Review: Gagarin Kombinaatti was one of Mika Vainio's early projects back in the 1980s, a time when techno hadn't truly discovered itself, or broken off form the industrial / post-punk scene. In our books, this is perhaps one of the most interesting and exciting era for electronic music. This compilation of tunes isn't really dance, but it isn't totally removed from the warehouse scene, either. Tunes like "Vartioparaati", which have more in common with noise, still retain a sense of movement and rhythm, and the same goes for the metallic, lo-fi jams like "Ukaasi" or "Alkupera". The sounds are a mixture of analogue and the organic sound effects that these dudes played with back in Finland. Oh, and did we mention it's on our favourite label, Sahko?
Review: It has been three years since the last O album graced Mika Vainio's regular haunt Sahko, and now he returns with another long player steeped in haunting tones, vibrant sound design and calculated intensity. The crystalline percussion that Vainio has always been known for is here in abundance, cutting through dense walls of drone in slow and precise formations. The ominous musical content itself is utterly compelling, like a seething biomass of harmonic elements that can be viewed as a whole or broken down into its component parts. The method is the magic in electronica of this nature, and Vainio has never sounded more in control of his art.
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