Vinyl - Viktor Toikkanen - Kulo

Kulo is the third release by Viktor Toikkanen, a Helsinki-based electronic musician, composer, and event organiser. Toikkanen is at home with both beat-oriented material and ambient excursions. Here, one can hear traces of his influences but also how he is carving his own path. While the album is a collection of contrasting moods, sound worlds, and approaches, it remains a coherent whole.

The static soundworld of Kirkenes sets the mood: Toikkanen is not in a rush to throw different sounds at the listener but trusts the process in each track by exploring and developing limited sound materials to their full potential. A similar approach can be heard
in Kieli. “Kieli” translates as both tongue and string; the track is centred literally on an infinitely stretched, resonating metallic string sound. Yet this track can also be interpreted in a metaphorical sense (as tongue), where the listener is transported into a cavernous
space (a giant mouth?) filled with foreboding drums from the depths alongside flickering, mechanical sounds that appear closer to the surface.

Sula (molten/unfrozen) picks up the intensity: instead of a kick drum, Toikkanen introduces sustained bass rumbling accompanied by bleeps (evoking Ryoji Ikeda). Whatever is unfrozen and subsequently revealed is clearly something ominous and sinister.
Silmu (bud) is the first beat-oriented track. The title suggests a budding, less-is-more approach; even when new melodic material is introduced at the end of the track, it remains unadorned: Toikkanen maintains a commitment to an austerity similar to what his
compatriots in Sähkö Recordings have become known for.

The Toisto (repetition) series consists of transformations of the tracks that precede them. While these tracks contain timbral characteristics of their originals, they are characterised by their spontaneous rhythmic sensibility. This spontaneity is no doubt partly due to their initial conception in live performances. Syöttö (serving/feeding) mixes things up with its syncopated melodic material, breakbeat samples, and its near-anthemic character.

Toisto II is a hypnotic, slow-motion reorganisation of Syöttö, where one can hear the residue of the prior track’s melodic content in the bell-like sound. Akku (battery) is both calm and jittery, with a stop/start quality reminiscent of some of the more upbeat music from artists such as Fennesz. Mutantti (mutant) takes another turn into darker terrain, venturing into dizzying beat music that appears to nod towards Arca’s namesake track. While brooding and intense, Toikkanen lets Mutantti breathe by making the most of the spaces between the beat onslaughts. Toisto III is the bold, cathartic reorganisation of Mutantti; this is what a beatless, hi-fi rendition of a Pan Sonic - Rähinä (mayhem) track might have sounded like. The album is closed with a mysterious
moment of respite in Kolima (named after the lake by Toikkanen’s summer cottage).