Luomo

http://phlow.net/mag/interview_portrait/luomo_der_straighte_vladislav_delay.php

Phlow: Was it a big pressure on you that so many people adored and praised "Vocalcity"?

Vladislav Delay: It was more a personal pressure. Although there was this fact that vocalcity was treated as something I didn´t stand behind, ie. I wasn´t happy with the album while people listening it were. But in the end it was doing something I was happy with, otherwise it wouldn´t make sense to do this.

Phlow: Why didn't you stand behind "vocalcity"? Could you explain yourself a little bit more?

Vladislav Delay: I did vocalcity in a rush and mainly in a state I can´t remember anymore. In the end when I saw the cd and heard it I didn´t like it, it wasn´t what I had in mind to create. New one sounds a bit like I wanted vocalcity to sound.

'rhythmic all over the placeness' when describing tpl doesnt make any sense. what does that mean? the grooves on that record are pretty unbelievably tight where the first one was kind of off kilter

i also dont get what is 'wonky' about the synths

lopsided, misaligned or off-centre; feeble, shaky or rickety; suffering from intermittent bugs, broken; Generally incorrect
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wonky

i dont see how anyone can hear both of these albums and conclude that tpl is the rhythmically 'wonky' recording - like, that criticism makes no sense when compared to vc...?? i mean i can understand saying you prefer wonky and therefore prefer vc but ... what you're saying isnt like 'difference of opinion' its like looking at a mountain and saying its a valley ...?

i have been getting so into this shit again, and i haven't even heard the new one. something about it which pleased me so much a couple years ago has returned...weirdly, also been revisiting 'Orchestra of Bubbles' quite a bit, too.

By 'all over the place' I just mean the glitch aspects of the percussion i.e. not just kick hat snare, but the more randomized, carefully crafted percussive sounds in the track. Not like squarepusher all over the place, but compared to straightforward house. . .
And 'wonky' (and yeah, it is a very vague term), I mean like in really don't mind, those kind of shrill, high pitched synth pads, or like "could be like this." I can't help but find it a little bit cheesy sometimes.

I will give you this much: The track The Present Lover is, and I always have thought, is excellent

but it uses the same synth pads! and the rhythms on vc were even MORE glitchy and random

As I recall the whole Wire interview was more or less about him never "knowing" what he was doing? If he now thinks he can make a record true to his Vocalcity beliefs, I for one like to hear it. I'm at least pretty sure that wouldn't sound like Paper Tigers.

It just struck me Luomo made his whole career on "Glamour Profession" by Steely Dan

I don't understand this last comment.

Anyway, any reaction to the new song posted on pitchfork?

Okay I might even do a track by track initial reactions for this album, which I'm listening to for the first time.

"Have You Ever": Woah. This is very very good. Very pop, very busy, very clean, lots of jitters and whirs but hardly any stutters or glitches, some beautiful bumping bass lines. More like the production on Karhuneinen (which I really liked) than the last Luomo album, although even more pop than either. If this new direction is maintained it's all to the good I think - finally moving out from under the shadow of The Present Lover. Cassy's vocals are charming and understated. I'm gonna be returning to this a lot.

"Love You All": dark and dense italo-ish electro-pop, OMD circa Organisation meets Depeche Mode circa Violator, stabbing groove, Junior Boys green with envy. Fuck this is good. Slick and emotionally manipulative in the best way possible, and totally compulsive. STRINGS. Did anyone know Apparat could sing so pretty? I didn't hear his last album. Okay so so far this is like Luomo's "let's just make an album of classic pop songs" album. Forgot to mention that the 8 minutes of "Have You Ever" just flies by, and so does the seven minutes here - so perfectly formed and shaped. Oh no - scary synth arpeggios! Someone's been listening to Silent Shout. Love it!

"If I Can't": ironically for the Jake Shears track, this is the most typically Luomo-ish yet, that rueful, bruised-sounding bassline and synth chords and empty underground cavern dub echo and big thumping house beat are immediately identifiable. Jake's doing disco falsetto multitracked slyness which I'm not decided on, nothing wrong with it exactly but I want all the vocals here to break my heart. Okay the chorus is pretty good! I'd be worried if this was first because a better, more streamlined version of Paper Tigers is a nice idea but hardly essential; coming third it's a nice reminder of why I will always have a place for this guy in my heart. The diff. from Paper Tigers is almost clearer here because of the substantive sonic similarities: everything is so classically proportioned, with every sound coming in exactly where it's supposed to. There's a focus and concision here despite the near eight minute length. Ben Williams once compared The Present Lover to EBTG on some Luomo thread - this actually reminds me of "Temperamental".

"Nothing Goes Away": female spoken word house rappin'! And not crazy cut up action a la AGF either, but like, a proper US accent and everything. But this is so lovely, chiefly for its irrepressible springloaded but waterlogged beat and classic shimmering Luomo chords swooping all over the place. This is the new Luomo aesthetic: beautifully produced - the beats are gorgeous - but very simple and totally unafraid of its own prettiness. As the song progresses everything gets a little more fractured and cluttered and dramatic, but developing so organically and inevitably like plunging further and further into the depths of what was already there; in this it reminds me of the development of tracks on the first album, only now transposed into a very different and much more pop sonic context. I am seriously bowled over by how good this is.

ahh where u find this

"Robert's Reason": I imagined the Robert Owens track would sound a bit like this, with its warm but slightly growly bassline, roughly classicist house percussion and emotionally ambivalent (uptempo? druggy? sick with desire?) vibe. Owens underused a bit - this is the most cut-up vocal so far - but the groove is undeniable. Straghtforward fun with high production values, kind of like prime period Get Physical (actually it reminds me of the M.A.N.D.Y. remix of Chelonis's "Le Bateau Ivre") and other poppy Chicago revivalism from around that time.

Sorry Deej can't share this one at the moment.

"Slow Dying Places": this is great. Shimmering underworldly synth burbles and long beatless intro with stark female vocals that make me want to say 'Propaganda' but I'd have to listen to 'Propaganda' again to confirm. Then this kinda wired syncopated pseudo-house rhythm starts up and the whole thing just gets so voluptuously, decadently riotous with detail, every single crevice suffered with another amazing sound, like late 90s Mouse on Mars making a love album. Constantly changing, always getting better and better and AHHHH it actually makes me feel like crying that I have this guy back and so ostentatiously good and making music purposely for me, at least it feels that way right now.

Did anyone know Apparat could sing so pretty? I didn't hear his last album

tim did you ever hear orchestra of bubbles??!!! i can't believe you haven't heard that. you must.

I have Orchestra of Bubbles but did he sing on that? Every time I've listened to it I love it but then i forget to listen to it again for ages.

Not that I'd want to stop you from listening to Propaganda, but that was my initial reaction as well.

Great album.

xpost

A few tracks from Convivial are on his MySpace page.

grrrrr pls to hear whole album

he sang on 'leave me alone' which to be fair i always skip too.

xpps

"Sleep Tonight": The slightly baleful house pulse sounds almost harsh coming after the rococo "Slow Dying Places", but in fact it's very much of a piece with that track and "Nothing Goes Away" - meticulously detailed and very very pretty. The pinging sounds put me in mind of early Akufen a bit. Some cut-up diva vocals here but they're somewhere between the first album and what you might expect on a very good dub of a house track (actually this also reminds me of my beloved Mei Lwun Uno Records mix). The stronger house pulse makes me think this'd be irresistible on the floor. When the beat kicks in after the breakdown it's like "let's go!". Then there are these weird space invader synth wobbles fizzing and defraying everywhere. As much as all of this stuff sounds totally natural, I really like how Delay has discovered a certain level of unpredictability in his sound design, so much of the fun here is wondering "what is the next sound gonna be?" I also like how the production seems to get more like that as the record progresses, like it's a tightly wound coil and you're slowly approaching the centre.

"Gets Along Fine": This strts off more predictable in that if I'd been asked to dream up Luomo making the perfect piece of affirmative house-pop I would have imagined this down to every precise detail. "We all get along!" But then... Watch out for the propulsive snare action! It's like the outro on Ada's "Each and Every One (Blindhouse)" but better, surrounded by these slithering bleeps that are simultaneously melancholy and joyful. Holy shit this just keeps getting better, forgive the immediate-reaction hyperbole but I cannot say for certain that this is not the best piece of music I have ever heard in my life. And then a brief respite. And then the snare section again. It will blow your minds I promise.

What label is this new one going to be on? The downloads from his huumerecordings site have been great for all the recent releases, and reasonably-priced, I kind of hope he still self-releases this album too.

"Lonely Music Co.": After all that, a relatively relaxed outro, all subdued chords and a wistful digi-dub beat and lovely female vox. And I'm thinking "take a rest man, you've earnt it", when all unexpectedly at the end it threatens to turn into woozy 2-step.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

wow

What label is this new one going to be on? The downloads from his huumerecordings site have been great for all the recent releases, and reasonably-priced, I kind of hope he still self-releases this album too.

Huume, yeah.

ha Andy, I thought I was imagining the Propaganda connection.

tim did you get your (i am assuming) promo copy through an australian pr house?

also there are too many albums of the year now. last year could have done with some of these

wow. have gone from not planning to bother with to anticipating more than anything in a long time. great stuff, tim.

like what, lex? i've kinda given up on new stuff this year, really.

Brought this with me into work today for an initial listen. Should be good...

"tim did you get your (i am assuming) promo copy through an australian pr house?"

Nope, pitchfork.

like what, lex? i've kinda given up on new stuff this year, really.

erykah badu, mariah carey, lindstrom, lil' wayne, young jeezy, the-dream, wiley, the bug and anja schneider would all be comfortably in my 07 top 2. danity kane, akiko kiyama, tinchy stryder, ear dis and shed not far behind. and jazmine sullivan was astonishing on one listen. and still awaiting ciara, t.i., crazy cousinz, beyoncé and obv luomo! plus great mixes from ellen allien, plastician, appleblim, ame...

It's been a good year.

and i forgot ne-yo

Matthew Dear's Body Language 7 mix is very good also.

I still haven't heard the Lindstrom. ;_;

i shld give that the bug album a listen

more info:

Luomo - Convival
http://www.dotshop.se/ds/release.php?code=HUUME016CD

A new Luomo! His best ever! Hyper pop house of highest grade. Featuring Apparat *******
Huume (HUUME016CD)
This item will be released on October 20th, 2008

OUR FAVOURITE LUMBERJACK & DUB NOIR PILOT RETURNZ WITH HIS LUOMO PROJECT ***** “Convivial" is the 4th installment in project LUOMO from a Finnish producer known as VLADISLAV DELAY & UUSITALO on his own label HUUME. Convivial features vocal appearances from CASSY, SASCHA RING AKA APPARAT, JAKE SHEARS, SUE CIE, ROBERT OWENS, CHUBBS and long time partner JOHANNA IIVANAINEN.

SASU RIPATTI is the producer and head writer behind the project LUOMO, his musical outfit that has redrawn the very boundaries of what "house music" can achieve. Always a shy man, RIPATTI returns into view to introduce to the world "Convivial"; his latest, and fourth, album as LUOMO. For his relief though, this time he doesn't have to arrive alone. In addition to a long-time collaborator JOHANNA IIVANAINEN (From Helsinki, Finland), this time he lands with a semi-underground star cast; CASSY (Panorama Bar), SASCHA RING (APPARAT), JAKE SHEARS (SCISSOR SISTERS), ROBERT OWENS, SUE-C and one anonymous singer who hides behind a name CHUBBS.

The album in question is not so much of an assembly as a series of commentaries, interspersed with contemporaneous studio stylings and entries from travel diaries he kept while working on the album. It is for the first time that there's a real collaboration between him and the singers; where he didn't write all the lyrics himself but left sometimes plenty of room for the collaborators to bring in the lyrics and musical ideas. The title refers to rather convivial vibe and social atmosphere that surrounded the making-of the album; something new in LUOMO'S production history. The main hub to record and create the album was again Berlin as is in so many cases today, but since then the artist has decided to relocate to his home country, Finland, where he finished the album and is currently living.

While beginning the production for "Convivial" RIPATTI went back to recall thinking how fascinating and strange it was when he first begun making his version of LUOMO'S dance music, and how difficult it has sometimes been since then while trying to search for more and newer ways to lay down the seemingly simple formula of so-called house music. With "Convivial" he wanted let go off the structures and rules, as well as the pressures and aims as to what one should create and instead just took a moment to enjoy making the kind of music he felt strongly about. Often together with other people. The network of artists and singers he worked with for the album bring about strong song characteristics and wide range of electronic music to experience.

CASSY is participating on a dancefloor-friendly song "Have You Ever", while SASCHA RING makes a touching appearance singing a semi-ballad "Love You All". JAKE SHEARS does add a piece of glamour in "If I Can't" while a long-time friend from California, SUE-C does great lead vocals in "Nothing Goes Away", a song probably everyone can relate to. Classic house vocalist ROBERT OWENS gets treated and processed in soulful "Robert's Reason", while JOHANNA IIVANAINEN both brings back and takes further than before what vocals can do in experimental pop music.

As always in his productions the vocals rarely speak out on narrow or specific issues, preferring sweeping hyperbolic statements all about seasonless emotions and about transition and exchange, because that is what people have in their lives, and it is his wish to reflect on that in his music. Aside from great production, the charm of listening to LUOMO’S music lies in his ability to put people at ease even when he doesn’t share a common language or theme with them, with vocals becoming like instruments among synthesizers, effects and other machines. For some people he might be irreverent for his lack of deep knowledge of house or club music and its history or how he creates his own style effortlessly mixing things up, as though he is willing to embody for the new world all the traits they so eagerly use to stereotype the old world: sensuality, knowingness, an alluring combination of earthiness and high culture. But avoiding the genre-licking is almost meaningless as these days the dynamics have changed anyway and the fusion is about. More than anything, his kafkaesque productions come with wonderful petulance about it bringing in more depth and certainly growing the meaning of the dance music in bigger picture.

His medium as LUOMO is a little bit canned but also equally sincere. Indeed, if the lines sometimes sound vaguely pre-packaged, it’s mostly because SASU RIPATTI, 31, has been proselytising like this for a decade now, jumping back and forth electronic and experimental works and each time he comes back to making LUOMO productions he has no guilt going all the way to the medium he sees for him to explore; pop and everything it carries around. He is nothing less than a great tragedian, holding a mirror before a music society that sometimes would like to hear less stories.

Nevertheless he finds the dance music medium most suitable for his pop explorations, which makes sense when you consider his heavy-hitting resume in the electronic and experimental music mediums. He resists pigeonholing and is against market fundamentalism but still loves to cross over to pop worlds. For him the fear is never an option and somewhat through all that he has a remarkable ability to endure, with a respectable and wide-ranging catalogue of unique no-frills releases, with "Convivial" certainly being no exception.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Have You Ever (w/ CASSY),
2. Love You All (w/ SASCHA RING aka APPARAT),
3. If I Can't (w/ JAKE SHEARS),
4. Nothing Goes Away (w/ SUE CIE & JOHANNA IIVANAINEN),
5. Robert's Reason (w/ ROBERT OWENS),
6. Slow Dying Places (w/ JOHANNA IIVANAINEN),
7. Sleep Tonight (w/ JOHANNA IIVANAINEN),
8. Gets Along Fine (w/ CHUBBS),
9. Lonely Music Co. (w/ JOHANNA IIVANAINEN)

Tim's take on "Love You All" said it better than I ever could. Amazing, amazing song.

off topic, but would appeal to Luomo fans

Shaque Lilli
http://www.myspace.com/shaquelilli

Influences: Kraftwerk - David Sylvian - Karl Lagerfeld - Josephine Baker - Beyoncé- Joy division - Prince - My bloody valentine - Cocteau Twins - Andre 2000 - Luther Vandross - Moondog - and many more

signed to the danish label:

Speed of Sound
http://www.speedofsound.dk/SOS%20-%20Artists.html

Luther Vandross - Moondog

Of course

TIm, your short bits on the new tracks has left me drooling

Album gets a touch sleepy in the middle for me but picks up with the final tracks. Then again we'll see what relistens prompt.

OUR FAVOURITE LUMBERJACK & DUB NOIR PILOT RETURNZ WITH HIS LUOMO PROJECT

"Album gets a touch sleepy in the middle for me but picks up with the final tracks. "

For me only "If I Can't" and "Robert's Reason" are weaker tracks.