Mika Vainio — Time Examined(book+ CD set)
Firstly, the full CD of unreleased material. This disk is first and foremost a collection of the soundtracks to Mika's installation works, but also contains two tracks composed for films.
Though I am unfamiliar with any of Mika Vainio's other solo work, his connection to Pan Sonic is obvious from "Time Examined". The sound palette has remained the same - tasty, meticulously EQ'd bits of static arranged in a three dimensional space with whooshing cavernous reverbs. One of the songs on here ("Ilmanvaihto") was made from the sounds of ventilation systems, and really that's the way most of this man's tracks sound. The airy textures are monochromatic but possessing of a subtle diversity revealed on repeated listenings. They are rarely abrasive or harsh. It is worthy of mention that this music is pure avant garde, without any kind of tonal elements or beats as Mika sometimes utilizes in Pan Sonic. This is Mika in 'high art' mode, delving as far into the serious 'new music' aesthetic as possible.
Possibly because these pieces were mention to function as parts of larger works of art, they are almost invariably on the sparse, minimal side. Individual sound textures are often presented alone (in fact, "Berlin Sound Chamber" is an unabashed 9 minute collection of ambient snippets, placed one after another). We may assume their specific aesthetics were intended to contribute to a more complex mix. On their own, they would likely become tiresome if track durations were allowed to drag on too long; luckily, with the with the exception of the overlong 18 minute final track (for which the album loses a whole star), Mika never keeps the listener in the same sonic space for too long, and there are some great sounds here. The very conscious pacing of the sounds does justice to the title "Time Examined".
"-27" is a venture into ultra-minimal Richard Chartier territory. Most of the track (only 1:32 in total) is silence, broken occasionally by almost supersonic high frequency blips. Near the end of the track, a distant rumble begins to increase in volume, finally terminating in an abrupt cut that works well as a dramatic lead in to "The Human Fly", a chorused, wet drone piece with a certain timeless quality that suggests it was meant to be played on loop. This sort of transition illustrates that even though these pieces come from different sources, this album has been sequenced intelligently enough to become its own fluid sonic journey in the event that a listener puts on headphones, sits back and stops paying attention to which track is playing.
As mentioned before, the album ends with an 18 minute epic, "4 X Radio", which is unfortunately so quiet and unchanging as to have me yawning. If this piece was 5 or 6, even 8 minutes, it would be wonderful; each emotion laden piano chord decays into nothing before another enters. Other sounds, such as quiet static and shimmering synth, enter at opportune moments. By 12 or 13 minutes in, however, all the magic is lost, and what could have been a riveting look at the quietude of solitude has become the only weak track on the album. It's a little more forgivable because it's at the end.
This album is an overall success, in the end, due to its diversity and sheer listenability, something Pan Sonic has always naturally brought to minimalist avant garde and ambient music, genres where austerity, indecipherability and enormous track lengths are common. The best tracks end up being the cataclysmic, noisy "Berns" and the cold, concise "Monumentti", the two soundtrack works. "Omerta", "Half Awake Half Asleep" and "Sondear" are certainly quality space ambient tracks, as well.
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Next to be discussed is the other disk, a reissue of a long out of print split between Vainio (here using the pseudonym "Ø") and fellow electronic minimalist Alva Noto, originally created for the installation "Mikro Makro".
This disk theoretically has an advantage over disk 1, conceived as it was as a single thematic work, but in reality it's so intensely minimal that it is only listenable in the most patient of mindsets. That final track I compared about on the first CD? All 4 compositions on "Mikro Makro" could be easily compared to it. The album is mostly silence. None of the tracks refuse to end quite so vehemently as "4 X Radio", and a whole album of this sort of thing makes more sense, actually, than placing one track of ultra-minimalism on an album of more active works, but this is simply a disk most people will not be able to sit through. This is the most extreme, inaccessible expression of the Raster Noton aesthetic, an example of intense isolationism.
Of the two artists, I prefer Vainio's work here. He seems to use time more effectively, and finds very pleasingly warm droning bass and hum sounds on both of his tracks. The third track and second on the album by Vainio forsakes the repetition of the others, and is my favorite here. Alva Noto's tracks instead progress in much less obvious ways, continuing the same fractured, clicking loops for minutes on end with only slight variations. Noto's work does blend with Vainio's very well, so I feel the artists were definitely on the same page with creation of this disk.
I can't really fault "Mikro Makro" - it's obviously intentionally the way it is - but I can't really listen to it either.
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Lastly, the book. While it looks very good, I find most of its contents to be underwhelming and insubstantial. Though I admire their goal of bringing attention to an overlooked part of this man's oeuvre, they possibly take the accolades too far, and spend more time providing praise for Mika than information about him.
Firstly, essays are included which, rather than providing much specific data about Vainio and his projects, in a manner very personal to their authors, discuss the theories and attitudes they speculate are beyond Vainio's work, and their ideas about the passage of time and the process of listening. It is all very Raster Noton to be so concept oriented, and the essays do seem incredibly thought out and do well under repeated scrutiny, but I do not feel I can say they are truly linked to Vainio's work to a large enough extent that they deserve to be in this package here. These two authors (Daniella Cascella and Carl Michael von Hausswolff) may possess insightful critical minds, but they seem to be no more authorities on Mika Vainio than anyone else able to boast such faculties.
Secondly, many of the descriptions of the installations themselves are placed in the book in such a way that it is very hard to listen to the CD while reading about the respective pieces without having to stop the CD and search through the book to find the corresponding installation. Many of the explanations that are there seem only to pique interest, and fail to really document the experience of the installation. Indeed, I am skeptical that the essence of installation art can be conveyed through mere verbal exposition and a few photographs (though many of them are beautiful). I was left with a feeling like this package is not the best way to experience this art. A few installations, however, do stand out as worth reading about, such as "Omerta", and "3 X Wall Clock", a piece perfectly worthy of being in a package titled "Time Examined".
Thirdly, many of installations described and photographed are not represented on the CD, despite numerous allusions to soundtracks and audio contributions by Vainio. Many times I would read about something that seemed particularly interesting only to find that no part of it was included to experience.
The book really feels more like an expensive program that would make the most sense sold at the exhibitions themselves as a souvenir for those who have already visited these installations in person. As a person who has seen plenty installation art, but never any of Vainio's, I found it tedious.
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So, there are a lot of pros and cons to "Time Examined". Whether or not its something I recommend has to do with what you, as a consumer, are looking for. This is sure to become a collector's item for fans of both Mika and Pan Sonic. It is also the only place to find "Mikro Makro" on CD these days. I give the CD of installation works 4 stars without hesitance, I'd say the book is worth 2, and "Mikro Makro" 3.5 or so. Combine that with a slightly high price tag and you've got a solid 3 star rating. Add a star if you're a Raster Noton or 'new music' fanatic (they must be out there somewhere) with a lot of patience and a really expensive soundsystem