To celebrate the impending release of his new album, recorded in a burst of creativity following an aborted attempt to tour the USA, Cyclic Defrost had the opportunity to speak with one of the most talented and uncompromising electronic musicians around, Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay). In a wide ranging interview the Finish artist discusses his various projects and inspirations as well as commenting on improvisation in the electronic field and the perils of performing live. In fact it was such an extensive discussion we’ve decided to split it into two parts. You can find the first part here. In this second part Malcolm Angelucci focusses on Vladislav Delay’s first foray into ambient music for years, Visa.
Tracks like ‘Melankolia’ (from Tummaa, 2009) and ‘Santa Teresa’ (from Vladislav Delay Quartet, 2011), and albums like Vantaa (2011) and Kuopio (2012) are amongst the music that I treasure the most. It was great then to have the opportunity to speak directly with Sasu Ripatti, the man behind Vladislav Delay, Sistol, Uusitalo, Luomo (and the list continues…) and some of the best electronic music of the past fifteen years or so. We chatted about his latest album, Visa, coming out November 10 for his Ripatti label, his approach to ambient music, live performance and the direction his music is taking at the moment.
MA: Stories about VISA, and how it was recorded after you were denied entry into the United States, circulate on the net. In your press release, you say: “a valve broke open, and I collected what came out of the pipes” Can you tell us more about this, and the process you went through to record the album?
SR: Well, you know, that’s the press in general, they pick one sentence and they do whatever they want with it… but in general I think I’ve never had a moment, or a period like that in my life. I had nothing on the calendar because I was supposed to be touring the US, and until the last minute there was a slight chance of getting the visa, but it didn’t happen, and I found myself suddenly at home. So for a few days I actually sat down in the studio wondering what I was going to do and then just started slowly, without much of a plan, just started making music.
MA: So you didn’t plan to make an ambient album…
SR: I didn’t plan to make an album, just some music. Usually I have a plan, something to work towards, but this time I had none. So I took advantage of the free space and tried to do things that normally I wouldn’t do; after a week or so I was surprised that I had managed to avoid beats, and it was going towards ambient, which I had been reluctant to work with, because I wasn’t finding inspiration from that kind of, let’s say ‘static’ music. But then it started becoming interesting, I tried to look for more subtle things, like sub-dynamics, rhythms which are not rhythms, beats which are not beats, and I just kept recording; I think I recorded eight or nine hours of music. I recorded everything before I started thinking that I wanted to make an album. Because nowadays, with this music industry and my thoughts about the state of music, it has just become normal that I record a lot of music and just don’t release it; only in the end, when I didn’t have anything more to add, I listened to the whole bunch of recordings and thought it was interesting enough to be an album.
MA: Interesting that you mentioned the rhythmic aspect of it; I think that VISA is ambient, no doubt about it, but it feels very percussive. It almost sounds, to me at least, as a percussion solo without a beat.
SR: Yes, sure. Most people, if it is not straight forward, ask ‘where are the beats?’ For me those are no beats, but a way to kill beats… but yes, I totally see it rhythmically, I am not really thinking too much harmonically. For me it was a way to look at rhythms in ways which I haven’t done before… even in my older ambient things like ANIMA I thought that they were beats, but this is a more refined way to look at it, looking for rhythms and dynamics, creating something powerful without having to underline it, or make it too obvious a statement. But absolutely the beats are, I would almost say the key to the album. I used a lot of tools and toys and mechanical things which have nothing to do with a musical studio instrument; I am more interested in real stuff… my daughter’s toys, toothbrushes, anything that moves, and then I play with whatever found elements, mike them up and maybe then I can trigger something like an envelope, and open a sound. But often I play material sounds that are not synthesised at all, and the interesting part was building rhythms that way, there is no tempo in any of the songs, it is just playing freestyle in a rhythmic way. I am kind of deeply bored by that kind of ‘grid’ in which the music is presented these days and I am trying to look for something that makes me ‘feel something’ and something that I can relate to.
MA: There is indeed a clear ‘analog’ feeling in Visa, and ‘live’ feeling about it…
SR: It is all played live, meaning no sequencing, the entire album.
MA: And with all the analog hardware, does the digital play any role?
SR: Well, it is all analog and all hardware, it’s digital only in that I use software to record stuff and I compile it there, so there is a bit of editing there but mostly getting rid of stuff that doesn’t work. But even there I kind of force myself nowadays to really ask myself sixteen times if I have to take something out, because it may sound a bit weird or shitty but I am kind of sick of all this over-editing, over-clean, faceless, soulless music that is the result of software with endless options, and to some extent also digitally generated music. I’d rather leave the shitty parts there and maybe add more, trying to make something out of it or whatever. So, while I mix it digitally, meaning that there are audio recordings that are combined in the digital domain, all is run through hardware for processing. I just don’t relate to those new software options and whatever they might offer, but more importantly I don’t like the sound, I cannot create sound i really like with software and digital sound processing.
MA: You said that it is hard to play ambient music live, and in particular that it is hard to play Visa. But you are playing it very soon, on October 17 in Amsterdam, and it is an open ended, extended performance. How will you approach the transition from the analog studio to the performance?
SR: I told them that I don’t know yet what I am going to do. This is kind of difficult. I am trying to find a way to use software to be able to re-play that material in a way that I am not restricted by any grid or tempo, or anything at all but, well, definitely I am not going to take any hardware. This comes to the digital domain, and to find a way to play things in a software that allows me to have as little limitation as possible; I’ve spent weeks trying to work in Ableton on that, but it became impossible to work outside grids and time warps. But I am trying to find a software to be able to play loops and soundscapes without any tempo or grid. But am I there? I don’t know yet. But that’s the interesting part. I don’t like to rehearse too much, I like to prepare a technical set up and for me it is kind of hard… I am fortunate enough to have a lot of friends and people I know in the industry, so I’ve being given a few different options from different companies and try to do my thing. But there is the whole mentality and mindset of people behind those software, it is made for a particular kind of music… and especially particular way to make music.
MA: In terms of live performance. Beside the obvious connection with the audience and the actual economic side of things, do you also think about the specific place in which you are playing, the location, the architecture? For example, I’ve read that you played in Matera, in the south of Italy, a town famous for its caves.
SR: I like more interesting places and less industry/market/trade oriented places, so it does play a role. But to be honest, I have almost given up on playing live… there are few places that may be interesting surrounding-wise and that is always nice, but overall it’s just, I don’t know… I still think that music should come first but that’s not how the system works… I don’t know how to survive, because everybody is playing live to make money, and I am in the same position… but I care too much about what I do and I have a big conflict… I should play live to make money, but my body… my brain refuses and keeps saying no to many offers. I’ve been playing for many years, and I’ve seen the places, and I need something that is more than just routine and safety: things which are by no means important, I mean, I have a daughter, I should feed my family… you are asking a very difficult question… I think that when you go to play a show and it is not about music anymore, well I have trouble with that.
MA: It seems to me that your music is going in the same direction, I mean, Visa is not compromising at all…
SR: I’ve never done that, but maybe I’m becoming more conscious about what I want to do musically and otherwise.
Visa is released on Rispatti on Nov 11 2014
