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“I think melancholy is a good
feeling, the most beautiful feeling in the world. To quote, a
bit ironically, the late Kurt Cobain, this is about the ’comfort
in being sad’. All the movies that have inspired my music
are sad. In them, art kind of suffers for you and comforts you.”
Two things seldom associated with each
other meet in the output of Sami Sänpäkkilä a.k.a.
Es: sweeping, melodramatic feelings and experimentation - or “structured
chance,” as he puts it.
Last year, the Belgian label (K-RAA-K)3
released Es’s debut CD, an amalgamation of electric guitar
and vinyl record loops, and invited Sänpäkkilä
to perform in Brussels. The same concert featured two other experimental
turntablists, Janek Schaefer (who will perform at Avanto as half
of Comae) and his great role model
Philip Jeck, who started playing old battery-operated turntables
in the early 80's. Seeing Jeck was a momentous experience for
Sänpäkkilä. The next Es CD, A Love Cycle,
was produced wholly by looping and restructuring old vinyl records.
Many have found its nocturnal feel fascinating, and the visual
imagery of Sänpäkkilä’s record sleeves and
live projections support his music discreetly. Even his live set-up
reveals a kind of retro attitude - Sänpäkkilä covers
his effect equipment with colourful fabrics “so they don’t
look so digital”. AN
Friday 9.11.2001 - Gloria
21:00-3:00 - Avanto-Club: Pekka Airaksinen
and Es
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