Articles
2007 Top 10s and 20s
2007 Artist Picks
Meissner Interview

Albums
7 Hertz
Aarktica
Alka
Axiotronic
Dale Berning
BJNilsen & Z'ev
John Callaghan
Cousin Lou
Dif:use
Disrupt
Domink Eulberg
Donna Regina
Eedl
Erstlaub
FF Burning & BC Motel
Fibla
Figurines
Fond Of Tigers
Freescha
Brian Grainger
Inhabitants
Klimek
Liquid Stranger
Low Res
Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia
Northern
Adam Pacione
Part Timer
Steve Peters
Phreakon
Pig & Dan
Pinch
Rechenzentrum
Sebastien Roux
Sciajno & English
The Seasons
Slow Dancing Society
Steinbrüchel
Talvekoidik
Translations
Ulver
Uusitalo
Tony Wilson 6Tet
Wilson/Lee/Bentley

Compilations/Mixes
15 Exitos Grandes
Steve Lawler
Pole
Sven Väth

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
Ada
Alland Byallo
Formication
Tim Hecker
Hybernation
Karoshi Bros
Lilienweiss
Move D
Tor Lundvall
Shreber Harber Mole FW
Sun Electric
Amon Tobin
Gez Varley

Uusitalo: Karhunainen
Huume

Some background details first: Karhunainen (Bear Woman) takes its name from a theatre play by Sasu Ripatti's late father, eight of the album's ten pieces are supposedly “dedicated to the infamous bass drum,” and Ripatti used analog equipment only to create the material. Background info aside, what does Karhunainen sound like? To begin with, it isn't Vocalcity. Ripatti's Uusitalo and Luomo styles fundamentally differ: the two might be characterized as instrumental tech-house club music and sensuous, vocal-based house, respectively. Even so, though the Uusitalo material presents itself as dance tracks forcefully animated by pumping bass drums and rubbery bass lines, quickly enough layers peel away, exposing Ripatti's customary idiosyncratic fingerprint in the process. One might describe Karhunainen as Vladislav Delay tracks masquerading as dance tracks and, as such, a fascinating juxtaposition of straightforward groove elements and intricate sound design persists throughout. Ripatti drenches, for example, the clubby house strut “Tohtori Kuka” (Doctor Who) in trademark Delay flourishes of careening clatter and thrum. Similarly, while a surging shuffle rhythm anchors “Sikojen Juhla” (Feast of Pigs), it's constantly battered by a meteor shower of noise, and ends up sounding as if Ripatti has let two separate tracks collide with one another. In almost every case, a basic dance pulse (the slippery tech-house funk of “Konevitsa,” effervescent house pulse of “Satumaa,” and the title track's furious uptempo swing) is merged with a perpetually mutating field of percussive noise and voice fragments (the two exceptions are the prototypical Delay-styled overture “Vesi Virtaa Veri,” which omits beats and instead pairs its brooding synth lines with field samples of traffic and voices, and the similarly beatless outro “Puut Juuriltaan”). Does Karhunainen deserve a spot alongside Vocalcity, The Present Lover, Entain, or Multila in the upper tier of Ripatti releases? While it's nowhere near as arresting as any of those four, it's certainly a credible enough addition to his discography and an often fascinating, even occasionally re-configuring, collection.

January 2008