Whistleblower

Later albums Ele, Entain, even Anima, are all epics perfect for the late-night comedown. But the music on Whistleblower inaugurates a new era for VD, one where fights finally break out in the chill-out room. Whistleblower is a violent record, a furious howl into the wind of the dancefloor. This is not VD’s break/speed-core record though, it is a logical progression from The Four Quarters, and still in the “prog-space-dub” vein. As such, the familiar broken beats and sublime bass are still there, but overlaid with abrupt, startling noises. Underneath the surface ambience, Blue Velvet-like, lay aggression, unrest, and disorder. Each track contains so much action that its like getting two albums worth in one sitting. The aggressive clanking and buzzing, the rattling chain-gun percussion, and the controlled feedback of “Whistleblower” all add up to an unsteady, stumbling beast of a track, barely-restrained percussive violence around every corner. “Stop Talking” sounds like a bomb ticking down and some lost soul banging on the bars of a jail cell. Sounds whip around the spectrum, sounding like punches landing on warm meat, followed by involuntary exhalations. “Recovery IDea” closes the album out with a frantic, urgent conversation of percussion, babbling over itself, becoming increasingly confusing and aggressive. Easily the most oppressive album that Sasu Ripatti has conjured yet, Whistleblower succeeds on all levels: the visceral, and the cerebral. It is a call to action, and you must answer. (Review by Igloo Magazine)

The Finnish electronic whiz best-known as Luomo revists his dubby ambient guise.

There has always been something vaguely aquatic about the deep echoes and reverb ripples of ambient dub, something submerged far below and out of sight...