MIKA VAINIO PRESS

live - editions mego, blast first, raster-noton, touch / berlin, germany

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FACT Mag, GB, 23.08.2011 :

In his 17-odd year career, Mika Vainio, both under his own name and a blizzard of pseudonyms – and perhaps best known for his role in Pan Sonic – has covered a great deal of ground; from the brutal rhythms of Pan Sonic to the techno pulse of Ø, Kentolevi and Tekonivel, or the sparse dronework often released under his own name. There’s always, however, been a common aesthetic across these disparate releases. Explicitly on his work as Philus, which took influence from hospital machinery, but implicit in almost everything else he’s worked on, there’s been a sparse austerity to his sound. Even when distortion is present, as it so often is on the early Pan Sonic releases, the distortion is used as

WWW.FACTMAG.COM/2011/08/31/MIKA-VAINIO-LIFE-IT-EATS-YOU-UP/

ANOST :

Whereas previous works by Mika Vainio have utilized guitar Life (… It Eats You Up) is the first to use the nstrument as its primary sound source. A fascinating, sometimes disturbing and deeply personal work this new 10 track set bears all the hallmarks (exacting attention to detail of tone, rhythm and texture) of Vainio's previous works with some stunning surprises, such as his cover version of The Stooges' 'Open Up And Bleed'.Tracks such as ‘Mining’ hark bark to the banging beat excesses of Pan sonic, with ‘Crashed’ and ‘And Give Us Our Daily Humiliation’ and the opening ‘In Silence A Scream Takes A Heart’ reveal a new intensity to Vainio’s work and is yet another superb addition to his already brilliant catalogue. All tracks written by Mika Vainio, except Open Up And Bleed by Iggy Pop / James Williamson.

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RESIDENT ADVISOR :

Mika Vainio, the Finnish experimental artist who sometimes goes by Ø, will release a new album next month called Life (...It Eats You Up).

Vainio has spent much of his career crafting dark and austere electronic pieces, from drone to ambient to stripped back techno. It's a style he developed on his own and in a number of collaborations, including Pan Sonic, his acclaimed duo with Ilpo Väisänen. On Life..., he breaks this pattern a bit by focusing on an instrument that thus far has played only a supporting role in his music: the guitar. Whether used for abstract walls of noise or vaguely rock-ish chords, it's at the center of all ten tracks. As if to drive the point home, one of the songs, "Open Up and Bleed," is a cover of Iggy Pop and the Stooges. But even with this alternative set-up, the album maintains Vainio's usual stark aesthetic.

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UNRUHR :

überzeugendes statement.
nihilistisch kaputt, ohne gewollte (oder gar ungewollte) konzeptverbrämung und das, obwohl musik, titel, tracknamen und coverartwork doch genau das auszusagen scheinen.

klingen tut es aber eher genau so, als ob diese musik in einem (sehr persönlichen) rausch entstanden ist; in einem der dunklen negativen kraft der musik adäquaten gefühlszustand (möglicherweise); und der ganze rest erst später, mit abstand dazugekommen ist, als (nicht allein gefühlt) richtige abrundung.
(ich könnte noch mehr schreiben: über die musik, den killer-sound, das coverartwork mit der setzung der titel und den wahrhaftig abschreckenden bildern innen; aber:) als review völlig ausreichend, kaputt bis ins mark, dreckig, brutal. und: soundquelle elektrogitarre, verzerrt. fast komplett drone / noise + (vereinzelt) trademark-beat. inklusive skelettiert zerstörtes stooges-cover...

absolut überzeugendes statement; überzeugungshilfen: 1 / 3 / 10
perfekt.

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BOOMKAT :

Mika Vainio serves up an album of incredible guitar-based experiments on Editions Mego, and almost needless to say it's f*ckng brilliant, ten tracks of sheer head-crushing doom that just wipes the floor with pretty much anyone else doing this kind of thing. The erstwhile Pan Sonic man uses his inimitable arsenal of advanced electronic techniques to coax the most exquisitely hellish, heavy sounds of his axe, but crucially he doesn't manipulate the instrument totally beyond recognition: no, this is an album that really thrashes and shreds and, yes, rocks; culminating in an impossibly heavy, swaggering cover of The Stooges' 'Open Up And Bleed' (yes, you read that right: Mika Vainio covering The Stooges). Elsewhere it's more abstract if no less exacting - we're especially bowled over by 'In Silence A Scream Takes A Heart' and 'A Ravenous Edge', two droning, torrid dirges that summon KTL, Gravetemple and Sunn O)) at their gnarliest, whilst easily outgunning 'em all (no mean feat). On 'Throat' Vainio conjures an ear-scraping power electronics sound that has more in common with Prurient or Kevin Drumm's Sheer Hellish Miasmah, while 'Mining' is a complete wildcard: drum-driven, steam-powered and feedback-drenched industrial funk, the bastard offspring of Nitzer Ebb and Earth. 'Crashed' surveys more expansive, minimalist, even cinematic terrain, but still manages to sound punishingly claustrophobic, while the almighty 'And Gives Us Our Daily Humiliation' and 'Conquering The Solitutde' sound like a black metal band subjected to Pita-style digital processing. Misanthropic, brutal, uncompromising and heavier than a death in the family:
there's no dungeon deep or dark enough to contain this absolute beast of an album. Just incredible.

BOOMKAT.COM/CDS/423496-MIKA-VAINIO-LIFE-IT-EATS-YOU-UP

VITAL WEEKLY 791 :

MIKA VAINIO - LIFE (IT EATS YOU UP) (CD by Editions Mego)

Although Mika Vainio (one half of Pan Sonic) is best known as the master of synthesizers and drum machines, his solo releases also used guitar sounds. Yet, 'Life (Š It Eats You Up)' is the first solo album to use guitar as the primary source of sound generating. There are also electronics and drum machines, such as in 'Mining', which reminds you of the older Pan Sonic days. Vainio uses the same sound idiom as on his previous releases and almost always successfully translates that to the use of the guitar. One of the main aspects of Vainio's compositions is the collage method, of cutting up sounds, collating them together along with more stretched out fields of noise based music. This is all here too. The shorter pieces, such as 'Throat' and 'Cage' have this strong collage aspect, while the longer pieces such as - well pretty much the rest - have this more continuos noise-drone affair. Either with those banging drum machines or without. There is a cover from Iggy & The Stooges here too. Sometimes things go on a bit too long for my taste, and maybe some of these pieces are too long or use too much reverb. But the big bang message - Vainio on guitars only - that might go down as the biggest surprise of it all. Very nice album indeed. (FdW)

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RESONANT STRATA, 24.07.2011 :

To be honest Mika Vainio and Pan Sonic always had a big spot in my heart. From the raw and minimal works such as “A” or “Vakio” to the abstract and multileveled material of his last solo works such as “Black Telephone of Matter” – the releases always absolutely fascinated me.
There was such an intense world to discover, as if they made electricity audible.

“Life (… it eats you up) is a little different. It’s the first time that he uses a guitar as the primary sound source. Although it is still a typical Mika Vainio record with its grungy edges and huge distorted rooms, there is something quite different with the album. It feels like a reminiscence to 70s and early 80s noise and industrial music. Not that this references wasn’t always there with Pan Sonic and Mika Vainio – but this time it is even more obvious. This is one piece of a noisy, muddy and thick record. It’s like Metal Machine Music meets early SPK meets Glenn Branca meets …

Guitar noises clank against each other, heavy drum(-machine) patterns stoically marching forward, abrasive distortion reeks its ugly head. At the same time, there’s this great sense for space and pace: The way Vainio works with (close to) silence passages is just amazing. There are no more words needed from me side.
Seriously –this is essential.

WWW.RESONANTSTRATA.COM/POST/8000728316/MIKA-LIFE

ESSMAA'S BLOG, 16.07.2011 :

Mika Vaino « Life (… It Eats You Up) »
Une pluie qui colle et un ciel qui touche terre. Le train file vers les hautes marées, la houle et les déferlantes. Mi-juillet, mais l’été semble passé. Ce fut en avril, en mai, en juin .. Claquant de soleil ravageur. Avant l’heure. Mika Vaino semble avoir été mis au parfum rapidement. Son disque est donc dse saison. Le premier morceau de 13 minutes, « In Silence a Scream Takes a Heart », annonce la grisaille, balance l’équipage en fond de cale et lance l’encre à la mer. Dehors ça drache. Une pluie de larsens. Des pleurs de guitares, usant les cordes et rongeant le bois. « Throat », le spectre des grands fonds vient à la surface se rassasier de chaires fraiches, d’âmes perdues. En filigrane une marée à l’odeur vivace. Les yeux et le nez piquent. Les aigus font bourdonner les oreilles. Carbonisant les beats, brûlant les planches, Mika Vaino se lance alors à corps perdu dans l’écume, y laissant les aspérités , les tonalités primaires, les images des films d’horreur et les cadavres de Fuck Buttons, Sunno))) et Scorn. On préféra cependant laisser le privilège rythmique à Mick Harris (conseil SCORN « Steal » (Ad Noiseam / Jarring Effects)), pour passer sous la ligne de flottaison. Dans les rouleaux, sous l’amas dense d’algues, Mika Vaino dompte les esprits de l’ombre pour en faire une armée de lumière.
Capturer les rayons d’un soleil venant du centre de la terre.

ESSMAA.WORDPRESS.COM/2011/07/16/MIKA-VAINO-ECOUTE/

PLAYLIST :

Resonance FM 104.4 London, The Sound Projector Radio Show, 22.07.2011