$75.00
Experimental, Ambient , Electronic, Minimal, Mika Vainio, Pan Sonic, Darkwave; Double LP (2014) – Ex Used condition
Konstellaatio, Vainio’s full-length under his occasional mononym Ø, shares several sonic and stylistic traits with the slow wave of doom-oriented electronic musicians that have grown out of darkwave, shoegaze and heavy metal in recent years. Across these nine tracks, Vainio juxtaposes blanketing drones with airy keyboards, clipped beats and beeps with seemingly bottomless bass. These slow-motion spans treat the beautiful and the threatening as necessary complements, as though he were a horror film director with an eye for both shock and cinematic elegance. For its overall aggression and bulk, Vainio’s back catalogue can be intimidating, even off-putting. But Konstellaatio is luminous and eerie, the sort of liminal record where the pretty sounds elicit goose bumps and the grimmest tones feel like exhalations. Likely by little conscious design, Vainio is the stylistic contemporary of acts such as Demdike Stare, the Haxan Cloak and Andy Stott, at least temporarily. If there’s a movement among such groups, Konstellaatio merits more than mention with it.