Sleeparchive + Antti Rannisto: Untitled (Sleeparchive CD)
This split release between Roger Semsroth and Antti Rannisto continues the often bleak vision that characterizes Semsroth's output as Sleeparchive. Taking a cue from the often severe stylings of artists like Pan(a)Sonic and the most scaled back experiments from Mille Plateaux's turn of the century clicks_+_cuts series, many of his tracks are minimal on melody and focused on pure sinewaves, crisp percussion and atmospheres. The best descriptor for his music would be icy, or even clinical, a word I'm sure he'd endorse, seeing as to how he released an entire album called Hospital Tracks. That album consisted of numbered off tracks, but two were missing from the series, "Hospital 07" and "Hospital 08," instead substituted by 2 other tracks. Those 2 tracks appear here after a brief intro of radio static, but when they play side by side, it's understandable that Semsroth isolated them for this later project. Hospital Tracks, despite its austere style and title, was a somewhat functional dancefloor album, using enough conventions to keep it alive on a dancefloor as well as working well on a home listening level. With the exception of the short but upbeat "Continuous Tone," Untitled throws most of those DJ conventions out the window and explores the more severe, abstract side of the spectrum. Both "Hospital 07" and "Hospital 08" are significantly slower than much of the album they were left off of, relying on a series of tones, bleeps and hissy percussion bits to create an undulating mid-tempo groove. But it's the 13-minute "Pulkovo" that is the standout from Sleeparchive here - it's incredibly restrained, sparse, patient and creepy. The momentum of the track is kept up with intermittent, punctuated concrete sounds, but otherwise consists of a series of drawn-out drones, tiny glitches and quiet textures.
Antti Rannisto is less of a stranger to this sort of thing, having released a solo full-length on Taylor Deupree's über-minimal 12K imprint a few years ago. His half begins not far from Sleeparchive's "Pulkovo," its first sound a jarring slam of a door which kicks off the drones that so frequently characterize his music. Despite the extended ambience of tracks like "Untitled Space" or "Colors," this is not soothing music. Rannisto is a master of tension, creating unusually dramatic mood out of extremely little. Elsewhere, he's more rhythmically inclined, such as the plodding, chilly patterns found on "Ääniesineitä 3 Live" or "Shared Space," existing in the same area as Sleeparchive's more rhythmic tracks on the front half. He ends his half with "Numbers," which takes the Speak & Spell-esque repetition of Kraftwerk and distills it into something far more sinister, with a male voice reciting digits over another slab of icy ambience.
It's gratifying to hear Sleeparchive going full-on into severe ambience, exploring the terrain that exists outside of a dancefloor context; listening to these tracks one can get a sense of the liberation he's experienced upon removing the beat from the equation. As a pairing, it's near-perfection, as both artists are working in a similar mindset, complementing each other to create a whole experience.
mp3s: Sleeparchive: "Pulkovo" | Antti Rannisto: "Untitled Space"
more information: Sleeparchive official site | Antti Rannisto on Myspace0
buy it: Hardwax | Sleeparchive webshop