demo(n) cuts
written and produced by sasu ripatti
since anima/naima and the follow-up "the present lover" under his luomo guise, the finnish workaholic vladislav delay spent quite a calm time with releases, since he concentrated on other activities such as mixing the new goldchains album or preparing to mix the new safety scissors album. but also vladislav is one most wanted liveact for both vladislav delay and luomo and spends a healthy amount of his time traveling and playing gigs. "with mp3, more and more people are able to get the music, especially in parts of the world where cds aren′t distributed and are way too expensive. i think as long as the cds are overpriced and music content & packaging quality low and free downloads available, the cd will go downhill." so it’s no a surprise at all with vladislav delay meanwhile finding his own imprint huume recordings in order to release without any hassle, after the chaotic past year. huume recordings is not intended to be a typical artist signing label though, however 2005 will be fairly busy for vladislav. the current 12′′ "running away" (w/ raz ohara) will be followed-up by 2 full lengths with agf on her own label "agf producktion" in january and a collaboration between vladislav delay, antye greie and pianist craig armstrong later in 2005.
to shorten the duration to his next releases, vladislav offers the "demo(n) cuts ep", which is a free download from the huume website and has been licensed by thinner to present these marvelous ambient pieces to a broader audience. for this purpose, the original track “demo(n) cuts - d” has been replaced with the new and formerly unreleased “demo(n) cuts - f”.
after past years successful luomo album with it’s video on mtv rotation, vladislav delay now wanted to go back to the typical sort of ambient he released before: "more sketch-like and unpolished, raw, retaining the very moments which appeared at the birth of tracks and not killing any of that with overproducing or endless plug-in dsp shit. i expressed what i see around and feel in me, kind of mirroring myself and my life with my music." with the “demo(n) cuts” ep vladislav indeed establishes this particular calmness that is almost uncanny and generates the flora & fauna ambient he once became known for. as always with delay, the sound elements and environmental layers are clearly defined, where skeptical beats (“demo(n) cuts b”) are transformed into disfunctional grooves. but as for all tracks, the mildest element forms the basis of the tracks, that brightens up the atmosphere like a polarlight, where a couple of sounds gently move within the soundsphere in an effortlessly way. utilizing disfunctionality more as effect than structuring the songs with it, the songs melt and blur around a particular loop where there would be no end, just variation until infinity. the "demo(n) cuts" are vitalizing and mindcleaning and establish a certain flow just few ambient composers are able to do.
text written by sebastian redenz
reviews
bleed | germany | 12/2004
jein, nicht alle tracks dieser ep kennen delay fans schon von der huume webseite, denn für das release wurde ein track durch einen neuen ersetzt. wie auch immer, vladislav frei von allen zwängen ein popalbum zu schreiben, dass den ruf seiner alben unbedingt fortsetzen muss ist schon wirklich ein extrem spannendes erlebniss. hier poltern die beats wie sie wollen, die melodien und dubs, effekte und sounds scheinen immer mehr ein eigenleben zu entwickeln und am ende ist man von der grösse dieser tracks völlig aufgefressen. eine meiner lieblings delay releases. demnächst kommt auch noch ein ganzes album von agf und delay auf agfproducktion. ein delay jahr. wir wussten das schon immer.click here for more reviews