Sahko Finland At Juno Download

Review: With releases across Workshop, Meakusma and Hinge Finger, Madteo has shown himself to be one of the underground's most interesting figures, creating downtempo, druggy hybrids of hip-hop and deep house with a loose, MPC feel. Finnish purveyors of leftfield electronics Sahko may not be the most obvious home for his dusty brand of music, but on listening to Noi No it makes total sense; for the most part the album takes a beatless approach, "Rut-A-Round" combines sludgy drones with serene chords, "Gory Glory" feels like a house track with the beats missing, while "Vox Your Nw Yr Resolution" is a drowsy collection of vocal cut-ups, though "Dead Drop" is a bonafide dancefloor killer created in the way only Madteo could. Somewhere between sepia-tinted deep house and glacial glitch, Noi No sounds like nothing else released this year. Highly recommended.

Review: What can we say...anything remotely linked to Mika Vainio is always liable to cause shivers of delight with us, and this time we have a nice, full, digital re-issue of the artist's second and probably most diverse piece of work on his native Finland's Sahko Recordings. Olento is a seriously pioneering piece of work and it's power lies within the incredible subtlety of Vainio's production style: starting with "Oleva", a beautifully improvisational clutter of piano keys and vinyl crackles, the album sets the scene for a mesmeric voyage into analog electronics and mind-bending drones. "Stratostaatti" is another gem and it showcases Vainio's ethereal dub tactics, something which runs throughout the work; it would do no good to simply describe the entirety of this release, and such works as "Ohipumppu" or "Mugwump" are the blueprints for techno as we know it nowadays. If you're into anything remotely linked to the last twenty years of electronics, you would be committing a sacrilege by not picking this up - essential.

Review: Mika Vainio first released Kolmio back in 1993, but it still sounds up to date. Indeed, listening to the hypnotic, pulsing bleeps and blips of "Ionit" and the colder, menacing tones of "Kuvio 3", it is obvious where acts like Sleeparchive and Function took their inspiration from. Apart from the fact that Vainio's vision for minimal techno was less visceral and abrasive than Robert Hood's, what's also striking about this classic EP is that Vainio was unafraid to flirt with varying tempos, and the mysterious tones of "Telectro" and the teased out acid of "Acidophilus" portray an innovator in action - even after all these years.

Review: Brand new Finnish Sahko action for all you leftfield freaks out there - and nobody can do like these guys! With only a 7" behind them, Soft Focus are already shaping up to be serious contenders in the field; 11 tracks in total and all of the absolutely stunning, ranging from the eastern chimes of "EEG" to more improvisational and field-recording based harmonics of "Polysomnographic" or "Emergence Delirium", Soft Focus bring back the orchestral aspects of brass and string instruments to more experimental territories. "Cauchemard" with its deranged piano keys and background synth-work is another stunner but also tracks like "Hypersomnia" or "Quietus" really shine through in this incredible world of dreamy atmospherics and delicate but bizarre patterns - highly recommended.