On Friday, 08-Aug-97, 0 wrote [about (idm) Lunatic for muziq]:
quoted 5 lines and hunt down your copy now.>and hunt down your copy now.
>The motherfucker is back like never before
>you wanted something with the quality that
>Tango/Bluff had, this is it. No more waiting folks.
>My man Mikey P is the shit homey. this is the chill
shoutz to da idm crew, chill dis nigga out yo..
quoted 3 lines pill I needed before I flamed ROWLAND and pissed>pill I needed before I flamed ROWLAND and pissed
>all you off, but now I am even more of a mother fuckin
>Lunatic so watch out cum catchers cuz this fucker is gonna blow!!!
chill nigga chill :D
anyway.. on to my review of Lunatic Harness... I think it was reviewed
before, but I don't remember if all the tracks were reviewed or not but oh
well..
hm.. perhaps a stupid question, but is it pronounced lunatic and lunar-tic,
or like leunatic (or if that's even how it's spelled).. but I don't think
leunatic (as in a crazy guy) is spelled lunatic.. mm not sure.. anyway, I
think pronouncing it "lunätic harness" sounds much better.. :P the ä is a
bright a, oh whatever.. who cares, on to the review :)
Brace Yourself Jason:
This track has some nice sounds to it. some bells and distant voices..
really nice, and a slap-bass type bass sound. Not one of the best tracks on
the LP. It is a bit weak at points, and thus I expect those parts could
drag along after listening to it a few times. I really didn't like the part
in this track where everything is gone but the drum sounds.. not too nice
of a part there, it's not enough to carry the track IMO. I think there is
some brilliance here though.
Hasty Boom Alert:
Starts off really nice, some beautiful synth pads. This is the Mike
Paradinas we all love. There is a wonderful sine bass in this, and very
fast rhythms. This is one of the tracks that makes this LP a must have. The
melody in this track reminds me of Squarepusher's "Theme to Ernest
Borgnine" from _Feed Me Weird Things_, but I like the drum programming in
this track a hell of a lot more than the 'almost too 4/4ish' drum
programming of Ernest Borgnine.
Mushroom Compound:
Starting off with an abstract sine melody, this track employs some really
interesting sounds. After a while the track speeds up abruptly; Then
somewhere in the middle, the track kind of becomes uninteresting for a
while. It's quite repetative, but still a bit nice I guess. It's certainly
better than Brace Yourself Jason.
Blainville:
This is typical Paradinas here and I'm loving it :) The secondary melody in
the beginning doesn't seem to connect that well with the bassline and
sounds a bit distant, but this track just rocks. The bass sound is, like
most of Mike's bass sounds, totally wonderful, which is what sounds like a
real deep flange over a sinewave.
Lunatic Harness:
Oh dear. The first time I heard this track I thought "Oh shit, here we go..
Sounds like something by the Chemical Bros." Starts off with some really
corny sounding shit like if someone is making the drums with her mouth, but
then once that fm synth melody came in, I was hooked :) It's really a cute
melody. The superspeed flange on the secondary melody sounds really wicked
also, and actually works quite well. Usually something like that sounds
like noise. This sounds like some hauz muzak, but it's quite nice. Though
it's not one of the best tracks on the LP, it's definitely worth having.
(at the end there's some fantastic playing with the "mouth" beats to boot!)
*
Approaching Menace:
Wow. I think this is the first time I've heard Mike Paradinas make a track
that's really scary. Truly wicked. The drum programming really goes well
with the frightening saw-tooth melody. Nice flange sweeps too. Damn this
track is great. He even uses 2 notes that are a halfstep away from each
other, which makes the waveforms to collide at points, causing a really
eerie humming sound. This is a track to play alongside Richard's _Schott
Key 7th Path_. At points he plays with the sawtooth bass in much the same
way some tech-steppers, incluing Aphrodite play with their basslines. Or is
that hard-step? I'm not too concerned about the many categories of jungle
anyway.
My Little Beautiful:
This starts off with more of the Paradinas we all know and love, and even
the drums are the same, except then suddenly these wicked breaks start
popping up everywhere, but it still has that µ-Ziq feel. This is another
track that could use a bit more during it's drum solos. However, that part
aside, this is a truly brilliant track, there's no question. If you liked
the ambientish, more beatless tracks on Bluff Limbo, you'll love this, even
though it's not beatless.
Secret Stair Pt. 1:
This track is brilliant.. You think it's beautiful beatless ambient,
and then these wonderful breaks come in, kind of like the way they do on
Squarepusher's "Tundra" off _Feed Me Weird Things_. Ok, I've mentioned Tom
J. already twice in this review, but don't get the wrong idea from this,
this work is in no way an imitation of Tom's stuff, inspired by, maybe, but
not a copy. This track is quite nice, but it's not one of the best tracks
on here.
Secret Stair Pt. 2:
This is my most favorite track on this LP. Words don't describe how
beautiful this track is. Mike should have called this My Little Beautiful
instead of the other one. Another beautifully flanged bassline, and he puts
it to damn good use. The bassline, along with melodies borrowed from the
carribean, some latin influences and synthpads that you could totally
lose yourself in make this one of the most brilliant tracks I've ever heard
from Mike P, or anyone else.. The only track that has touched me this much
since RDJ's "Xtal" has been "A Journey to Reedham" by Squarepusher, from
the new _Big Loada_ EP.
Wannabe:
This track is another winner in the eerie ambient section of what would be
the IDM charts. Truly brilliant, this is a must for all those dj's who play
beatless ambient sets. The track isn't beatless, it has a repetative
percussion noise, not really drums, but more like clattering junk inside
the storage compartment of a ship lost in a storm. After a while, the
repetative words WANNA BE YOUR LOVER MAYBE I DON'T WANNA BE YOUR FRIEND.
If Mr. James had done SAW2 with Mike Paradinas, this track would be on it.
The track ends in a humongous reverb swirl.
Catkin and Teasel:
This track starts off with an abstract measure-length melody, and a hip hop
beat which soon develops into a rash of breaks and snarerushes. The melody
is minimalistic in nature, as it repeats into infinity while crazy breaks
and hip hop beats take turns accompanying the minimalistic melody. After a
while there's more melodies to accompany it, and they are brilliant, to say
the least. Once the track begins to shape, the minimalistic melody cannot
be heard anymore, and what you have is classic Paradinas which fades out at
the end.
London:
Yet another eerie track. Kind of reminds me of Aphex's Icct Hedral at
first. This track is totally beatless for a while, and really brilliant
eerie melodies, and then this really wicked drum beat comes in. It is
similar to the beat from "Tango N' Vectif." Another track that would work
good in a beatless ambient set. This could be a break away from the
beatless stuff. This employs violins, like the ones in Icct Hedral. With
the drums that come back in on the offbeat, it sounds really great with the
violins, which are playing in quarters of a beat. This is not as good as
the other eerie tracks though.
Midwinter's Log:
This sounds like midieval Christmas music.. This sides with "Secret Stair
Pt. 2" as the two most brilliant tracks on the LP. Brilliant drum
programming and unmistakable structure are immediately noticeable in this
tune. Although not as beautiful as some of the others in this album, it is
definitely not to be underestimated. This track has some of the best drum
programming I've ever heard in any of Mike P's tracks, and it is absolute
brilliance.. This is the one track on the entire record where the drum-only
parts flow and work without needing anything else. The melodies in this
almost sound like a symphony. You can even hear what sounds like those
long tube bells that you hit with a mallet.
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