Naima

text

A limited edition (2000 copies) document of what Vladislav Delay, seemingly everybody's favourite Finnish glitchdub minimalist, contributed to the annual Klangpark Sessions at the Ars Electronica Festival in Vienna last year. As Alexander Balanescu and friends did so brilliantly the year before (on the Staubgold CD 'Lume Lume'), the artist was invited to transform the park area along the River Danube into a fresh acoustic environment. Delay chose to do so by recycling material from his latest studio album, 'Anima', into a new, continuous mix, and invited 'Girlfriend' to recite text over it. So spoken-word warning.

Many of us will feel that repeated listenings to a dippy, cut-up text on 'Art' and 'Interfacing' can get old pretty fast, others will appreciate them as just another, equally legitimate sound source. And Delay does indeed tweak, loop and distort Girlfriend's heavily-accented English with impunity. While adherents of Delay's more house-oriented Luomo material might find themselves in foreign territory, this is a fine experimental piece from someone who seems to derive endless enjoyment by worrying the capacity of his machinery. So non-linear as to make St. Augustine roll over in his grave, and yet as baroquely and fascinatingly structured as a piece of Gaudi architecture.

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