Sasu Ripatti is a man of many hats. Since the late ’90s, the Finnish producer, probably best known as Vladislav Delay, has also released high-profile work as Luomo, Uusitalo, and Conoco. As such, it wasn’t exactly shocking to see him revive his Sistol moniker earlier this year after more than a decade of dormancy, yet it certainly wasn’t the expected move either. On the heels of his new album, On the Bright Side, and the double-disc reissue of 1999’s Sistol, both released on Phthalo Records offshoot Halo Cyan, we asked Ripatti to contribute a mix for our podcast series, but he elected to go a different route. Ripatti doesn’t really DJ, so he decided to turn over the podcast duties to his friend and fellow electronic music veteran Donnacha Costello. The Irish-born DJ/producer then assembled this exclusive mix, pulling exclusively from the Sistol catalog. Costello also took the time to send along a bit of extra insight:

I’ve been an admirer of Sasu’s music for many years and we have some common history, having shared a musical home at both Force Inc. and Mille Plateaux back in the early ’00s. Typically one thinks of Vladislav Delay or Luomo or even Uusitalo, but only those who have dug a little deeper may have discovered Sistol.

I must admit that I was aware of Sistol only by name, but when I was asked to prepare this podcast, I accepted immediately, knowing that whatever Sasu had pulled out of the hat, it would be special. I was not wrong—these tracks are indeed quite special. The mix was recorded over a three-day weekend in stolen hours late at night or while flying, and this may have influenced my choices. There are a few edits here and there, but for the most part, what you hear is what you get. Many of the tracks which sound like two or three tracks interacting with one another are simply the tracks in their original form. The structure is so sprawling and the sound palette so varied, evolving, and full that to have performed complex edits or layering would have been pointless and to have performed a “loop style” mix would have been an insult to the idiosyncratic, complex, and rather mad sound world of Sistol.

01 Sistol “A Better Shore (Edit)”
02 Sistol “Fucked-Up Novelty”
03 Sistol “Contaminate Her (Jori Hulkkonen Mix)”
04 Sistol “Hospital Husband”
05 Sistol “Glowing And So Spread”
06 Sistol “Funseeker (Oneohtrix Point Never Rainbro Mix)”
07 Sistol “Funseeker (Oneohtrix Point Never Rainbro Mix) (Second Copy)”
08 Sistol “A Better Shore (Walls Mix)”
09 Sistol “On The Bright Side (The Brighter Side Scuba Remix)”

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