Biography
Sasu Ripatti, the Finnish electronic musician widely recognized for his abstract dub techno under the Vladislav Delay alias and his left-field house productions as Luomo, applies a footwork-inspired approach to the deconstruction of hip-hop when working under his surname. The 2021 release Fun Is Not a Straight Line exemplifies this direction through hyperkinetic pieces that fragment sampled rap vocals across rapid, unsteady rhythms and abrasive sonic layers.
Although an avid listener of hip-hop since the 1990s, Ripatti rarely allowed the genre to shape his own output until he began issuing material under his given name. The Ripatti solo project and its accompanying label were introduced by a 2013 single consisting of two extended tracks built from fractured uptempo rhythms and displaced samples. Two further singles followed in 2014, one of them a collaboration with Teeth, and both moved closer to the Chicago footwork style. Planet Mu, long supportive of the genre’s more unconventional and experimental dimensions, signed Ripatti and placed his track “Flowers” on the 2020 compilation PlanetMµ25. The project’s first full-length, Fun Is Not a Straight Line, offered shorter and more immediate pieces than the preceding singles.
Although an avid listener of hip-hop since the 1990s, Ripatti rarely allowed the genre to shape his own output until he began issuing material under his given name. The Ripatti solo project and its accompanying label were introduced by a 2013 single consisting of two extended tracks built from fractured uptempo rhythms and displaced samples. Two further singles followed in 2014, one of them a collaboration with Teeth, and both moved closer to the Chicago footwork style. Planet Mu, long supportive of the genre’s more unconventional and experimental dimensions, signed Ripatti and placed his track “Flowers” on the 2020 compilation PlanetMµ25. The project’s first full-length, Fun Is Not a Straight Line, offered shorter and more immediate pieces than the preceding singles.
Albums
Singles
