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Naima . Vladislav Delay

 

staubgold 23
2001. cd

Exclusive live recordings from the Ars Electronica Klangpark 2001.

"Electronics and vocals loop back on themselves in a hallucinatory drift of non-linear thought, tone and narrative in an extraordinary piece of music from one of the most consistently creative artists working today."  (The Wire, February 2002)

“Recorded at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, Vladislav Delay was one of the chosen to fill the Klangpark near the Danube with live sound over six days. This disc compiles highlights into a single 42 minute track. Delay is most likely using material from his previous release ‘Anima’ as a starting point, restructuring it on the fly as the remixed title ‘Naima’ suggests. Add to this Delay's own words, lyrics from his house project Luomo (see also "Vocalcity") and an art mission statement of sorts, recited in foreign accented English by his girlfriend. Fascinated by femininity, who better to help him express this? But the most telling line, "I'm unable to address my sound, my voice with words", reveals Delay's dilemma and blessing: sound is his one true medium of expression.

Like ‘Anima’, ‘Naima’ is a lukewarm, gelatinous pool where innocuous sound bits buoy and sink, seemingly at random. There are passages where the music lies dormant and just her voice remains, unaffected or folded into the mix, or vice versa, the music by itself sometimes trailing off into silence. Everything fluctuates between linear and non-linear movement, subliminal melodies and rhythms arise then disappear, music and words become simply music. Beautiful, simply beautiful. And that is why Delay remains my favorite contemporary electronic musician...” (Brainwashed)