tutto. Forse Delay ha completato qui sia il suo lavoro più pop, sia il suo vertice assoluto. Espressione di un’arte perennemente in bilico tra colonne portanti e scie dismesse, “Kuopio” eleva il concetto di fusione al suo apice. Non c’è nube all’orizzonte, nessuna tempesta in arrivo. L’aurora boreale, il cielo sopra Kuopio, vivono di una luce che non si spegne. E dispensa un calore forse un po’ distante. Kuopio è la colonna sonora di uno spazio immacolato. Voi dovete solamente ascoltare in silenzio. La luce verrà a voi.

Review by Edoardo Bridda, www.sentireascoltare.com

Il discorso in solitaria di pure electronic iniziato con Vantaa continua con Kuopio via Espoo, eppì di transizione tra la prima e la seconda prova sull’etichetta di Alva Noto. E Sasu Ripatti su Raster Noton non l’abbiamo mai sentito così avvincente, sia perché questo lavoro rappresenta un autorevole punto di continuità all’interno delle fila concrete-conceptual-techno della label, sia per la capacità del finnico di rinnovare il proprio repertorio partendo dall’assorbimento/superamento dei canoni architettonici dell’etichetta stessa. Attraverso le lenti della natia Finlandia e dal solito avamposto fuori dal mondo di Hailuoto, Sasu si sposta su un’analisi urbanistico sonica osservando Kuopio – una paradigmatica città finlandese – da un punto di vista organizzativo e di interazione con l’ambiente circostante. Abbiamo così un lavoro che, pur tenendoli ovattati, aumenta l’intensità nei ritmi e, in continuità con l’approccio organico del recente corso, presta ancor più attenzione all’addensamento/dipanamento dei layer sonici.

Sulla spinta subliminare degli stepping della New Wave Of Techno e della pulsante battuta Footwork troviamo gli episodi migliori, tutti caratterizzati da serrati loop ritmici: Marsila porta Alva Noto a Ibiza, Hitto serializza gli anthem-tamburello di Plastikman, Osottava, traccia manifesto del disco, svecchia efficacemente alcuni standard del Dalay sound. Le trasfigurazioni tech-house in salsa artica di Avanne rappresentano senz’altro la parte più prevedibile. Del resto, già le rienterpretazioni dinamiche dell’esperienza del trio di Von Oswald (Kellute) godono degli scarti necessari per tenere ben alta l’attenzione come, in generale, le potenzialità e la libertà data dall’utilizzo dei microfoni a contatto conferisce all’opera un bilanciamento ottimale tra la severa visione sonica e l’impro sul 4/4 e oltre. Rispetto alle possibilità e alle problematiche dei lavori collettivi del finnico (Vainio personalità troppo forte per il Quartet?), la nuova fase di Vladislav Delay restituisce un musicista fieramente finnico, coerente e perciò libero, preparato. Un adulto che ha trovato una propria ecologia elettronica. Un habitat noto dove non accade mai quello che veramente ti aspetti che accada.

Review by essmaa.wordpress.com

Alors que, l’été, la vie semble s’élever avec les jours qui rallongent, l’automne la rabat au plus près de la terre. C’est la saison des feuilles et des retenues d’eaux. Mortes feuilles & eaux. Après Vantaa l’année dernière, Vladislav Delay revient sur Raster-Noton avec un nouvel album vous immergeant dans un « profond cosmos de sons organiques » qui prolifèrent aux alentours de Kuopio , ville du centre-est de la Finlande. Avec Vladislav Delay, on devient vagabond. Pour un voyage qui serait sans attache. Couvert de la boue des sentiers. Rossé jusqu’à l’os d’une pluie glacée. Noirci de la cendre des bûchers inutiles la nuit venue. Telle une plante sauvage égarée dans un pots de fleur abandonné par l’hiver. Dans le ciel, les derniers oiseaux se regroupent et partent pour des terres plus clémentes. Les beats assourdis se transportent au hasard du courant d’air glacial qui arrive de la plaine. Tempo traversé d’un souffle rugissant, « Kuopio » est un sombre voyage sur les franges de l’abstraction, jonché d’accidents .. feedback, sinusoïdes dépouillées, pulsations techno glacées et dub abyssal.. Sous les mousses qui jonchent le sol, on retrouve les pochettes ondulées de Maurizio , Tikkiman et Pole.

Review by Javier Blánquez, playgroundmag.net

Hubo una época en la que Vladislav Delay era un (exquisito) churrero del ambient de composición viscosa y textura turbia: sacaba los discos a pares –o a puñados– y sus tentáculos llegaban hasta el house y el techno; lógicamente, llegó un momento en el que tuvo que bajar el ritmo para no cargar al personal y no saturarse él, que al fin y al cabo todos tenemos una vida. Llegó el amor, tuvo una hija, y durante unos años el ritmo de producción de Sasu Ripatti se resintió, como no podía ser menos. Pero desde hace pocos meses esta curva en descenso, esta desaceleración –como dicen los gobiernos– ha repuntado: “Kuopio” llega un año exactamente después de “Vantaa”, el disco con el que Vladislav Delay encontraba acomodo en Raster-Noton tras una etapa de montárselo por su cuenta en Huume, y antes de eso hubo más Luomo, más Vladislav Delay Quartet, más colaborar con Moritz Von Oswald y toda la pesca. La máquina rinde a pleno rendimiento, o sea. Pero eso no es lo importante: lo crucial es que la máquina está engrasada y renovada, rinde bien y el giro technoide que ya se atisbaba en “Vantaa” está plenamente formalizado en Vladislav Delay, que logra dejar (nuevamente) su sello propio en la música electrónica de dormitorio con un juego de referencias cruzadas entre el dub polucionado de Basic Channel y el desplazamiento reptante de los beats propio de Andy Stott. “Kuopio” es como ir al buffet libre del techno experimental, pillarse lo mejor y dejar el plato a rebosar con las viandas.

Kuopio es una ciudad de Finlandia –según Wikipedia tiene 97.000 habitantes, es la capital de la región de Savonia del Norte, está rodeado por el lago Kallavesi y se hace un paté de pescado de escándalo–, y “Kuopio” se puede entender casi como un disco descriptivo: ráfagas ambientales sacudidas por erupciones de ritmo espeso que vienen a ser como el reflejo sonoro de un invierno largo y oscuro, azotado por el viento y la nieve, casi inhóspito. Por supuesto, la música de Vladislav Delay siempre ha sido así, ha tenido muchas de las características que en este disco –el doceavo ya de su carrera sólo con este alias– suenan más afiladas, preeminentes, sin rodeos para no llegar a ninguna parte ni largas fases de duda en las que se acaba diciendo siempre lo mismo: el tríptico que forman “Vantaa”, el EP de mediados de este año “Espoo” y los ocho cortes de “Kuopio” (nueve en la edición digital) son la apertura de una nueva etapa. Un tema como “Osottava” es un buen resumen de sus intenciones, de la puerta abierta a nuevos terrenos: un bajo que tiene la cadencia insistente de un taladro eléctrico, un beat al compás y de tacto rugoso, una mezcla entre abstracción dificultosa y ganas de lanzarse a una pista de baile, aunque sea esquizofrénica, gélida y casi extraterrestre.

Todo lo demás sigue el mismo patrón: “Vastaa” es una prolongación renovada del techno helado de la marca Chain Reaction –bendita sea– mientras que “Hetkonen” es un paso decidido en la dirección de Andy Stott, T++ y otros renovadores de la substancia más intrigante del techno, siempre optando por longitudes generosas, entre siete y nueve minutos, para lograr que el sonido cale en el cuerpo con paciencia, alternando temas tranquilos, casi a temperatura primaveral (“Kellute” o “Marsila”, que a ratos incluso parece Luomo), con otros de paso intranquilo y atropellado como “Hitto”. Después de tantos años, Vladislav Delay ya no está llamado a provocar la gran ruptura en el techno y es normal que mire de reojo lo que se hace en Modern Love y Honest Jon’s como antes reverenciaba todo lo que paría Moritz Von Oswald. Eso sí, habría que ver cuántos jóvenes de hoy conseguirán estar tan finos, activos y precisos como él dentro de 13 años. Un respeto.

Review by Roberto Mandolini, Rockerilla Magazine

Da quando Vladislav Dealy è tornato a vivere in Finlandia la sua ricerca musicale ha preso a correre su binari inesplorati. Da una parte l’influenza dei paesaggi artici, dall’altra la lontanza dalle mode di Berlino, hanno permesso a Ripatti di sviluppare un suono del tutto personale, che sembra nutrirsi solo delle sue precedenti esperienze musicali. Kuopio è l’ennesimo capitolo di questa ricerca. I legami con il suo passato (Vladisalv Delay è stato tra i più autorevoli interpreti della dub-techno esplosa a Berlino quasi vent’anni fa) sono diventati delle scorie sulle quali ricostruire nuovi linguaggi: su Avanne un beat denso come il mercurio rimbalza seguendo un tempo in levare mentre intorno rumori metallici spazzano via ogni segno di umanità. Le inflessioni dub della prima metà dell’album lasciano il posto ai groove anelastici presenti nella seconda parte. La techno di Kuopio ha la potenza della più seducente musica dance (Marsila) eppure è difficile immaginarla suonata nei grandi club d’Europa. Piuttosto sembra pensata per essere ascoltata sprofondando tra i propri pensieri. Alla fine del viaggio si torna a casa, sui passi già battuti (Kuuluuko). Rimane comunque UN MISTERO LA CAPACITÀ DEL MUSICISTA FINLANDESE DI TROVARE SEMPRE NUOVI SUONI COSÌ ADERENTI ALL’ESTETICA DELLA TECHNO. Lo stemma della città che dà il nome al disco campeggia in alto a destra sulla copertina dell’album.