Ilpo Vaisanen | Asuma
Mego | CD
Mego have released Ilpo Vaisanen's second solo CD (his first was on Raster Music's '20' to 2000 Series') more or less concurrently with IBM, his and Mika Vainio's collaboration with Bruce Gilbert.
Perhaps it's a lazy observation but 'Asuma' appears to have much in common with the music of Pan Sonic. It features a comparable mix of pummelling beats and rhythmically orientated tone material (generated by custom analogue machines captured raw and, so to speak, as it happens). It also possesses that same quality of relentlessness and an equally formidable physical presence.
The eight tracks are varied and are mainly beat-driven, featuring sustained or interfering tonal plasmas which hover somewhere between the speakers and bleed into the listening space before dissolving from view. At 38 minutes it's short and to the point and pure rock'n'roll.
[GM]
