Sasu Ripatti has a prolific body of work, under the guises of Vladislav Delay, Luomo, Uusitalo, Sistol, Conoco and in collaborative efforts in AGF/Delay, The Vladislav Delay Quartet and with The Moritz von Oswald Trio. While I am not nearly a completest of his work, not even close, even after a few listenings ‘Vantaa’ does not bide to compare with other releases, there is not the fulfillment of experiments and distinctive game changing but a number of roughed out possibilities seeking resolution. There are elements of the Delay persona, the deep dubs and echo effects, long drawn out notes almost drone like, polished industrial aspects and highly complex rhythmic patterns. There are a number of tracks that involve jaunting syncopation that is heavy handed and leans towards muddied or distortions of the idea of rhythm while never seeming to emerge into a new idea more than the possibility of arrhythmic patterns as valid in their own right.
Opening track ‘Loutasi’ gives a fair warning of this inclination but the outcome is more of a decay as if there are missing pieces among the glitches and fragments of beats that stutter in places as the dubs are thrown wide. ‘Henki’ demonstrates it more after an opening of high tone rhythm and bass with glitch rhythm beginnings it moves into developing a complex beat pattern only to stumble into heavy syncopation with no seeming resolution in terms but a maximal complexity with elements escaping, the dub echo throw and shadows of treated vocals. Mid album there is one satisfying track, ‘Narri’ which with its low spectrum gleams extruded in near accordion breaths and scattering beats underfoot in minimal but insistent form the focus is kept on the spatial colors of the ambient foreground. Title track ‘Vantaa’ takes this tendency in a stark crisp minimal form that while it does not layer the complex patterns as hard it insists on highlighting the syncopation aspects and adding warped dub elements to trip beats out more, as if a studied form of continued emergence is always in play. Included is the well out of place ‘Lauma’ with it’s flat punchy almost gabba paced beat and wound up echos running over double time in a strange mutilation of the familiar style. It is placed straight up against ‘Levite’ an understated dub techno ambient number that takes aspects of the glacial background of contemporary ambient and lays an insistent bass-line rumble against a bouncing mid paced beat.
While it is not the game changing work akin to Luomo’s ‘Vocalcity’ it holds many of the features of the earlier Chain Reaction aesthetic from ‘Mutila’ with heavier experimentation into complexity of beats and a less cohesive statement.
Innerversitysound
