- Aki Latvamäki doesn't look much like the prototypical DJ/producer. With long hair, a beard and strikingly unhip clothing, he looks every bit the Finnish loner that his music makes him out to be. His latest 12-inch for Curle Recordings should do little to change that perception: It's a strange two-tracker that in another world would be called anthemic, but in this one merely sounds like a frightening set of tunes fit for chopping off heads and plundering villages.
It's hard not to hear that, you'll agree, when encountering a song entitled "Ratts Leaving the Sinking Ship in Nortt." It invites it. But Latvamäki does nothing to discourage it either, slowly laying out a steady beat that's surrounded by moody horn swells and swathes of dub clouds. It takes nearly three minutes, in fact, before Latvamäki releases a tiny bit of the uncomfortable tension by unleashing a watery melody that's soon joined by an unholy bass blurt. This is no build-up, though: Instead, it's all build-up—a claustrophobic dreamscape where Nathan Fake indulges his doom metal jones. Frightening.
Find the Way Into the Heads Completely Alone" is less of a tormented fever dream of a track, but not by much. It pulses along more quickly than its predecessor, quickly adding a minimalist snatch of melody to guide it along its way. It's a hook that wouldn't sound out of place on Stefan Goldmann's Macro label, but few other places in the dance music world. (That feeling is quickly reinforced by the distorto-strings that swell up throughout.) It's off-kilter to say the least, but it's a sexy confusion that's as transfixing as it is mind-boggling.
Tracklist A Ratts Leaving The Sinking Ship In Nortt
B Find The Way Into The Heads Completely Alone