Luomo

Also, my "Jake Shears!" comment was surprise, not excitement. If anything, he makes me skeptical.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/images/artists/delay_vladislav/288cover.jpg

when vlad delay finally played in NYC, it was because he was also sneaking into the scissor sisters' studio to finish up the album.

that wire thing had really cool photos of his studio

I'm very confident about this (I don't know if I should be). Although I must say I've taken University courses which require less work than following his recent output.

xposts. it's a pity that the first time I see someone else use that Richard Hamilton pun and not replace 'homes' with 'house'. It's just much more clever that way!

What makes today's Techno so different, so appealing, so acceptable to 20something yupsters in graphic design jobs who drive VWs

Let me elaborate on the first point though. I think a prime reason I thought the present lover was so bunk was that largely because the vocals were just. kind of haphazardly thrown in there. I think with Cassy and Robert Owens (which got a whoa out of me), I'm confident he's going to not only have fancy vocalists (who will ideally write better lyrics than the stuff in TPL and what have you), but they're the type where the sound design is crafted around the vocals (in other works, please! no more of those irritating, kind of drunk-sounding synths!)

i love the vocals in TPL! :/

me too

me three

apart from that cartman track

what about that moment in body speaking where she gets it in the butt?

Between the last two posts I'm really starting to thing that my dislike of the present lover isn't just me.

seriously, if the dude says he doesn't like vocalcity and meant for it to come out totally different, then i don't trust him to make music i like now that he's refined his technique.

he doesn't like vocalcity? in that case i agree with you, elan. TPL isn't all that great. i love "So You" so much though.

The Present Lover is probably my favourite record of all time!

What's strange to me is that Vocalcity and The Present Lover are so different and yet equal in my affections, whereas The Present Lover and Paper Tigers are so similar and yet I adore one and never listen to the other.

Or maybe it's not so strange: if Paper Tigers had ventured further afield perhaps its glaring inferiority vis a vis The Present Lover would be less of an issue. But it's hard to understand how/why Luomo dropped the ball.

i would easily take TPL over vocalcity. i like the quirky murky meandering imprecision of vc but easily choose rhythmically taught cohesion over it every time

See that's the thing, I don't hear it as rhythmically taught cohesion, I hear it as essentially throwing away what made VC so damn interesting, instead, making it kind of simple, unadventurous, and well, boring (NB Luomo was one of the first dance acts I ever got into, me being an IDM-head of sorts before. And while Tessio was a grand realization of sorts, it didn't even really catch up to me until much more recently). I mean, he does vocal house well enough (although I seemed to remember him taking a big turn for the worse in making his synths a lot more I guess, wonky and off-kilter, and later on a bit shrill, I think. Nevertheless, I would still prefer Vocalcity sans the rhythmic all-over-the placeness over TPL).

I should mention, though. Not long ago I bought the Black-Dice - Smiling Off Ep (2006) and the Luomo remix on it is actually pretty good.

he doesn't like vocalcity? in that case i agree with you, elan. TPL isn't all that great. i love "So You" so much though.

-- jed_, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 7:31 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

i can't remember the source, and i don't want to dig right now, but i remember reading an interview where he said that when he made vocalcity, he didn't really know what he was doing as far as house-making (having only done dub experiments as vladislav delay), and that the present lover was what he really wanted to make. i was shocked to read that. the present lover is very good music to me, but vocalcity is exceptional. i understand how tpl could be considered a step up based on certain criteria, but i disagree.

yes! xp that remix is amazing. check also his remix of rhythm & sound "truly" for a similar bassy sound.

I got that one on vinyl too. Gorgeous!

Y'know he makes for quite a remixer, which I guess fits into my 'his vocalists and choice of synths suck" hypothesis

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.