entrevista a sasu ripatti (vladislav delay, luomo, uusitalo, AGF/delay) feita para o UM mas que nunca chegou a ser publicada porque entretanto o jornal terminou. a entrevista foi efectuada por mail, o que explica a insistência em alguns assuntos que vladislav não queria aprofundar. :) o título do post é o título da resposta do próprio ao meu mail inicial e é um trocadilho relativo à sua demora na resposta (duas ou três semanas, se bem me lembro). obrigado ao Pedro Santos por ter servido de intermediário.
sorry for the late reply. finally found time to concentrate on this, on my way to Argentina in a plane on top of the huge ocean at 5am...
Your compositions seem very detailed and precise, and there's something very organic about your music. Do you think your background as a jazz musician has some importance on this organic approach? jazz and improvisation has got something to do with this "organic approach" for sure but then again i don't think it's as simple as that. it must have something to do with my interest in such qualities in music, art, life, etc. it might be a combination of perfectionist i partly am and then the messy improvisational slash punk approach i have on things. yin and yang. balance.
How do you work on a particular track? Do you have the idea that it will take part in a certain project? And, as a prolific artist for several years, how do you inter-link the various production aliases? i do enjoy producing, creating pieces of work or products if you will, mainly in the album format so far at least even though that seems to be possibly changing in the near future. anyway, i almost always nowadays have a clear idea what i'm creating for, what i'm working with, as far as idea goes, and then i just let it go free more or less to try to be creative and free as much as possible off restrictions etc disturbing factors. i kind of set myself into a certain kind of mind-state and then i take advantage of that and hopefully use some of that power or influence or whatever there is and i don't have a name for it, to create the music.
i rarely work simultaneously on more than one project, so i'm not confronting myself with ambient or experimental stuff and club or pop music at the same time. i like to concentrate on one project and mind state at a time.
regarding aliases, it's not that difficult, there aren't that many of them after all.
i use the aliases to keep it somehow easy for people to know and be able to choose which kind of things they wanna go for, as it is not to often people like all kinds of food.
i loosely decided to have Luomo project for pop side of club music with focus on vocals and Vladislav Delay project for my musical freedom experiments and Uusitalo somewhere in between, but having the direction also more on the dancefloor and rhythms rather than ambient things.
You develop different sounds that go beyond boundaries, yet you're able to keep a consistent signature, despite your several projects. Does it result from a conscious decision or is it something that happens naturally? it must be naturally because i don't try to keep things similar! i try to look for new things and ways of doing stuff, but of course there's some stuff i like and look for and am after so it stays from project and style to another.
Uusitalo seems to be a merge of your work as Luomo and Vladislav Delay, an intermediate point between the two projects, something like Luomo without words. Does this make sense to you? yes, like i said earlier, it is something like in-between thing.
it's my place to focus on rhythms, and i hope to do much more of that in the near future.
You said once that "Tulenkantaja" is a conceptual album. Can you explain us the concept beneath this record's production?there is not really anything much conceptual in the production, except that i wanted to check out what i can do with more or less "straight" dancefloor rhythms.
the concept might be that i used lots of writings form my family in addition to music, and also the be inspired to make the music.
You've gotten a lot of press with "Vocalcity" and "The Present Lover". "Tessio" is almost a dancefloor hit. Do you think that any of that audience is going to listen to your abstract stuff? they are two worlds far apart. a lot of the people who like luomo haven't heard of my experimental stuff and are not even aware of it existing. of course some people know and like both side of my works but as a rule i'd say more popular it gets less interest in more experimental stuff there is.
With a few notable exceptions, electronic musicians have been hesitant to include words and they hardly ever use them as "lyrics". Luomo uses words in a sexier way, as if it was some instrument. Will you make different music in the future, focusing more on vocals, or is it something that really doesn't matter much to you? it's rather easy for me to use vocals as i don't have the "electronic producer restrictions" and as i'm not so deeply involved in the genre anyway. my background is different stuff, pop, rnb, hiphop, jazz, reggae, and most of that stuff is musical and with vocals.
and Luomo project i started especially to investigate on the vocals part, how to use it for me in interesting way. and to have a message or story in there, not just baby baby suck me stuff.
and i guess having most of my family involved in literature and having had and seen that around me all my life has its effect as well in writing.
i wouldn't be entirely surprised if i wrote a book or few one day.
regarding music in the future i can't really say. i'd love to work on music that is not mine but where i'd be more of a producer and there i could imagine being lots of vocals. but also i'll keep on doing my Luomo project and there will be vocals one way or another as well.
I read that you are living in Berlin. Germany is, by now, a very trendy place for electronic music. What do you think of people like Magda, Richie Hawtin or Sleeparchive? Do you like minimal techno? very trendy place... indeed.
actually i'm little bit homesick and thinking of moving away, but then again Berlin has its good sides as well.
music scene is not one of them though, as i'm not too much interested in electronic or techno music.
current developments in that music aren't really that great in my opinion.
as far as where to live, i'm consider Portugal one of the best choices in Europe right now.
Do you see any other interesting artists coming out from Finland at the present moment?i really can't say because i'm not involved in and aware of the situation at all.
Do you prefer working as a DJ or performing in live-acts? Is live performance an important part of your work?i don't DJ at all, but only do live performances which i do enjoy and they are also important part of the music making, as you can see first-hand while performing your music if and how it works out in public, and also you yourself as a producer tend to react and think of the music differently when in front of public.
You have you own label – Huume. I assume that you receive several demos. Do you have plans for new releases outside your own projects?actually i don't get demos because i politely deny accepting them.
i really don't have time and capacities to listen to demos and then work on someone else's music to get it out there in the middle of million other releases. i wouldn't do a good job in it at all, and i wouldn't wanna take that responsibility for other people. for my own stuff i can blame myself and it's ok, but i'm really not a music salesman...
so there are no plans to release 3rd party music. there are zillion other labels doing it already.
You enjoy fashion and books. Are these an influence in your music? What sort of things influence your music?i don't particularly enjoy fashion. i have been interested in it in the past because close persons were involved in it, and also some years back there were some interesting movements going on but it has gotten very stagnant and boring in my opinion last years.
books, yes. i do read as much as i can. history, fiction, facts, news, anything.
but the biggest inspiration of all is life itself, and how that turns back to creating.
my music is not much directly influenced by much anything i would say, it's all much more a hazy thing.
well, hmm actually there is one thing which is influencing my music sometimes directly, and often negatively, and that is music equipment and technology.
You seem to enjoy rock and some contemporary hip-hop/r&b producers. Will you give us some examples of what you're listening to right now? What kind of music attracts you more at the moment? i really listen to a wide range of music. from free jazz to jamaican stuff to punk rock to bubblegum rnb.
it all depends on the mood i'm in.
lately i have been listening a lot of Jamaican stuff, new stuff and old stuff.
i have been listening to a new Vladislav Delay album i'm currently making.
jazz. new Branford Marsalis album for example.
i like the new Sonic Youth album. and of course the old ones as well.
Ramones i've listened a lot lately.
some classical music.
new Busta Rhymes album is pretty good.
it's all good if it's good...
Which artists do you feel are on the forefront of electronic music production, and how do you line up with the current state of the ever-expanding music scene? i really can't say. i'm no expert in electronic music!
regarding music scene, i have always kept away a little distance to it so i don't follow it too much.
i guess i let it expand as it wishes to. and try to be flexible and not go against it and its developments.
Finally, what plans do you have for 2007?play more drums.
make few cool albums.
be a good parent. (i have a 7-months old daughter)
have a long summer holiday in Finland.
be creative.
thanks for the questions!
peace.
v
