Mika Vainio – Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmäinen On Kuningas = In The Land Of The Blind One-Eyed Is King

High pitched tones, growling distortion, echoed bleeps, synthetic drones, glitched pops, and a host of other audio oddities are what can be expected from Mika Vainio, who's claim to fame was being one half of the Finnish band Panasonic (I still refuse to call them Pan Sonic even after all these years). Vainio is no stranger to being a massively productive sound manipulator, as his increasing yearly solo outputs can testify.

The great thing about what is labelled as "minimalism" or "minimalit music" is that it rarely ever does sound like it goes out of style after a few months. Vainio's earlier recordings still sound as relevant today as they did upon original release, and his audio journeys are always a pleasant, albeit unexpected and bumpy ride at times, although after a half dozen solo outings, one can begin to feel the Mika touch and sound, a mark of an artist who perfectly masters his craft, or in some cases, falls into the trappings of stylistic repetition.

"Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmainen On Kuningas" ("In The Land of the Blind One-Eyed Is King") from 2003 opens to a noisy "Revi Taalaa, Merimies" but it's a short burst of an assault as we quickly move onto "Se On Olemassa" which proves to be more familiar yet unstable (and somewhat unpredictable) ground for Vainio. Continuing forth into interlocking segments of drones, synthetic textures, carefully manipulated sounds and both evolving ambience or retrograted buzzes and hums, it is clear that Mika Vainio uses minimalism in order to explore and perfect the clasity of sound to its maximum effect.

It is difficult to describe accurately a Mika Vainio release without offering comparisson to other works, which is why it is best to simply suggest potential listeners to tune in and enjoy the frequencies and contrasted soundscapes and digital crashes. If anything the album "Sokeiden Maassa Yksisilmainen On Kuningas" present Vainio in top form, exploring a veritable multitudinous series of electronic and synthetic ambiences, something for just about everyone who has ever been intrigued by the cold, remote, bleak, but perfectly crisp & clean audio works of this artist.