Ø (MIKA VAINIO)

Metri

Genre: ELECTRONIC

2LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

Late, great Finnish maverick Mika Vainio’s debut ’94 minimal techno masterpiece, originally conceived as Ø, is treated to a much needed reissue, newly expanded with all tracks from the CD on vinyl for the first time and including the absolute all-timer ‘Lasi’ - 100% unmissable if you know what’s good

Back in circulation 20 years square since the 1st vinyl edition, and just over 30 years since the CD, ‘Metri’ serves a stone cold but heart-melting reminder of Mika’s way with puristic electronics. All 15 tracks from the CD are now cut to vinyl for a definitive edition of Mika’s exemplary solo statement, which would arrive the same year as his debut with Pan Sonic (the ‘Panasonic’ EP). It would dovetail with a time when the original Chicago, NYC and Detroit house and techno templates were being morphed in translation by new waves of artists such as Mika and his pal Ilpo Väisänen, or the likes of Richie Hawtin or Dan Bell, who all effectively streamlined the tekkerz of DJ Pierre, Blake Baxter and Rob Hood to even more stringent levels.

What distinguishes Mika’s debut as Ø from all of the above is his feel for frosted tone and edge-of-distortion bite, rendered wth resounding plangency; all perhaps stereotypically reflective of his subarctic climes and expressing a sonic personality that would come to define certain strands of electronic music for decades to come, before his untimely passing in 2017, and ever since. We’ve lost count of the times the breathtaking motif of ‘Lasi’ has prompted us to a heads-down, air-punching jack, and reduced rooms at the afters to wide-eyed silent awe, until someone has to ask for an ID.

Along with the likes of body-bouncing pulse and mind-bending acid tone to ‘Kuvio’ and ‘Twin Bleebs’, the uncanny amniotic ambience of ‘Radio’ and border-watch ambient tension of ‘Kenttä’, or the prototypes for his pure noise works in the ‘JL-CSG’, thru the sublime tension of ‘Dayak’, it’s every bit the ultra classique and we envy anyone coming across this album for the first time. Like many others, we will be taking the opportunity to replace well worn copies with a freshie to rinse and repeat for decades to come.

Seriously this one’s going to the grave with us.

2LP (Black Vinyl) (0)