Arvio

I can't remember the last time a marginal-genre album exceeded my expectations this well. Normally any compilation presenting "rising talent" has only one or two good tracks and a lot of mediocrity or utter failures. Mutations of a Dream, presenting new Finnish post-industrial artists, has a much higher quality content than that, and in my opinion surpasses many of the recent compilations that included already-established stars of the same genres. It flows from soft ambient to pure noise, in a logical order that provides every performer the best possible context from the surrounding tracks.

The disc opens with The 4th Floor's restrained, scenic ambient piece that at first sounds like a softer, slightly simpler version of the styles of the Oulu-scene artists, and then slides towards mainstream-soundscapes but without slipping to a New Age mold. The second track is by Vasemman raajan halvaus. It is a drone-ambient piece called Hautaus, quite minimalistic but works nevertheless very well. Third in line is one of the definite highlights of the album, Lumi by Löyly, a track in which a sorrowful main theme joins with a pop-ambient background. When Maelstrom enters play, the record's style moves a notch towards a harsher style. Processing, as its name implies, is muted machine-tone with snaps and buzzes. It's an annoying track, but has a rhythmic structure so good that it effortlessly captures the listener's attention. Following that is another descriptively-named piece, Turhautuneiden tunteiden tehdas (meaning "Factory of Frustrated Feelings") by Haava. It is by far the most CMI-like song on the album, resembling quite closely the works of artists like Lithivm. It has, however, a much more creative structure, and is thus in my opinion much better than the logical pieces of comparison. It's full of small, brilliant elements that create a lot of emotional content - and make it the best track on the entire album.

DiversAeon begins the final approach towards the harshest parts of the disc. Cultivating the Attractor is a sound collage of well-echoed sonic distortions, some of them acoustic, others not. Despite the dissonant elements it stays strangely well together. The track gets extra points for its three-minute length, which is clearly an optimal duration for its structure. Were it shorter, it would not have developed as much. If it were longer, it would soon become boring. The next piece is by Nyrjä, an artist who has already impressed me with his earlier demo. This time he presents us death industrial in good old-school style. Ratas begins with a calm, slowly rhythmic buzz, and proceeds with slow noise waves towards a pure, yet controlled noise, and finally descends into a silent finale. Another great track. Psykoosi, by Konemessias, is quite clinical noise that is kept in check with a rhythm structure. It's thin in elements, but full of sound. There's a lot of good in it, but the sense of not-yet-finished work stays within it the whole time. There's no catch that would demand attention. The same can be said of Hombre Muerte's offering. Its soundscape is effectively mean, reminding very strongly about sitting in a dentist's chair. Unfortunately it does not contain any element that would make it rise above "common" noise works. The last track is Waterbar by Koje, the hardest noise piece on the record. Its sonic scale has been exceptionally well selected, and holds together and stays effective very well. It does lack a little originality, but just a little.

Each and every track on Mutations clearly proves that the artists responsible for them are names to keep track of. There's a lot of both skill and style here, and even the artists who haven't yet managed to create excellent songs out of the good ones they now present clearly have the future potential to do so. The noise section of the disc had the most problems, but even in them the solution may well be in the production process and not in any flaw the tracks themselves may have had - making noise truly powerful is, after all, very much tied to the equipment available. The only negative thing about this album is the jewelcase's side text font that makes the album look like a cheap PC game when it stands on a shelf.

At the base cost of five euros this is a great purchase. And I strongly presume that Mutations is the kind of a record that will be treated in the near future as a true milestone for this new generation of Finnish experimentalists.

Jiituomas

Mutations of a Dream

En muista milloin viimeksi marginaalilevy on ylittänyt odotukseni näin reippaasti. Yleensä "nousevia kykyjä" esittelevät kiekot sisältävät yhden tai kaksi hyvää raitaa ja paljon keskinkertaisuutta tai täydellisen tökeröitä raitoja. Kotimaisia uusia post-industrial -akteja esiin tuova Mutations of a Dream on kuitenkin paljon tasokkaampi, ja voittaa mielestäni jopa useita viime aikojen kansainvälisiä alan jo vakiintuneiden nimien tähdittämiä kokoelmia. Se etenee pehmeästä ambientista kohti hälyä hyvin loogisessa järjestyksessä niin että kaikki esiintyjät saavat niille luontuvan kontekstin ympäriltään.	Kokoelma Formaatti: CD Levy-yhtiö: Omakustanne Julkaisuvuosi: 2004 Painos: 300 kpl. Kokonaiskesto: 56:03 Kappaleita: 10
Pelin avaa The 4th Floor aika hillityllä, kevyen maalailevalla ambient-raidalla, joka on aluksi äänimaailmaltaan kuin pehmeä, hieman yksinkertaisempi versio Oulu-skenen tyylistä, ja liukuu siitä kohti mainstream-äänimaisemaa mutta joutumatta new agen puolelle. Toisena on Vasemman raajan halvaus drone-ambient -teoksellaan *Hautaus, joka on varsin minimalistinen mutta toimii silti hyvin. Kolmantena on yksi levyn ehdottomia huippuhetkiä, Löylyn* *Lumi, jossa surullisen kaunis päälimelodia yhdistyy populaari-ambientin muodostamaan taustaan. Maelstromin* tullessa kehiin siirrytään pykälää raskaammaksi. *Processing* on nimensä mukaista tavaraa, napsuvaa ja surisevaa vaimeaa koneääntä. Biisi on varsin ärsyttävä, mutta rytmitetty osioiltaan niin hyvin että se sieppaa näppärästi mukaansa. Tulos on kuin rytminoisea josta on jätetty pääbasari pois. Sitä seuraa toinen nimensä kaltainen teos, Haavan *Turhautuneiden tunteiden tehdas. Se on levyn ehdottomasti CMI-mäisin biisi, muistuttaen varsin paljon mm. Lithivmin* tuotantoa. Rakenne on silti sen verran luova, että pidän sitä vertailukohtaansa huomattavasti onnistuneempana. Mukana on loistavia pikkuelementtejä jotka luovat paljon tunnelmaa, ja tekevät kappaleesta levyn kaikkein onnistuneimman. DiversAeon alkaa lähestymisen kohti levyn raskainta osaa. Cultivating the Attractor on oudon hyvin kasassa pysyvä äänikollaasi hyvällä kaiulla tehtyjä hälyääniä, osa akustisia ja osa koneellisia. Erityiset kehut biisi saa kolmeminuuttisesta kestostaan, joka on aivan täydellinen aika kokonaisuuden toimivuudelle. Lyhyempänä se ei olisi kehittynyt tarpeeksi, pitempänä se olisi ollut äkkiä jo tylsä. Seuraavana soi minut jo demollaan vakuuttanut Nyrjä, tehden tällä kertaa death industrialia hyvässä vanhan koulukunnan hengessä. Ratas alkaa rauhaisan hitaan rytmisenä rätinänä, ja etenee sitten lyhyiden hälyaaltojen tahdittamana kohti puhdasta mutta hallittua noisea palaten lopulta hiljaiseen finaaliin. Erinomainen kappale sekin. Konemessiaan *Psykoosi* on varsin kliinistä hälyä, pidettynä tahdilla kontrollissa. Elementeiltään ohutta mutta äänimaailmaltaan tuhtia tavaraa. Paljon hyvää, mutta jää hiukan ehkä vielä keskeneräisen tuntuiseksi. Mukana ei ole sellaista koukkua joka kiskoisi mukaansa. Hyvin samaa voi sanoa Hombre Muerten kohdalla. Hammaslääkärituolin erittäin voimakkaasti mieleen tuova äänimaailma on tehokkaan ilkeä, mutta siinä ei ole silti mitään mikä nostaisi sen noisen suuren massan yläpuolelle. Viimeisenä on Kojeen *Waterbar, noisebiiseistä se kaikkein raskain. Sen äänimaailman skaala on erinomaisesti valikoitu, ja pysyy koossa ja tehokkaana erittäin hyvin. Omaperäisyyttä siitä hiukan puuttuu, mutta vain hiukan. Jokainen Mutationsin raidoista osoittaa selkeästi että niiden takana olevat artistit ovat nimiä joita kannattaa seurata jatkossakin. Taitoa ja tyylitajua on runsaasti, ja ne artisteista jotka eivät aivan vielä olleet ehtineet luomaan hyvistä biiseistä erinomaisia omaavat ilmiselvää potentiaalia siihen. Noisemateriaalin kohdalla oli eniten ongelmia, mutta niissäkin muutos saattaisi löytyä tuotantopuolen alueelta eikä itse kappaleiden muokkaamisesta, sen verran välineurheilusta kuitenkin on usein kyse. Ainoan varsinaisen miinuksen koko levylle lyön kansien selkätekstistä, joka saa sen näyttämään hyllyssä halvalta PC-peliltä. Viiden euron hinnalla tämä on aivan loistava ostos, ja veikkaan että Mutations tulee olemaan sellainen levy johon palataan keskusteluissa uuden experimental-polven rajapyykkinä vielä monta kertaa tulevina vuosina. Jiituomas*

Takaisin - Kokoelmat - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - Demot

I can't remember the last time a marginal-genre album exceeded my expectations this well. Normally any compilation presenting "rising talent" has only one or two good tracks and a lot of mediocrity or utter failures. Mutations of a Dream, presenting new Finnish post-industrial artists, has a much higher quality content than that, and in my opinion surpasses many of the recent compilations that included already-established stars of the same genres. It flows from soft ambient to pure noise, in a logical order that provides every performer the best possible context from the surrounding tracks. The disc opens with The 4th Floor's restrained, scenic ambient piece that at first sounds like a softer, slightly simpler version of the styles of the Oulu-scene artists, and then slides towards mainstream-soundscapes but without slipping to a New Age mold. The second track is by Vasemman raajan halvaus. It is a drone-ambient piece called Hautaus, quite minimalistic but works nevertheless very well. Third in line is one of the definite highlights of the album, Lumi by Löyly, a track in which a sorrowful main theme joins with a pop-ambient background. When Maelstrom enters play, the record's style moves a notch towards a harsher style. Processing, as its name implies, is muted machine-tone with snaps and buzzes. It's an annoying track, but has a rhythmic structure so good that it effortlessly captures the listener's attention. Following that is another descriptively-named piece, Turhautuneiden tunteiden tehdas (meaning "Factory of Frustrated Feelings") by Haava. It is by far the most CMI-like song on the album, resembling quite closely the works of artists like Lithivm. It has, however, a much more creative structure, and is thus in my opinion much better than the logical pieces of comparison. It's full of small, brilliant elements that create a lot of emotional content - and make it the best track on the entire album. DiversAeon begins the final approach towards the harshest parts of the disc. Cultivating the Attractor is a sound collage of well-echoed sonic distortions, some of them acoustic, others not. Despite the dissonant elements it stays strangely well together. The track gets extra points for its three-minute length, which is clearly an optimal duration for its structure. Were it shorter, it would not have developed as much. If it were longer, it would soon become boring. The next piece is by Nyrjä, an artist who has already impressed me with his earlier demo. This time he presents us death industrial in good old-school style. Ratas begins with a calm, slowly rhythmic buzz, and proceeds with slow noise waves towards a pure, yet controlled noise, and finally descends into a silent finale. Another great track. Psykoosi, by Konemessias, is quite clinical noise that is kept in check with a rhythm structure. It's thin in elements, but full of sound. There's a lot of good in it, but the sense of not-yet-finished work stays within it the whole time. There's no catch that would demand attention. The same can be said of Hombre Muerte's offering. Its soundscape is effectively mean, reminding very strongly about sitting in a dentist's chair. Unfortunately it does not contain any element that would make it rise above "common" noise works. The last track is Waterbar by Koje, the hardest noise piece on the record. Its sonic scale has been exceptionally well selected, and holds together and stays effective very well. It does lack a little originality, but just a little. Each and every track on Mutations clearly proves that the artists responsible for them are names to keep track of. There's a lot of both skill and style here, and even the artists who haven't yet managed to create excellent songs out of the good ones they now present clearly have the future potential to do so. The noise section of the disc had the most problems, but even in them the solution may well be in the production process and not in any flaw the tracks themselves may have had - making noise truly powerful is, after all, very much tied to the equipment available. The only negative thing about this album is the jewelcase's side text font that makes the album look like a cheap PC game when it stands on a shelf. At the base cost of five euros this is a great purchase. And I strongly presume that Mutations is the kind of a record that will be treated in the near future as a true milestone for this new generation of Finnish experimentalists. Jiituomas