Vladislav Delay - Anima

Absolutely stunning work, certainly Ripatti's best work, and one of my favorite albums of all time. Yet it isn't for the uninitiated nor particularly casual (or completely awake) listening. Invokes the inherent disorder of the urban landscape, but in a completely idealized way, with a drifting soundscape of clean, bubbling sounds with a soft jazz (but by no means kitschy smooth jazz) backdrop. The cover says it all, a digitization of smooth yet chaotic modern sculpture and minimalist design.

Sorry, I got a bit bored listening to this. The pastiche sets a beautful mood initially but stretched over 60 minutes it loses it's edge. There is no development at all as the album is more a meandering soundscape and whilst this wouldn't be a problem for 1 song, after 60 minutes you're left wondering what you spent your money on. Check early Chain reaction stuff, or the new Demo(n) tracks for something more substantial, and cutting edge...

An hour of nice sound. Maybe stretching it a bit to call it music.
Half tunes and echos of suggested rhythms bubble up here and there. But nice sound it truely is, attention paid to every click and clump and thum and swipe. Ideal to wake up, or fall asleep to. cover art very pretty, and worthy of note. CD version has to be the one to go for so you can let it do its business whilst you do something rather less energetic that changing records.