Luomo: The Present Lover

what're the sources?

anyway i love presents but i'm not sure if i love luomo; i haven't heard the new one but it seems sort of wibbly

In any case my only point w/ stirmonster was that his labelling of the Delay stuff seemed dismissive, lumping it in with the rest of Chain Reaction stable and causing me to wonder what he was hearing in it. I questioned his characterization because I didn't want someone stumbling on this thread who hadn't heard Delay to think that "techno dub" is all there was to it; most of it is beatless. How on earth did I "keep chipping away"? I made one terse post! Then clarified, and invited stirmonster's thoughts, but he never replied.

1) I like it more *and* less than the first album, if that makes sense. It's definitely a compromise - he's given up some things in order to do other things eg. the general pattern here is of really propulsive, obviously disco grooves with intermittent stretches of noisy interruptions vs the really quite organic and comparatively mistake-free glitch-house landscapes of Vocalcity. I don't know if the conscious-mistakes really do it for me that much (eg. I'm a bit ambivalent about the new version of "Tessio", which feels more forced than the original) but the propulsiveness is really wonderful in a way that doesn't contradict the beauty of the first album - especially when he just goes for straightforward tearjerker glory on "So You", "Could Be Like This", "What Good" and "Shelter" (which should be the last song on every mixtape ever).

2) It does have a very strong feel of good taste/catwalk fashion/magazine spread refinement to it. I agree with Ben that this ain't necessarily a bad thing - and I like EBTG as well. Actually this in context with Digital Disco (and maybe Coloma and related stuff) is a shift within the broader microhouse scene towards a conscious, dance-oriented version of New Pop. In my head I'm calling this stuff "neuromanticism".

!

That's some kinda genius (like yer post in general). But is the Gibson reference intentional or not? Compare the cover of the album above with:

http://www.fyifrance5.com/gibson1.jpg

The Gibson reference is 'cos I just recently read Neuromancer - although obviously my meanining is different to his (although in some ways the entire microhouse project is about problematising the Wintermute/Neuromancer split, arguing that it is not inevitable but is still necessary, therefore must be approached consciously, or even like it is an uncertain hero-quest). The pun is too good to be wasted on just one meaning though.

See, this is what happens when I only have mp3s. ;-)

The pun is too good to be wasted on just one meaning though.

Soytenly. :-)

great album

What the hell does William Gibson have to do with Luomo?

problematising the Wintermute/Neuromancer split

EH?

Will the Luomo album sound better than the new Dandy Warhols clip?

Tessio always reminded me of the bass lines of 'Love Action/Don't you want me' Human League with vocals by the Manhattan Transfer. Still a beautiful traxxx.

Will the bomb drop with this album, or will it just be a fart in a bathtub?

But Electroclash? Why? Just cuz it's retro-80's?

I do like the way it looks like she just woke up, right next to me.

Interestingly, microhouse tends to be rather coy about highlighting the new media implemented. If you want do that whole body/digital (i.e. Wintermute/Case) interface/divide, I wonder whether Donna Haraway is the missing metaphoric link, or at least Sadie Plant.

I just wouldn't say that LUOMO is about 'leaving the meat behind', is all.

But the term is catchy - I gotta admit.

(what's with that hero-quest idea tho?)

Does anyone have .mp3s of this Without the copy-protection bleeps?

Argh, Michael, please don't spend too much time thinking about this, as I think I said the first time the cybercult reference is a red herring - I just want to steal the pun. The link I made b/w microhouse and Neuromancer was joking (I just wrote something that tried to explicate it and then deleted it b/c it looked so silly).

"Does anyone have .mp3s of this Without the copy-protection bleeps?"

For the first few songs I just assumed they were part of the production!

"Having finally heard this...it's all right, I guess. But I'm sorta bemused as to what makes Luomo so specifically special or unique in general. Or he is meant to be?"

Um... amazingly luscious and emotive disco a la Armand Van Helden's "Flowerz"? Strictly speaking The Present Lover sounds much less unique than Vocalcity; rather than a new strain of house music this is more like an intensification of house's most central properties, a recreation that can potentially surpass the original formula (see what Reynolds was saying recently about The Associates' relationship to Bowie or My Bloody Valentine's relationship to JAMC - although I don't Luomo's recreation is as radical as in those cases).

This is why I find the self-conscious use of digital errors a bit distracting - as I was sorta saying before the album is better the simpler it gets, the closer it gets to "perfect" house music, all glorious warm basslines, scintillating synth riffs and sighing vocals (apart from the untouchable "Shelter", my current favourites are "Could Be Like This" and "What Good" for these reasons).

In a funny way the most representative track is "The Visitor", despite being beatless, because or how it takes all the ecstastic trembly joy of dance music and seems to compress and intensify it, like ecstatic trembly joy is a very rare property that's usually sold in diluted amounts but Luomo has the keys to the laboratory.

"Grace Jones did that one better."

No she didn't. But out of curiosity, who did it first?

here's the release info (sorry for those who already get mail from ft):

--

Almost two and a half years after his first album, "Vocalcity" (Force
Tracks), Vladislav Delay returns with Luomo to explore new dimensions in
upfront vocal house. "The Present Lover" is a self-confessed outsider's
perspective on the club scene, seamlessly blending pop and club elements to
deliver a cunningly original take on pop, house and R&B, replete with
meticulous arrangements and seductive vocals.

Driven by an ever-present inner restlessness, the 26-year-old recently
relocated to Berlin. He remains on the move, constantly performing at
countless clubs and festivals around the world. A man of many guises, the
tireless producer and remixer deconstructs techno as Uusitalo, explores
experimental sound design as Vladislav Delay, and has plans to blunt hip hop
with an as yet unnamed future project.

Always hungry for new experiences, this time around Delay delves headfirst
into what he describes as a fruitful love/hate relationship with his
surroundings. Deceivingly light and upbeat upon first listen, flirting with
dub and soul as much as minimal house influences, consequent listens reveal
"The Present Lover" as an album with hidden depth. Seductively smooth and
extremely well produced, improvisation remains integral. With his uncanny
talent for making the innermost audible, Delay invites us to peel away the
layers of producer's sheen, to uncover well-concealed errors, carefully
placed breaks and tutters
that bore their way into the listener's ears.

Following the extremely successful advance vinyl release of "Diskonize
Me/Body Speaking", which last year reached no. 1 on the Deutsch club charts,
the album capitalizes on the energy generated on "Vocalcity" by mixing
dub-worthy frequencies, ethereal whispers, and Delay's singular take on
epic, infectious grooves. This album harkens back to the early
days of disco without ever wavering in its responsibility to the future of
deep house.

Johanna Niemela and Watkinson, vocalists on the first Luomo album, reprise
their roles behind the mic, while the unmistakable voices of Antye
Greie-Fuchs (Laub) and Danish songwriting genius Raz O'Hara deliver an as
yet unforeseen edge to the production. "The Present Lover" also contains a
completely reworked version of "Tessio", which Mathias Schaffhäuser (Ware
Records) called a "hymn for eternity". The track will be released this
spring, with devastatingly funky new mixes by
Moonbootica and Akufen.

Quietly intense yet intensely physical, this is distilled sensuality with a
twist, intelligent music that works above and below the belt. >From its icy
exterior to its red-hot core, from its eclectic minimalism to its disturbing
funkiness, "The Present Lover" waltzes unabashedly into your stereo, messes
with the settings, and leaves you wondering if you'll have to wait another
two and half years for the next Luomo album.

On stage the ostensibly shy Finn turns into an extrovert performer because
"music still feels the best way to express myself, mirror myself and lose
myself in. I'd love to walk around Tokyo, listening to Jazz on a personal
stereo. The contrast between the hectic visual onslaught and complex rhythm
patterns would be amazingly inspirational

Despite my love for the actual record, I'm going to borrow a phrase from Ned to describe my reaction to this sentence: IT THREATENS TO RIP OUT MY SOUL AND SEND IT WAILING INTO THE ABYSS!