OZONE PLAYER
Insane Logic
Oy Visual Power Ltd. (2000)
Otso Pakarinen, the Finnish musician who records as Ozone Player, told me in an e-mail that his aim is to not be pigeon-holed into any one kind of electronic music genre. With his recording Insane Logic, I'd say he accomplishes that goal - with ease. This is a true mixed-bag collection of pieces - some might consider it diverse to the point of distraction. And if you're looking for a CD to set a mood and stick with it, well, forget it. But, a lot of what 's on the album is brilliant work. Tracks sparkle with ingenuity, blending and twisting subgenres as if they were Silly Putty and the artist was out to make all new kinds of creatures from it.
Starting with one of the strongest cuts, "Whales in Fog," which can best be described as horror-movie noir meets electronica, I was impressed with the skill of Otso's playing, engineering and composing. The quirky refrain in the opening cut is whimsy in the same way that Tim Burton's movies are whimsical, i.e. think Addams Family and you're on the right track.
With that as the opening song, I was totally unprepared for the delicate synth-bells and soft washes of strings on the next cut, "Shipping." The only downside of the track is it's too short for my taste (at just over two minutes) because it gets really interesting at the end as Otso takes the "cheery" element of the song and stands it on its head as the music descends into the netherworld with screeching keyboards howling in a kind of burst of cosmic pain. This screech morphs into the third song, "The Reality Dysfunction," with weird sampled dialogue, lower register drones and distorted break beats. By now, on my first listening, Otso had my complete attention as I remember thinking to myself, "What the hell is up with this guy?" Well, I must admit, it takes a while to get used to the abrupt shifts from song to song, but damn if it doesn't make Insane Logic a lot of fun to delve into. Ambient music this is NOT! Not by a long shot. "The Reality Dysfunction" spirals outward into dissonance, found sounds, industrial noise effects, and, well, musical dysfunction! Truth in advertising, huh? "Casino Mobile," cut four, opens with shimmering synths and other assorted keyboards, some of which are whooshing, and some more melodic. Traces of Vangelis' style enter into the song, along with some propulsive elements. Of course, Otso doesn't settle there for long, and soon there are deliciously loopy retro-lounge faux-choruses straight out of Ray Conniff, intermixed with 50s-era "spacy" electronics (lots of laser zaps and such). Ya gotta say this for Otso, he is bringing some badly needed humor to this genre.
There are a total of twelve tracks on this CD and I could easily just keep right on describing each one in detail, but suffice it to say that no matter what your taste in EM, chances are somewhere on this album Otso has blasted a few hits your way, unless your only appetite is for very minimal drone-type ambient music. But if you like healthy doses of kinetic rhythms and beats layered in with your assorted EM subgenres, Insane Logic has it in spades! "Minibar" alone is so kicky and cool that I could put that track on repeat a lot. Pieces like the title song are slow tempo numbers that patiently unwind in spirals of repeating EM phrases and pulsing electronic beats. One of the problems I could see with this album is that if one didn't think this kind of music was "fun," the variety and the "wow-factor" of Otso's studio wizardry might wear on you. Personally, I don't consider this album either pretentious or gimmicky. I truly think Otso is incredibly talented and also he wants to make a lot of different kinds of music. Besides, as I said, when he dials up the whimsy factor, well, I'm a sucker for it - I admit it.
What else can you say about an album on which carnival-like synth-calliope textures and distorted hard core ambient beats ("Praise") are followed by lush and mysterious synth choruses and picture-perfect washes of wonderful spacemusic ("Beam")?
I think artists like Ozone Player/Otso Pakarinen ought to be admired and even somewhat idolized for thinking this far outside the box. This is not some pointlessly avant garde bunch of crap, which some of the music that is considered cutting edge actually is, in my opinion. A lot (an awful lot, actually) of Insane Logic is quite melodic and catchy. It's just not what everyone else is doing. It's one of the more daring and fascinating albums of the year - hands down. And on headphones, the engineering and mixing is a "must hear." There is some seriously cool shit going on here: "Warezz" with its panning industrial noise effects layered over "pretty" repeating synth notes and oppressive drones, the SF-noir textures of "Process" featuring burbling noise effects and eerie keyboards, and the arrhythmic buzz-saw beats and keyboards of "A Shortcut to Nowhere." All of it adds up to an album that holds a surprise in every single track. Song length (nine of the twelve are under five-minutes) might be a problem for some (as even I noted earlier in the review for the one song) but looking at it differently, it's a smart move to keep tracks short. If the listener doesn't like how one is going, it won't be long before the music will change. In fact, Insane Logic is proof-positive of the adage that the only constant is change. The other thing this album proves is that Ozone Player/Otso Pakarinen is a one helluva electronic musician possessed of one of the most varied palettes around. The CD is recommended for both its audacity and for a kick-ass good time, too!
Bill Binkelman
WIND and WIRE