dreams less sweet

Monday, February 12, 2007

Keijo - MP3 Release

"Now this is possibly one of the most unique things I’ve been fortunate enough to treat my ears to in 2003. It’s simply impossible to place this recording in any given genre but at the same time it’s firmly rooted in the past. The past is represented through harmonic acoustic strings, medleys of bell tones and deep resonating chimes while the future shines through it all with synthetic landscapes constructed from samples, organs, theremins and computers. To stand by and see the subtle collisions between ancient Tibetian soundscapes and modern technology is not only striking it’s downright mesmerizing. Despite the modern touch there is something old and mystical about all this, as if the record had been hidden from us for some 30 years and only recently appeared in the daylight. Keijo Virtanen is from the Jyväskylä area in Finland, which in some circles is said to be the center of the universe. I’ve allways commented to this with something like, ”yeah, right” before but after hearing this album I’m starting to think that there might be something to such a statement after all. Either way, this is an album that you can’t ignore, that with its exploratory and glacial, but ever-changing qualities move like dark cosmic clouds across a dense galactic plane, or should that be around a Tibetian temple in a mountainous setting? It’s your pick.”

- Mats Gustafsson / Broken Face #18

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