The ever-prolific Finn Sasu Ripatti really excelled himself on 2004's 'Demo(n) Tracks' with a record that managed to convey emotional power even though it initially appeared to be the sound of faulty plumbing. 'The Four Quarters' is the follow-up using his Vladislav Delay identity and takes a different tangent by breaking up an hour's worth of instrumental material into four separate pieces of roughly fifteen minutes each. Unsurprisingly the melodies are altogether subtler, stretched out and looped but this is not one of those pedestrian ambient affairs where very little happens. Indeed, 'The First Quarter' alone takes on trip-hop, hip-hop, breakbeat and dub but - in Ripatti's usual way - never sounding so austere or experimental as to be unapproachable. Certainly, 'The Four Quarters' is always interesting enough to warrant future plays but isn't quite as moving as 'Demo(n) Tracks'.
The ever-prolific Finn Sasu Ripatti really excelled himself on 2004's 'Demo(n) Tracks' with a record that managed to convey emotional power even though it initially appeared to be the sound of faulty plumbing. 'The Four Quarters' is the follow-up using his Vladislav Delay identity and takes a different tangent by breaking up an hour's worth of instrumental material into four separate pieces of roughly fifteen minutes each. Unsurprisingly the melodies are altogether subtler, stretched out and looped but this is not one of those pedestrian ambient affairs where very little happens. Indeed, 'The First Quarter' alone takes on trip-hop, hip-hop, breakbeat and dub but - in Ripatti's usual way - never sounding so austere or experimental as to be unapproachable. Certainly, 'The Four Quarters' is always interesting enough to warrant future plays but isn't quite as moving as 'Demo(n) Tracks'.
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