Search - Vladislav Delay :: Demo(n)tracks

The Master Returns

Phil Avetxori | 07/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On this album, which is actually called "Demo(n)tracks", Vladislav Delay takes a break from his recent focus on Luomo, his vocal house project, to return to the dubby, moody terrain that first brought this talented Finn to the attention of the electronic music underground. 2000's "Entain", with its effective blend of ambient soundscapes, dub techno, and chattering glitch events, was a watershed album, raising the stakes for creative electronica, and setting new standards of textural variety, rhythmic flexibility, and emotional depth. I've been a fan of his since the Chain Reaction singles, and I was afraid that his return to the abstract/dubby stuff wouldn't top "Entain" (how could it?). Considering Delay's proven breadth and originality, I should have known better. "Demo(n)tracks" is beautiful. It's as if the fog blew away from "Entain"'s landscape, revealing all the subtle rhythmic detail writhing within it. Delay's formative musical experiences were as a jazz drummer, and you can really hear his improvisational chops on this album. The more rhythmically freeform sections evoke taughtly propulsive free-jazz drumming, controlled and subtly funky, but flying about in swarming flurries. There's more gritty noise here than on past efforts, but it's deployed within Delay's trademark cavernous spaces, creating a sense of distant texture, rather than of sandpaper against the ear. With an artist as influential and revered as Vladislav Delay, diehard fans face a conundrum when anticipating the release of new material: on the one hand, we don't want the artist to lose those qualities that have endeared them to us, but on the other hand, we don't want the artist to stagnate and simply rehash a successful formula. Happily, "Demo(n)tracks" avoids both of these pitfalls."