- Aleksi Perälä is a Finnish techno artist and what you might call a sound scientist. He started making records as a teenager in the mid-'90s and quickly fell in with Aphex Twin's label, Rephlex, who released a few records Perälä made under the name Ovuca. In the '00s he spent three years studying music technology in Helsinki, and since then his work has been fueled by a passion for the physics of sound. As a lay person, the ideas behind his music are entirely over my head (exhibit A), but in the case of his latest effort, that doesn't really matter—daunting as it may sound, The Colundi Sequence Level 3 is simply a beautiful techno record.
The EP's leading feature is its stunningly clear and atmospheric production style, which each track illuminates from a different angle. On "UK74R1405016," arpeggios cascade upwards and downwards, while a bleepy rhythm tics away underneath. "UK74R1405026" is darker and more percussive, dominated by steely rim shots (for lack of a better term) on every 16th note. "UK74R1405036" (the B-side track) is the most fleshed out of the three, with eerie pads and nervous arpeggios that are mirrored in the bassline. Much like Robert Henke before him, Aleksi Perälä shows how dazzling the fusion of science and music can be.
TracklistA1 UK74R1405016
A2 UK74R1405026
B1 UK74R1405036