Luomo is the pop-experimental face of Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti (b. 1976). The music of Luomo stretches taut lines between shadowy experimentalism and shining club aspirations of the dancefloor, capturing tension and romance in shards of polished disco. Full of dark chasms and dangerous sharp edges, the restless experimentation and bitter-tenderness in Luomo's songs have shattered and reformed our expectations of pop, songs like 'Tessio' became the foundation of what was soon known as 'microhouse', a genre characterised by minimal clicks'n'cuts cast in grooving bass. ...show more

Luomo is the pop-experimental face of Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti (b. 1976). The music of Luomo stretches taut lines between shadowy experimentalism and shining club aspirations of the dancefloor, capturing tension and romance in shards of polished disco. Full of dark chasms and dangerous sharp edges, the restless experimentation and bitter-tenderness in Luomo's songs have shattered and reformed our expectations of pop, songs like 'Tessio' became the foundation of what was soon known as 'microhouse', a genre characterised by minimal clicks'n'cuts cast in grooving bass.

But the pop tropes and shimmering vocals of Luomo smeared over deeply layered backgrounds made it clear that Ripatti was drawing on a wider range of influences to come up with this uniquely re-formed sound, not only glitch, but dub, trip-hop, chicago house, soul and disco. Ripatti groped though dark territory for the 'Vocalcity' (2000) songs. Sometimes fumbling and failing, he presented each element -- icy reverb, stuttering rhythms and brittle synth stabs -- woven into original, glittering stories with crossover pop appeal that was picked up by major labels. At the same time Ripatti was recording for Berlin's experimental dub-house imprint Chain Reaction - a Basic Channel sub label - and the influential Mille Plateaux as Vladislav Delay, as well as on MP parent label Force Inc.

as Uusitalo. What marks out Luomo particularly from these other monikers, aside from a more overt pop orientation, is the extensive, sensitive use of vocal samples from a variety of collaborators. All Luomo albums owe much to processed feminine voices, particularly that of Finnish jazz singer Johanna Iivanainen, a vocalist renowned for her timbral and poetic singing. The production qualities tested in Vocalcity, pensive and polished, were elaborated for Luomo's rich and sensual follow up 'The Present Lover' (2003); the voice of Johanna Iivanainen was again a featured, along with that of Antye Greie (AGF). ...show less