Home > Album Review > Mika Vainio “FE3O4 – Magnetite” | Touch

Mika Vainio “FE3O4 – Magnetite” | Touch

September 17, 2012 Leave a comment Go to comments

The definition of what music is can be a shrouded in a display of different ideologies, backgrounds and at most times stigmas from person to person. The underside of the music world known as “noise” is one of those corridors of sound that borders along another means of expression than the usual identity of how most of the masses recognizes what’s music. I have always loved this diversion into sound, creating a matrix and labyrinth of feelings, emotional responses and zen like meditative states in my mind that are all their own personal experiences. Nothing is ever the same when coming into contact with this territory of composition, despite how many times you dive into the same record. Berlin’s seasoned composer and tone scientist Mika Vainio is among the best at realizing the potential of unused sounds for some startling and exhilarating results. He is featured on scores of albums in the avant-garde modern world and has set a standard most that speaks for itself.

It is with his latest LP FE3O4 – Magnetite on the Touch label that Mika Vainio has extended his tonal voice into another realm of being. With the usage of his signature sources of sound – radio signals, sine wave generators, etc – that have found their way onto all of his releases, there is a usage of space on this record that has been unrealized in the body of work from Mika. Harsh landscapes of noise submerge into states of the metaphysical as tones bounce inside your cranium like nothing else in this world. There are moments on FE3O4 that stretch beyond definition, pulsing out frequencies that feel like they will damage your ear drums. It’s all placed with the highest attention to detail and the limitations of what the human body can take. Music of extremes some might call it but I tend to feel very normal in this setting of oddly shaped tonal soundscapes.

FE3O4 is one intense album that takes a lot of mental stamina to last from beginning to end. It took me many listens to get to a comfortable state with this album, something I love about the achievement of Mark Vainio’s compositions. They all have that shocking of the senses affect that the best noise music can achieve. If you are up for an adventurous and exploratory listen into sounds of another world, this is a perfect journey to take on.

-Erik Otis

Order a copy here: http://touchshop.org/product_info.php?products_id=535

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