Vladislav Delay Quartet

Following in the footsteps of his revitalized bandleader in the Moritz von Oswald Trio, with the Vladislav Delay Quartet, veteran Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti (Vladislav Delay, Luomo) indulges his out-jazz roots and assembles a super-group of extremists for his Honest Jon's debut record. Unlike the Moritz von Oswald Trio, however, this collection of musicians are not only inspired by jazz improvisation, they almost all have deep free-jazz roots: Lucio Capece and Derek Shirley have long histories blending noise and improv, as does ex-Pan Sonic member Mika Vainio. So to say that VDQ are dark and foreboding is an understatement. The results of the eight pieces here hearken most directly to the work released by the Norwegian Rune Grammofon imprint, though Delay fans will still find his signature hazy dub drumming underpinning long stretches of this record. But this is more a noise record than an electronic one, and fans of the MVO Trio who will naturally be attracted to this release aren't necessarily going to find more of the loose Afro-beat kosmische found on that formation's two Honest Jon's albums. At this first outing, Vladislav Delay Quartet rank amongst the most challenging music of Ripatti's long career.