4 out of 5

Label: Aleksi Peräla, digital download

Producer: Aleksi Perala

Ovuca has a playful side to it, and Astrobotnia is a project to “explore space and time.”  Both are very different sides of electronic music, but share a similar sense of space and mood shift.  Like a lot of his Rephlex buddies, Aleksi Perala – the man behind both names – wears many hats.  I tend to find his work smoother than Richard James’ stuff, whereas RDJ likes to mix elements in and out, Aleksi tends to slip things in subtly, an extra layer or percussion suddenly there for who knows how long, tick-tocking in the background.

While I dig Ovuca, the work under that name has never been grounded enough to make a super impact on me – the many-track albums tend to include a lot of what feel like just ideas or sketches.  So when the Astrobotnia albums first dropped and I didn’t know who was behind them, there’s no way I would’ve pegged ’em as Aleksi.  They’re seamless, long-form, gorgeous compositions that seem so much more committed than Ovuca.  But the playfulness would come out at moments, and, as mentioned, Perala does that smooth shift thing in both projects.  I’d be hard-pressed to pick a fave across Astrobotnia 01, 02 and 03, but that aside, I wouldn’t hesitate to call the works under that name some of my faves in the electronic scene.

So at some point in the last couple years, Aleski released some digital only albums on the creatively named “Aleksi Perala” imprint – one under the Astrob. name and one under Ovuca.  And according to brainchops.net, Part 00 is stuff from 2001, before the official albums, and can thus be viewed as a template for the accomplished works to follow.  Which it is.  The whole “space and time” deal is a bit more obvious here, with swooshing washes of ambient noise leading into and out of tracks, stitching some moments between, and used as the base for a couple of short, beat-less tracks.  Perala found a way to communicate this more subtly on 01, 02 and 03, using blended percussion and a colder mood to set the tone.  But, seemingly finding his way to those albums produced some really excellent work for Part 00, finding an appropriate balance between the Astrobotnia and Ovuca sound via some of the most impressive sound mixing and drum layering I’ve heard in a while.  Some of the tracks do just cut off at the end, unfinished ideas perhaps, but those that are fully realized ideas – like ‘New Earth’ – are jaw-dropping, a kind of directness that isn’t really used on the later albums.  And as he did with Parts 01 and 03, there’s a definite aggressive peak to the album, a total IDM rave-up to shift out of the whooshes and pitter-pats.

If this arrived brand new from Replhex, you’d be impressed.  Viewed in retrospect as Aleksi working out how to express his Astrobotnia ideas, it’s actually more impressive, as these are already superstar compositions that it then took a creative brain to mold into a full concept.  Part 00 might be rough around the edges and winks at you Ovuca-style at moments, but obviously you need to hear this if you own any of Aleksi’s other stuff.  And if you don’t, and you’re reading this review anyway, then.  Y’know.  Whatever.