Bola – Fyuti

"Vertiphon" was the opening track for Parks & Wilson's Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 in 2002. They played it at wrong speed, so it fit perfectly into the two-hour progressive house mix. I was stunned when I heard it 20 years later at its right speed. The track sounds right to me even at 45 RPM. I guess some songs are even made like that on purpose with all those low-pitched kick drums, hi-hats and other sounds — just to mess with the DJ, you know.

I have loved this album since it came out, but it took 20 years for me to finally find a vinyl copy in a used bin. The pressing sounds spectacular.

Wonderful wonderful album! God shivers going like huge waves up and down my body.

When listening to "O Chuma" I actually started giggling like a mad clown, and I'm not kidding. It was quite a scary track.

Probably Bola's weakest offering. Coming on the heels of the landmark album Soup, this album was a major disappointment for me. Whereas Soup was high art in not only its varied moods and spectacular soundscapes, Fyuti struggles to get out from underneath its crushing depression. Now, there is a difference between "dark" and "depressing." Subsequent albums showed that Fitton could effectively do the former without the latter. But Fyuti takes the most downtrodden moments of Soup and recycles them to their logical extremes. Nowhere is this more evident than on the skip-worthy "Veronex Cypher."

Making matters worse is that there are elements introduced into some tracks that ruin them. "Vertiphon" has this awesome two-note bassline that's later wrecked by an annoying, unnecessary bleep-bloop melody. This is uncharacteristic of Fitton's work. Usually he understands that less is more; his music is great because it's usually uncluttered.

The one track here that works is "Soleiele," an absolute undeniable classic. This is darkness with no depression, and is, in fact, rather uplifting. Fitton's gift for melody shines so beautifully on this track. The percussion is just so perfect; it's an amazing robotic, mechanical structure that in hindsight represents the dying gasps of the golden age of IDM. But what an elegy!

Fyuti is slick, silky and mellow. Bola demonstrates a knack for infusing his minimal downtempo tracks with insistent bass lines, sobering harmonies, and sparse, oscillating electro textures. His crisp rhythms and organic computer utterances are a signature element in his work, as are his occasional neo-retro vocal treatments.

Fyuti is accomplished with skill and candor; one never senses that one is far from the arc that Bola carefully traces from track to track. The music is reflective and thoughtful, expressed in a gratifyingly mature style.

Fans of Sweden's Mosaik, Miles Tilmann and Loscil will find much to feast on here.

Bola’s sophomore album for SKAM records, Fyuti, isn’t as classic as Soup but it has its stronger points and its weaknesses. The introduction is just as wonderful and similar as Soup’s “Glink” with its striking ambience and smooth bassline. Shoob, e and VM8 are standout tracks but the album seems to slack off toward its closing. But when it comes to Pae Paoe Fyuti is famous. A mixture of strange garbled processed lyrics and Bola’s signature sound. Archetypal SKAM recording!